What\’s the difference between ignorance and apathy? The answer to the old joke — "I don\’t know and I don\’t care" — has often been used to define young Americans of the past decade.
In the eyes of television, radio and print editors and reporters, who speaks for the Los Angeles Jewish community?\n
Noam Zissman, 21, a convoy commander from Ra\’anana, and Moran Kalinsky, 20, a deputy company commander from Holon, sit in their Israeli officers\’ uniforms at Johnny Rockets on Melrose. They have just arrived in Los Angeles after more than a week of nonstop travel across the U.S., and they won\’t even have time to order a plate of fries before they have to rush across town.
The umbrella organization for North American Jewish federations is now the seventh largest charitable organization in the United States, according to the Chronicle of Philanthropy.
These are tense days for the Los Angeles parents of Jewish students studying at Israeli universities and yeshivas. Their sons and daughters are among some 4,000 Americans studying in Israel this year in a wide range of programs. Major universities, yeshivas, kibbutzim, the Israel Defense Force are just a few of the institutions that offer American students programs in Israel. According to the Israel Aliyah Center, there are l00 students from Los Angeles currently studying in Israel.
In our hardwired global village, the old curse \”May you live in interesting times,\” has particular resonance. For local educators, the recent clashes between Israelis and Palestinians have made these past few weeks interesting times indeed. As events continue to unfold thousands of miles away, the conflict has been an ongoing topic in Southern California\’s Jewish day schools.
\nWhile violent clashes between Israelis and Palestinians have captured the headlines in recent weeks, Jewish and Arab leaders in major American cities are working quietly to forestall confrontations between their communities.\n\nTheir efforts are marked by some common guidelines.
Reuben Dahan lives just down the block from his nearest synagogue. Yet every Shabbat, for the past seven years, Dahan, an Israeli immigrant who grew up in Petach Tikvah, has gone the extra mile, literally, to worship at a place he calls his spiritual home.
The organized North American Jewish community\’s reaction to the violent events in the Middle East can be summed up in a few words: solidarity with Israel.
A new cultural awareness program is about to make a lot of waves – as in airwaves.
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