After seven and a half years of daily study, my voyage through the sea of Talmud ended with these words, as approximately 90,000 Jews filled every seat of MetLife Stadium in New Jersey to celebrate the completion of Daf Yomi in an event called the 12th Siyum HaShas. My voyage began with a miracle, and ended in transformation.
If it weren’t for a small red neon sign that said “books,” I probably wouldn’t have made a right turn on Idaho Avenue last Saturday night to discover Tony Jacobs’ little storefront masterpiece. I was on my way to the Nuart to catch a late film with a friend, and we figured we would find parking on Sawtelle Boulevard.
Before he told members of his family, Nathan Looney told members of his synagogue, Beth Chayim Chadashim (BCC), that he was transitioning from female to male. He says the encouragement he received is typical for members of this Pico Boulevard congregation.
Amid the kosher restaraunts, Judaica stores and storefront synagogues on a particular stretch of Pico Boulevard, a little piece of Brooklyn has just been built.
OK, the new three-story, 47,000-square-foot brown-brick building is hardly little, but it is straight out of 770 Eastern Parkway, the Crown Heights address that houses the central Chabad center and the headquarters of their former spiritual leader, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, otherwise known as \”the Rebbe.\”
With its recent purchase of an office building near the corner of Pico Boulevard and Doheny Drive, Chabad has established a two-block stretch of facilities — which the outreach group plans to call \”Rebbe Square\” — in the heart of one of Los Angeles\’ prime Jewish neighborhoods.
City Spa is one of only a handful of old world saunas left in America. A tradition brought over by European Jewish immigrants, \”the shvitz\” was and still is a place for men to schmooze, bond and sweat. Now, though, women can see what they\’ve been missing.
Artists from places as far afield as Brooklyn, Baltimore and Tal-Shahar, Israel, and as near as Beverly Hills will be exhibiting at the 18th annual Festival of Jewish Artisans at Temple Isaiah on Nov. 21-22. Among the crafts on the display will be sandblasted glass, ceramics, gold and silver jewelry, textiles, calligraphy, papercutting, photography and inlaid wood. Eleven of the 28 artists are new to the festival, but many have been exhibiting in the social hall of the Pico Boulevard synagogue for years.
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