After only a few months in Los Angeles, Shirley N., a 30-year-old Jewish immigrant from Iran, almost returned to her homeland because of financial difficulties.
At Sinai Akiba Academy recently, Bryna Vener vigorously conducted close to 100 first- through-eighth-graders in a passionate rendition of \”Hava Nagila\” as students danced in their seats. If the atmosphere was celebratory, it was because the assembly was a dress rehearsal for the orchestra\’s 25th anniversary concert and alumni reunion June 10, when graduates will return to fete Vener and her remarkable group.
David Levinson, 44, has written for television, theater and feature films. He and his wife Ellen Herman, also a television writer, have crafted a good life from an unforgiving business, with a home in Hancock Park and three growing children, who, he informed me over lunch this week, are wonderful.
The Tu B\’Shevat seder, with its many fruit and nuts, challenges us to reconsider our usual diets, and the recommended Jewish diet. While the FDA recommends a diet high in grains, rich in nutrients and low in saturated fats, Judaism recommends a diet high in holiness, rich in consciousness and connection, and low in selfishness. These four factors guide not only a Jewish diet, but also a Jewish life.
Former U.S. Rep. Mel Levine has been tapped as chair of the Jewish Community Relations Committee (JCRC), a move that some observers said they hoped would restore the luster of the embattled agency.
I recently joined some 30 volunteers from a dozen countries as part of Sar-El Volunteers For Israel to work with the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF). As a Christian Zionist on his third visit to Israel this year, I was mostly united in purpose with the others who came at the outset of the war against Iraq.
Back in Hollywood\’s Golden Age, a radio host asked director Mark Sandrich who, in his opinion, was the most alluring woman in Hollywood. \”That\’s easy,\” said Sandrich, who directed such stars as Ginger Rogers and Claudette Colbert. \”My wife, Freda.\”
Is our national health care system beyond cure? Rabbi David Saperstein, director of the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism, and Dr. Alexandra M. Levine, medical director of the USC/Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center and Hospital, believe that the Jewish community can take a role in advancing remedies for our nation\’s health care ills.
\”I didn\’t really know until I got into it that it was a Jewish organization,\” said Deborah Jennings, who is now the Talkline shift leader on Thursday nights. \”It took a little getting used to.\”
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