Mazal Tov to Natalie Portman (Mother-To-Be) and The Man She Keeps On His Toes
After a time of pirouettes and pointe shoes, Black Swan’s leading lady and her onset dance coach Benjamin Millepied have something else keeping them on their toes; a bun in the oven.
People magazine announced that Portman and Millepied are engaged and expecting their first child together. (And to think, some of us only got a ring.)
I have always had great respect for Portman in keeping her private life, well…private, as well as staying out of weekly gossip magazines. But a pregnancy would have to be known sooner or later. Portman explained to EW.com, “I have always kept my private life private but I will say that I am indescribably happy and feel very grateful to have this experience.”
A few months ago, Portman was still not ready to let her secret out. In a mid-November interview with the Los Angeles Times, after the premiere of Black Swan, Portman explained that she probably had a case of “food poisoning.” She stated, “Yesterday, I was on the red carpet like, ‘Please don’t throw up.’ I went home after the red carpet last night and had a saltine and applesauce and was, like, asleep by 10.” (And that did not make it into the tabloids? Was no one curious?)
With all due respect, Natalie Portman is a brilliant actress and has a great year ahead of her. Mazal Tov to both you and Benjamin! “Be Shaa Tova!” And from one mother to another mother (to-be), I hope you take home an Oscar, but know that there is no greater accomplishment than the award you are already carrying. (But I am sure you already knew that.)
JJ Inside The Print
I didn’t think I wanted to be a weekly columnist until I read a column by comedian Mark Schiff. I’ve never told him this, but...
Perhaps the most surprising part of the D.C. Dyke March, which sought to ban rainbow flags embossed with the Star of David, was how surprised...
As a kid, I wanted to be Erma Bombeck when I grew up. With book titles such as “If Life Is a Bowl of Cherries,...
“When a father helps a son, both smile; when a son must help his father, both cry.” — Yiddish proverb “My father gave me the...
On June 2, graduation day at the United States Military Academy, the class of 2019 pushed the total number of Jewish West Point graduates past...
There is something about New York City that drives me closer to my personal “d’mimah dakah” (still, small voice). That voice inside of me that...
I stood on a wobbly paddleboard in the Mediterranean Sea in my pajamas, feet apart, arms at my sides, trying to balance. The water was...
“How does it feel to be here?” I asked my father while we were standing inside the magnificent rotunda of the U.S. Capitol a few...
Leah Silver was at a wedding on Lag b’Omer when she saw the headline on her phone: “Mevo Modi’im Destroyed in Fire.” Harrowing photographs displayed...
Let’s be serious: No participant in a Dyke March feels “threatened” when a Star of David appears on a rainbow flag. Not unless he or...
As a Jewish woman who frequently shares her opinions on social media, I’ve been targeted online by white supremacists, communist bots from China, die-hard Donald...
They were older than the other parents, gray and pale, with consonants that gargled when they said come in. They played Beethoven sonatas on their...
One verse, five voices. Edited by Salvador Litvak, Accidental Talmudist The Lord spoke to Moses saying, “Speak to Aaron and his sons, saying: this is how...
When I opened the first Mexican restaurant in Uganda and hired local cooks, not only had my team never experienced any of the dishes I’d...
More than 200 supporters gathered June 5 to sample dishes from some of Los Angeles’ top chefs at Playa Studios in Culver City for “Hunger...
It seems there is nothing Rabbi Sherre Hirsch can’t do when it comes to shaping the Jewish community. She was a pulpit rabbi at Sinai...
Beth Chayim Chadashim (BCC), Los Angeles’ first gay and lesbian synagogue, and Temple Isaiah came together on the night of June 8, to celebrate Shavuot...
The terrace outside Dr. Amnon Rofe’s office at Bnai Zion Medical Center offers picturesque views of the Mediterranean Sea and the Báha’í Gardens in the...
Reaching Acme Smoked Fish in Brooklyn requires traversing worlds: through Chasidic Williamsburg, full of modestly dressed Chasidim, and then through Hipster Williamsburg, where tattooed young...
It was possible to believe a part of New York’s Lower East Side had moved west, as Russ & Daughters, the iconic 105-year-old New York...
Two swastikas were discovered at Glen Rock High School in Glen Rock, N.J., over the last two weeks. The first was found on May 28...
When the cast of the Israeli television series “Shtisel” began shooting interiors in Tel Aviv and exteriors in the ultra-Orthodox neighborhood of Mea Shearim in...
The well-known Hollywood red carpet query is “Who are you wearing?” But at a fashion exhibit currently making the rounds at Los Angeles Public Library...
“After Auschwitz,” warned Theodor Adorno, “to write poetry is a barbarity.” And yet, ironically, some of the most iconic words ever written about the Holocaust...
Leslie Arden Archer died May 4 at 68. Survived by sister Adrienne (Lewis) Weissman. Mount Sinai Norman D. Beals died May 4 at 102. Survived...
For Father’s Day, give the men in your life some more ties. But not the kind they wrap around their necks. I’m talking these cute...
Award-winning artist Avi Pashnov has spent his career merging art and Judaism. As a teaching assistant in the Judaica Department at Bezalel Academy of Arts...
Friendship Circle of Los Angeles (FCLA) celebrated its 552 volunteers at their annual garden party, on May 21. In its 16th year, FCLA runs...
FRI JUNE 14 “The Joy of Change” Sinai Temple honors Matt Baram, millennial director at Sinai, at his final Orden Family Friday Night Live Shabbat...
‘New’ Canard or an Old Canard in a New Disguise? According to the “new” canard, Zionists created an apartheid state in the Middle East. Because...
The great scholar Maimonides wrote, “The measure of honor and awe due one’s teacher exceeds that due one’s father. His father brings him into the...
