JEWISH HOME LA

Sarah Pachter I recently watched a clip of the television show Hoarders, and I must admit that it shocked me. At one man’s apartment, there were boxes, papers, and random items piled up to the ceiling, turning the small living areas into mazelike structures. The…

Aaron Feigenbaum September 25th marks a historic day for those fighting against the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions movement (BDS), which encourages individuals and businesses to shun Israeli companies, organizations, and universities. Thanks to the efforts of the Israeli-American Coalition for Action, which led the anti-BDS…

Chava Shields Sleep is a funny concept. Why would G-d design a world whereby 6-8 hours of a day (if we’re lucky) are spent unconscious, unproductive, and perhaps slightly drooling? If Olam HaZeh is the world of action, then sleeps seems antithetical to the essence…

Yehudis Litvak The prohibition of wearing shaatnez – a garment made of a mixture of wool and linen – comes straight from the Torah and is even more severe than the laws of kashrus. A local shaatnez tester, Yosef Stolz, explains that in kashrus, a…

Rabbi Arye D. Gordon On Motzaei Shabbos, Parshas Ki Savo, over 700 people packed into the Nagel gymnasium – not to attend a home game, but to hear Rabbi Yissachar Frand’s pre-selichos shiur at Yeshivat Yavneh. Hundreds of chairs covered the playing field to accommodate…

Yehudis Litvak For many people suffering from blood cancer, the only hope for survival is a bone marrow transplant from a donor whose bone marrow is very similar to the patient’s. When a close match is found, with Hashem’s help, the patient is likely to…

Rebecca Klempner The LA Community Eruv is currently undergoing a financial crisis which threatens to shut down the eruv. While the eruv‘s management has been warning Angelenos of the impending disaster for months, their requests for funding have not received the response necessary to keep this…

Rabbi Arye D. Gordon On Sunday morning, September 25, 2016, the Jews of Los Angeles converged on the home of Mr. Yossi and Bella Essas to fulfill the mitzvah of adding a letter to the new sefer Torah that the Essas Family was donating to…

Sarah Pachter One evening, my husband and I planned to attend a black tie event. I was eight months pregnant and had only one formal gown that fit. It was an exquisite piece that I kept in a garment bag, hidden in the back of…

Rabbi Pinchas Gruman It was the ’70s, in L.A. This was when, against the advice of my concerned friends, I organized the kashrus committee for L.A. under the auspices of RCC (Rabbinic Conference of California). There was a slaughterhouse in L.A. at that time that…

Dear Dr T., I’ve never seen this question anywhere, so I hope you will take the time to respond. With Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur approaching, I feel increasingly anxious and tense. It’s not the regular stuff – you know, the cooking, cleaning, shopping; it’s…

Dear Readers, I’ve just about given up keeping up with this election. Progressives now tell us that pointing out Mrs. Clinton’s health issues is taking advantage of her being a woman and different than a man. (No kidding.) Self-serving Edward Snowden is now a villain…

Rebecca Klempner Toba’s Passage by Libby Herz, illustrated by Dena Ackerman (Hachai 2016) Babel by Marc Lumer, Chaim Burston, and DovBer Naiditch (Apples and Honey Press 2016) Former Angeleno, illustrator Dena Ackerman (née Heller), and current Angeleno, author/illustrator Marc Lumer, each have new books out…

Rebecca Klempner Four Jewish women from the L.A. area participated in the Jewish Women’s Renaissance Project (JWRP) Leadership Conference held September 18th – 20th in College Park, Maryland. Over 300 participants from nine countries gathered to hone their leadership skills and promote the unity of Jewish…

Yehudis Litvak The Heroes of Hatzolah dinner, held by Hatzolah Los Angeles in conjunction with United Hatzolah Israel, inspired its attendees and raised the funds necessary to expand the life-saving work of these organizations. Well over 700 people from all areas of Greater Los Angeles…

Yehudis Litvak Two Los Angeles organizations – Hatzolah Los Angeles and the Jewish Federation of Greater Los Angeles — received awards from the Department of Homeland Security’s Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) for their outstanding work in the field of community resilience. Representatives of these…

Sarah Pachter I recently discovered one of the secrets of getting along with difficult people while playing a basic card game with my children. The game is called “Spot It,” and it consists of 60 cards. A typical card displays a handful of symbols such as…

Dear Readers, What is it about the coming of Moshiach that makes us feel uncomfortable? It’s the elephant in the room; everyone believes it will happen, everyone wants it to happen but as soon as someone mentions it – or what’s more, wishes for it…

Yehudis Litvak Yeshivas Bais Toras Menachem (BTM), in partnership with TTI College, is introducing a unique program this year that will allow its students to earn Smicha and a Bachelor’s degree simultaneously. This is the first such program on the west coast. BTM is headed…