JEWISH HOME LA

Universal Jewish Festival Celebrates Israel’s 70th Anniversary and the Monumental Success of Birthright Brenda Goldstein After a year of planning, Team Israel presented the Bring Israel Home Los Angeles Reunion and the Universal Jewish Festival from November 16th to November 18th at the Universal Hilton.…

Another Successful SimXa Shabbaton Inspires Both Russian- and English-Speaking Jews Yehudis Litvak This past Thanksgiving weekend SimXa Company conducted its 18th annual shabbaton, which brought together Jews from all around Southern California, as well as Palo Alto, San Francisco, Dallas, New York, and Jerusalem. As…

ETTA’s Silver Anniversary Celebration Brought Together Hearts of Gold Tova Abady The ETTA 25th Anniversary Gala—held November 28th at the Beverly Hilton—began with a “big bang,” thanks to host Mayim Bialik, co-star of the Big Bang Theory, and Bill Prady, the TV series’s co-creator and…

Foregone-Coffee-Bean Conclusions: The Closing of the Bean, the End of an Era Deborah L. Gordon One regular Thursday morning, when scrolling through the Hillygram, I came across the following photograph: THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR YOUR SUPPORT OVER THE YEARS. After careful consideration and with…

Just One Shabbos Sarah Pachter Grab a yoga mat then try this: Lay face-down with your arms out in front of you. Have someone lift your arms for half a minute while your eyes are completely closed. Have that person lower your arms slowly toward…

Dear Readers, Exactly a year ago, I was sitting with my aunt, Leah Rubashkin, at a Chanukah party. All we spoke about was when would Sholom Mordechai come home. Although they knew serious efforts were being made towards his release at the highest levels, they…

Dear Readers, Exactly a year ago, I was sitting with my aunt, Leah Rubashkin, at a Chanukah party. All we spoke about was when would Sholom Mordechai come home. Although they knew serious efforts were being made towards his release at the highest levels, they…

What is the law if a slaughtered animal wasn’t inspected after shechitah? Rabbi Shmuel Wise We discussed this question on this Thursday’s daf (9a). The discussion began with the ruling of Shmuel that a shochet is required to inspect the trachea and esophagus, the simanim,…

Book Review: The Key of Rain by Dave Mason, with Mike Feuer (Lionstail Press 2018) Reviewed by Rebecca Klempner I was excited to read Mason and Feuer’s new release, The Key of Rain, Book Two of The Age of Prophesy series, after thoroughly enjoying Book…

Rav Gerson Bess Delivers Yahrtzeit Shiur at LINK Kollel For Rabbi Kalman Levine, HY”D Rabbi Eli Stern Four years ago, a shocking terrorist attack took place at the Kehillas Bnei Torah shul in the Har Nof section of Yerushalayim. Five Rabbis were brutally murdered while…

And Now for Something Completely Different Brenda Goldstein Rabbi Pini Dunner might as well have called his debut book And Now for Something Completely Different, as it talks about off-beat characters in Judaism that mainstream narratives either fail to mention or speak about only marginally.…

NaNoWhineMo Rebecca Klempner In the world of writers—both amateur and professional—November means more than eating Turkey and grabbing bargains at the mall. November is NaNoWriMo—National Novel Writing Month. But I have unilaterally decided to rename it NaNoWhineMo because this Novermber, I have been doing more…

Dear Readers, As humans, we can have one of several reactions when receiving something: “I have 100 of that—now I want 200.” “This was successful. I must be such a smart guy!” In this week’s parshah, Yaakov Avinu has a different, better reaction. He says,…

What is the nature of a person’s obligation to study Torah? Rabbi Shmuel Wise, Maggid Shiur at RealClearDaf.com This topic came up on last Shabbos’s daf (99b). The mishnah there discusses whether or not it is necessary to ensure that the Shulchan is not for…

Visiting Eretz Bereishit A Fourth Grader, Yeshivat Yavneh Hebrew Academy, Los Angeles, California Recently, students at Yavneh participated in an innovative program. Yavneh’s headmaster, Rabbi Dear, summarizes the program as follows: “Our students were transported to biblical times, coming face-to-face with Avraham, Sarah, Yitzchak and…

Sol Teichman, z”l, Remembered at Emek Hebrew Academy Teichman Family Torah Center On the evening of October 14th, Emek hosted a memorial program to celebrate the legacy and accomplishments of our patriarch, Mr. Sol Teichman, z”l. Over 700 attendees were inspired listening to the addresses…

A Slice of Heaven on Earth Brenda Goldstein “Stop doing. Start being,” the theme of Shabbat Project 2018, flashed over the video screens during the first-ever Great Pink Challah Bake at Shalhevet High School on October 25th. Created in honor of October’s designation as Breast…

Vitamin “G” Cures All Sarah Pachter Okay, I admit I have not yet heard of a vitamin that cures all. However, I did recently come across an author, Janice Kaplan, who cleverly coined the term “Vitamin G” (as in gratitude) and presents it as a…