Written by Rabbi Aaron Lerner, senior Jewish educator of Hillel at UCLA Most Americans strive for efficiency. The popular Israeli-invented app Waze, for instance, provides many of us with a significantly reduced commuting time. In fact, just yesterday, it directed…
Remembering the Jews of the Middle East and North Africa
Around me, I could hear murmurs of different languages including Hebrew, Arabic, Farsi, French, and Spanish. The eclectic crowd at the Nov. 30 event organized by the Jews Indigenous to the Middle East and North Africa organization represented the many…
Taglit-Birthright Israel: Discovery that lasts a lifetime
Let’s get one thing straight: what happens on Taglit-Birthright Israel stays on Taglit-Birthright Israel — except for the selfies you take with your seemingly evil camel, the Instagram photos with perfect lighting at the top of Masada, the videos of…
Speaking different languages, hearing nothing at all
Have you ever had difficulty trying to find the right words to say? Language allows us to communicate with one another but also tends to limit our ability to say what we mean and mean what we say. It is…
Background on an exclusive interview pertaining to the mysterious death of Alberto Nisman
With the recent panic over the Charlie Hebdo terror attacks in Paris and its implications for the future of free speech in the Western world — in addition to the safety of Jews in Europe — UCLA students have done…
Twitter terrorism: a stab in the back
Barely two weeks have passed since a catastrophic wave of terror shook Paris, leaving 17 people dead. The impact of the attacks was felt across the world — the media overcome with expressions of shock. As day faded into night,…
Taste of Torah: Let my people go! A new look at an old story
Written by Daniel Levine, third-year cognitive science major and gabbai of UCLA’s Jewish Learning Initiative on Campus Throughout the Exodus story, we are presented with multiple interactions between Moses and Pharaoh. On their surface, these meetings seem to comprise Moses…
Racism anywhere is racism everywhere
In an eye-opening lecture at Hillel this week, Paul Von Blum spoke to students about his life of social activism and unshaken secular Jewish identity. A second-generation Holocaust survivor, he claims his experience in civil rights began before his birth…
Thought Lounge: resuscitating a tradition of dialogue
One of our richest cultural inheritances is the Talmud. Its roughly 6,200 pages consists of rabbinic folklore, customs, history, ethics, philosophy and law, oftentimes moving between these topics in the span of a sentence. Since I went to private Jewish…
A “not so special relationship,” but a surprising impartiality
As murmurs in Hebrew permeated the room and the predominantly sprightly, older crowd found their seats, it became quickly evident that this event would exude a vibrant energy. Hosted by the UCLA Nazarian Center for Israel Studies and entitled “Not…