Illustration by Allison Hernandez __________________ It’s the first day of the quarter and your professor has just handed out copies of her syllabus and course schedule. Scanning down the list of assignments, quizzes and exams, you pencil them into your…
Kosher Korner: Shavuot cheese lasagna
Shavuot, coming up in just over two weeks, is the holiday celebrating the giving of the Torah, as well as the holiday of dairy decadence. This break from the heavy meat consumption common to many homes during most Jewish holidays…
Shmuel Rosner talks about the Israeli elections and Iran
On Monday afternoon, shortly after 4:30 pm, the mostly middle-aged to elderly audience members — armed with cookies, pastries and beverages — shifted in their seats as more places were set out to accommodate the large number of attendees to…
You are why you eat; or why I keep kosher
Personal responsibility is rather like the pet tarantula you might have begged your parents for when you were little: it sounded like so much fun until you got it, but then you realized that aside from being fuzzy and hairy,…
Taste of Torah: The golden calf and blind decision making
Written by Devorah Friedman, Ha’Am’s External Managing Editor This week’s Torah portion, Ki Tisa, begins with the completion of the Tabernacle and ends with a description of Moses’ relationship to G-d and his devotion to the people he led through…
The Book of Esther and what makes a Jewish hero
In the Torah, a hero is not someone who chooses to do precisely what he or she wants to do as an individual, not someone who never does wrong, and certainly not someone who never errs. In the Torah, a…
Kosher Korner: my bubbie’s challah
Most European cultures seem to have some version of traditional, fluffy white bread. Ashkenazi (Eastern European) Jews, of course, have challah. Although technically challah is a Hebrew word that refers to the portion of bread tithed to priests in the…
Charlie Hebdo and the past, present and future of French Jewry
This past Monday night, UCLA students held a vigil for the victims of the Charlie Hebdo and Hyper Cacher grocery store shootings, as well as for the policewoman who was killed in a related shooting. 8:30 p.m. found about 70…
UCLA’s Center for Near Eastern Studies: a post-AMCHA look
UCLA’s Center for Near Eastern Studies lies at the end of a labyrinthine hallway near the top of the beady-eyed and waffle-patterned maroon edifice that is Bunche Hall. If you haven’t been there before, it can be difficult to find.…
UAW 2865’s BDS resolution and graduate-level discrimination
The recent, controversial Undergraduate Student Association Council vote to divest from American companies that profit from alleged human rights violations in Israel’s West Bank raised tensions among undergraduates. It also inspired a great deal of Ha’Am coverage. While many undergrads…