I have always had a love-hate relationship with the Jewish laws and traditions pertaining to women. There are various accounts in Judaism where women are held in high esteem, and others where women are caught in a multitude of restrictions…
Lo Od Kahane Chai
The first part of this article is a political perspective on a recent event that took place at the Coffee Bean at Hillel at UCLA, written by Samuel Bressler. An event that took place a few weeks ago is a…
Nostalgia’s dreams come true: Yoni Rechter’s visit to Los Angeles
An unsuspecting theatre in the Gindi Auditorium at the American Jewish University was filled with a bunch of nostalgic Israelis last week — and it was beautiful. Yoni Rechter, one of the most notable figures in modern Israeli music, was…
Exploration of the -isms: Shabbat
This year, I moved into an apartment with a diverse group of individuals. Two of them, Yash Joshi and Rahul Vasandani, are childhood friends from Mumbai, India. Both of these Mumbaikars are Hindu, although Yash considers himself more religious than…
ARTiculations: Week 6
The ARTiculation of this week is by alumnus and long-term Ha’Am staff writer Moshe Kahn. This is an image of Noah’s ark. There are three components to the image: the ark (can you spot the giraffe couple?), the mountain peak,…
Saving Judaism from extremism
“I hope god smites you for your blatant disrespect for rabbis in general who have light years of experience in life more than you..” “You’re the dog that the satan has to send to bark against him to try and…
Shabbat 3000: this year’s Shabbos Project in Los Angeles
Observance of the Sabbath, also known as Shabbat (שבת in Hebrew), is one of the most well-known, yet least understood, commandments of the Torah. Non-observers might think of Shabbat of a day of full restrictions and limitations; however, it is…
ARTiculations: Week 5
This week’s ARTiculations contribution is from a third-year psychology student, who wishes to keep her identity anonymous.
Peace of Art
Last Thursday afternoon, I had to ward my house from cops. Apparently the good Samaritans on frat row, or perhaps passersby, were concerned and decided to let someone know that four “vandals” (as some people had assumed) were parked in…
A conversation with Ethiopian actor and activist, Shai Fredo
Picture this: it’s 1984, you are eight years old, and you have just taken a year-long journey to a new country. Everything in this land is different. You cannot speak the language, you do not understand the culture, you are…