An Exhibit of Our Past: The Jews of Boyle Heights

Most of us are familiar with Los Angeles’ Jewish-inhabited areas, including La Brea, Fairfax, and Pico-Robertson. These neighborhoods house multitudes of kosher restaurants, markets, and shops. However, most Jews who live in Los Angeles are not aware of how the…

Resolving the problem of the Jewish Left

In my previous article I outlined the several reasons why the Jewish left is in an existential crisis, my goal in this piece will be to provide a potential solution to this problem, a solution which preserves the role of…

Taste of Torah: Letting the land lull

By Rabbi Aryeh Kaplan, Co-Director of the Jewish Leaning Initiative on Campus at UCLA This week’s Torah portion, Behar, introduces us to a most fascinating commandment: Shemitah, the Sabbatical year. The mitzvah of Shemitah mandates that Jews in Israel cease and desist of all labor to fields for the entire seventh…

House of Cards: the Israel episode

Israeli politics can best be described as a volatile and tumultuous show. Recent events have provided yet more evidence of this phenomenon and have cemented president Benjamin Netanyahu’s reputation as Israel’s Frank Underwood. The current saga began several months ago,…

Response to Daily Bruin submission: Israel Independence Week is a celebration of survivors

An Israeli response to the Matan Neuman’s plea to allow UCLA’s pro-Israel community to celebrate Yom Ha’Atzmaut, and the important concepts it conveniently overlooked I appreciate and agree wholeheartedly with Matan Neuman’s words regarding Yom Ha’Atzmaut celebrations: the Israeli community…

Photo Essay: Yom Ha’Atzmaut 2016

Today Bruins came from across campus to celebrate Israel Independence Day in Bruin Plaza. This is a yearly event organized by Bruins for Israel where students celebrate with great music, food, and world class dancing.  

Zikaron BaSalon: The Holocaust survivor who left me speechless

We are the next generation. We are the generation that will live to see days without Holocaust survivors. They are disappearing, and with them, their stories, if not shared, will be gone forever. We are the next generation. It is…

The roots of BDS

In the summer of 2014, the Gaza-based terrorist organization Hamas fired thousands of rockets at Israeli civilians and used its terror tunnel network to launch attacks in Israeli territory. In response, Israel launched the defensive Operation Protective edge to eliminate…

Trouble in the Tribe: an event and discourse

The UCLA Law School lecture hall hummed with chatter as attendees carried their tea and cookies to their seats, awaiting the event speaker. Couples and friends flipped through the fresh pages of their newly purchased books, and shared commentary on…