This past Tuesday, UCLA students gathered for an interfaith event in a small room on the third floor of the Humanities building to discuss many important topics. The event was relatively successful, but due to a miscommunication, there were no…
Chinese-Hebrew Cafe provides an evening of education and cross-cultural interaction
This past Thursday, UCLA’s Alan D. Leve Center for Jewish Studies held its first-ever cross-cultural event, the Chinese-Hebrew Cafe, at which attendees gathered to learn about Chinese and Jewish societies as well as learn some Chinese and Hebrew. The event…
Israel: a values discourse
“The Shalom Hartman Institute is a pluralistic center of research and education deepening and elevating the quality of Jewish life in Israel and around the world. Through our work, we are redefining the conversation about Judaism in modernity, religious pluralism,…
Profile on Dr. Saba Soomekh: the newest administrator of Leve Center for Jewish Studies
With the advent of a new academic year, innovations are practically inevitable for an ever-evolving campus such as UCLA. One novelty at UCLA took place earlier this fall at the UCLA Alan D. Leve Center for Jewish Studies (CJS), when…
An open letter to the UC Regents working group for the Principles Against Intolerance
Dear Eddie Island, Norm Pattiz, John A. Pérez, Bruce Varner, Avi Oved, Linda Katehi, Dan Hare, and Yvette Gullatt: Your most recent task as regents, chancellors and university leaders is to debate, revise and re-construct the UC Statement of Principles…
Our democratic fight
As a student who grew up in a democratic and liberal environment, I was constantly told to be proud of myself and to stand up for who I am and what I believe in. Earlier this week, the student government…
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…
Baba Joon: a reflection
On November 3, I had the chance to attend the 29th Israel Film Festival at the Ahrya Fine Arts Theatre in Beverly Hills to watch the film Baba Joon. This particular film screening was co-sponsored by the Younes and Soraya…
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…