Businessmen Steven Spira and Paul Cohen address a roomful of students at the JAM building at UCLA. (photo by Tessa Nath) Observant Judaism and the modern world are not always seen as a completely cohesive pair; people often equate the…
Comments on retraction of Israeli expatriate ads
Last month, a set of advertisements aimed at encouraging the return of Israelis living abroad, were removed from the Israeli Ministry of Immigrant Absorption’s YouTube channel. As a part of a resolution adopted by the government in 2010, these advertisements…
J Street Director Comes to UCLA
On Monday, J Street U at UCLA kicked off the quarter with a discussion with Jeremy Ben-Ami — former presidential adviser and president of J Street. The presentation consisted of a summary of J Street’s policies and a Q&A session with students,…
Survivors’ Message Immortalized Through Storytelling
Leon Weinstein and his daughter Natalie Gold Lumer in a loving embrace. (photo by Clifford Lester/Jewish Journal)A 101 year-old man died on December 28th, 2011 in his bedroom in the early hours of the morning. His daughter, a phone call…
Free Speech, Social Media, and how we can all stand up to Twitter terror
Social media is quickly becoming the lifeblood of all communication, permanently altering the way people connect. Trendsetting behemoths such as Facebook and Twitter permeate every nook and cranny of our virtual and corporeal lives, saturating every fiber of human interaction…
Ha’Am blogging: 2011 in review
The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2011 annual report for our blog! Click here to see the complete report. This quarter, we had readers in countries as distant as Libya, Rwanda, Kenya, Egypt, South Africa, South Korea, Saudi Arabia, India,…
RCA repudiates position on reparative therapy for queer Jews
Rabbinical Council of America president Rabbi Schmuel Goldin issued a statement on Monday dispelling allegations that the RCA has taken a stand on reparative therapy for Jews with unwanted same-sex attraction. The RCA website has previously listed an organization called…
Environmental Christmas Tree Lights and Unites in Haifa
Haifa Last year, on the same day the forest fires began ravaging the Carmel region of northern Israel, the Haifa municipality erected a Christmas tree sculpture comprised of over 5,000 recycled water bottles in honor of the Christian holiday. The tree, designed…
Looking for Christmas in the Holy Land
Gaza Last week, The Guardian told the story of the Qubrsi brothers — two of approximately 1,400 Christians residing in Gaza today. Brothers Karam and Peter are currently the only members of their family still in Gaza. Their sisters Rani…
The Day the Buses Stood Still
Israel needs America – financially, diplomatically, and militarily. It’s a fact. So when U.S. Secretary of State Hilary Clinton makes an observation, even about a relatively minor point of domestic policy, Israelis tend to sit up and listen. That is…