Ever since our world entered the tech era, Israelis have been known for their groundbreaking technological developments. However, the app that has drawn the most attention recently is by no means a typical Israeli app that can detect missiles and send…
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…
Taste of Torah: A lesson in open-mindedness
Written by Rachel Cohen of Jewish Leadership Network (JLN) and My Aish LA This week’s Torah portions, Bo and Be’Shalach, open with the final and most devastating plague about to hit Egypt. God says to Moses, “Tell Pharaoh that exactly at midnight,…
Modest fashion with Rachelle Yadegar
Everybody knows the fashion bloggers who post daily pictures of their morning coffee and sunglasses and are followed by thousands who tune in for the latest trends, but recently I came across a novel group — the modest fashion bloggers.…
January 1 in Tel Aviv
On Friday, January 1, 2016, the Israeli city of Tel Aviv was rocked by terror as Nasha’at Melhem, a 31 year old Israeli citizen of Palestinian origin, embarked on a shooting spree along the bustling and popular Dizengoff Street. The…
Israel’s battle for sovereignty
When it comes to the tiny State of Israel, there is no shortage of controversial news topics. The newest debate concerns the Government Transparency Bill, which would necessitate Non-Governmental Organizations that receive most of their financial backing from “foreign political…
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…
The restriction of our movements: leaning towards nondenominational Judaism
I would like to introduce you to The Box. The Box helps define, categorize and organize. It’s comfortable inside The Box. We were raised in The Box. Our families helped build The Box. Whom would we be without The Box?…
Yiscah Smith: activist, leader, hero
We are a species that categorizes. Categories permeate every facet of our lives, as categorization is a natural process for us to organize the world around us. Essentially, humans naturally dissect one another into compartments, or identifiers. Consider how others…