Walking through the old city in Jerusalem on a Tuesday afternoon, I arrived at the Aish HaTorah building overlooking the Western Wall — Judaism’s holiest site. It was about four years ago that I had gone, with about 50 other…
“YUUUUUGE”: Herzog’s barrier problem
A minor uproar occurred this past Tuesday when Israeli opposition leader, Isaac Herzog, of the Zionist Union, unveiled his party’s new plan for national security. Chief among the new proposals was the completion of the wall, separating Israel and some…
Taste of Torah: Singing appreciation
Written by Rabbi Aryeh Kaplan, Co-Director of Jewish Learning Initiative on Campus (JLIC) at UCLA This week’s Shabbat has a second name, Shabbat Shirah (“The Sabbath of Song”). The reason for this name is that in this week’s Torah…
Why can’t we be friends? Religion and understanding
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…
Extreme Makeover: Conservative Judaism edition
Sometimes in life, one may undergo an identity crisis of sorts, feeling the need to redesign one’s image to the world and get a makeover. The United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism is taking “makeover” to a whole new level by…
Blindspot: New Israeli app sparks controversy
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…