This week we celebrate the festival of Passover. If asked on the spot what the point of the holiday is, you would probably respond “to commemorate the redemption from Egyptian bondage.” This interaction is reenacted on the Seder night: The…
Aliyah throughout the ages
Imagine you are living in a land where you must tuck away your kippah or Magen David necklace in public in fear of putting your life in danger, simply because of who you are. This has been an unfortunate reality…
Is it time to move to Israel already? And other questions about the future of Diaspora Judaism
The Impetus: What happened? As most of the world is abundantly aware, on Jan. 7, two radical Muslim terrorists charged the offices of the French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo, killing 12 journalists whom they held responsible for depicting the prophet…
My Grandfather’s Uniform
Last week, I visited the Israeli consulate to renew my passport. As the lady at the desk was happily typing my information into her computer, a sense of relief quietly overcame me, knowing I would soon be one step closer…
The Empathy Gap
The tragedies of the summer of 2014 in Israel began with the abduction and murder of three Israeli children, Eyal, Gilad and Naftali. Though the vast majority of Jews across the world had no direct connection to the boys, we…
The practicality of the Shurat Hadin lawsuit
Last Monday, a US jury ordered the Palestinian Authority and the Palestine Liberation Organization to pay over $218 million to the victims (and their families) of terrorist attacks in Israel that the PA provided material support for. The trial provided…
Upcoming address to Congress: the next move in Netanyahu’s chess game vs. Obama
If one considers a single word that best encapsulates President Barack Obama’s relationship with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanhayu throughout the past six years, the colloquial portmanteau “frenemies” immediately comes to mind. Dictated by circumstance, Obama and Netanyahu’s arranged matrimony…
Above and Beyond: My night at the film premiere
Last November, I had the pleasure of attending the 28th Israeli Film Festival LA premiere of Above and Beyond, a documentary produced by Nancy Spiegelberg about the foreign airmen of Israel’s 1948 War of Independence. That eventful Thursday night was…
Battling apathy towards Israeli politics in the Jewish student community
J Street and the Jewish Agency recently hosted discussions about the upcoming Israeli elections, in which UCLA students were invited to learn about and debate over the issues that caused the calling of early elections, and discuss how those issues…
Taste of Torah: Purposeful Meandering
Written by Rabbi Aaron Lerner, senior Jewish educator of Hillel at UCLA Most Americans strive for efficiency. The popular Israeli-invented app Waze, for instance, provides many of us with a significantly reduced commuting time. In fact, just yesterday, it directed…