One of our richest cultural inheritances is the Talmud. Its roughly 6,200 pages consists of rabbinic folklore, customs, history, ethics, philosophy and law, oftentimes moving between these topics in the span of a sentence. Since I went to private Jewish…
Charlie Hebdo and the past, present and future of French Jewry
This past Monday night, UCLA students held a vigil for the victims of the Charlie Hebdo and Hyper Cacher grocery store shootings, as well as for the policewoman who was killed in a related shooting. 8:30 p.m. found about 70…
A “frank and open” conversation with Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi of Israel, Rabbi Lau
This past Sunday afternoon, current students and alumni of UCLA, USC, CSUN, and SMC gathered to ask questions about American Jewry and the State of Israel to Rabbi David Baruch Lau, the Ashkenazi chief rabbi of Israel, during his first…
Campus rabbis: the mensches and martyrs of UCLA
Growing up, I belonged to a synagogue with two rabbis — one senior rabbi and one associate rabbi. I was close with one of them, but mainly because we studied together in the weeks leading up to my bat mitzvah.…
Batsheva Dance Company at Royce Hall: dancing with the ground, falling to the stars
The chitter-chatter dies abruptly. The lights dim, except for up front. If you are not in your seat, rush back to it. Make sure your cell phone is shut off, or at least set to silent mode. You’ve probably forgotten…
UCLA’s Center for Near Eastern Studies: a post-AMCHA look
UCLA’s Center for Near Eastern Studies lies at the end of a labyrinthine hallway near the top of the beady-eyed and waffle-patterned maroon edifice that is Bunche Hall. If you haven’t been there before, it can be difficult to find.…
Are we breeding a society of takers?
Roughly 12% of UCLA’s student population is Jewish, and these 3,000 or so students may be the luckiest across the nation. They are not only supported by a vast network of Jewish Bruins, but also by various organizations that exist…
Compromise or get compromised — targeting Jewish leaders on campus
Do political motives — no matter the fire that drives them — vindicate attempts to violate the right to privacy?
Activists are out of line #FromFergusonToPalestine
The past month has been challenging for both our UCLA community and our nation at large. On our campus, tensions flared between the pro-Israel and anti-Israel communities as the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement against Israel surfaced at both the…
A lack of communication in the fight against BDS
The global movement to boycott, divest from, and sanction the world’s only Jewish state ignites a pervasive controversy throughout not only campus life at UCLA, but the Jewish community as well. In previous years, the Jewish strategy was to take…