By Andrew Friedman and Tova Friedman
Alex Shloime Friedman, 93, departed from this world on August 18, 2013 (13 Elul 5773) to meet his Creator.
During the past few years Los Angeles has experienced a changing landscape in the area of Jewish education. Older institutions changed formats, such as Shalhevet – which expanded its doors to include a lower school and then reformatted back to a high school. Recently, educators experimented with new models; Yeshiva High Tech and Chabad of South La Cinega each have their own Jewish Montessori preschool. And the latest challenger to L.A.’s educational paradigm is Darko, a Jewish Montessori elementary school.
A dreadful local incident has made national and even international news. A South Miami man finally obtained the attention that he so feverishly sought. The event has caused shock waves and led to a serious examination of the phenomenon of social media.
The summer is over. The kids are back in school and the high-holiday season is upon us. Rosh Hashanah is a week away
Chabad of South Broward will be hosting an inspiring Selichot service featuring world-renowned chazzan Rabbi Yossi Lebovics on Saturday night, August 31 (September 1) at 1:15 a.m. The rabbi will be joined by the talented Lebovics Boys Choir.
Ron Dermer, set to replace Michael Oren as Israeli ambassador to Washington, was born and raised in Miami Beach. He attended the local RASG Hebrew Academy. His father, Jay Dermer, was mayor of Miami Beach in the late 1960s. His brother, David, won that post in 1984.
After many Los Angeles high school graduates choose to spend a year studying in seminary or yeshiva in Israel, some return home confused about their next step in life. Some find jobs; others focus on continued education.
By dvora
Earlier this month the Jewish Family Services, Los Angeles City Councilman Paul Koretz, the Los Angeles Museum of the Holocaust and numerous L.A. political and community leaders hosted the rededication of the Raoul Wallenberg Statue.
Ohel Sara, a new seminary for women who’ve just completed high school or learning in Israel, will open in October. The program, to be housed at the Young Israel of Los Angeles, already has an enrollment of 19 students from outside L.A. – in addition to local students.
The Jewish king is required to always have a Torah scroll by his side.
RASG Hebrew Academy, located at 2400 Pine Tree Drive in Miami Beach, will hold a grand opening of the school’s new gymnasium on October 4. The community-wide event will mark the official opening of the multistory center, designed by noted architect Koby Karp.
Children at Camp Gan Israel at The Shul of Bal Harbour enjoyed a fun-filled summer. The campers were treated to seven weeks of sports, swimming, trips, crafts, theme weeks, dress up days and much more.
A select group of Jewish leaders from various segments of the Jewish community recently gathered in Los Angeles to hear from visiting U.S. Sen. James E. Risch (R-ID).
The yom tovim come early this year. Rosh Hashanah is just a month away. The Jewish New Year is traditionally observed as a time of both introspection and anticipation. It is the quintessential opportunity for reflection on what has been, and the perfect time to think about what will be.
More than eighty local Jewish teenagers experienced an incredible summer as they traveled with NCSY on twelve different summer programs to Europe, Israel and all over the United States. They were part of a group of more than a thousand Jewish teenagers from all over America who dedicated their summers to Jewish experiential learning and leadership training through social action, Israel advocacy and holocaust education.
The Shul of Bal Harbour, located at 9540 Collins Avenue, Surfside, offers a popular Senior Torah Academy for Men and Women. The classes are held during the week on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. All lectures are followed by a complimentary lunch.
Chabad of South Broward in Hallendale has experienced another incredible summer. They recently ran Camp Gan Israel, a seven-week day camp for boys and girls. The camp hosted three hundred children who rated the program a fun-filled success.
Rabbi Moshe Dear, headmaster of Yavneh Academy in Los Angeles since 1999, was selected to represent private schools as a 2013 National Distinguished Principal. This is the 30th year that the National Association of Elementary School Principals (NAESP) has presented this prestigious award. Rabbi Dear is one of only six private school principals from across the country, and the fourth yeshiva principal ever, to receive this award.
The recent Tisha B’Av commemoration brings another very different Tisha B’Av to mind. It was a time of celebration in Jerusalem and for Jews all over the world. Tisha B’Av in 1967 occurred shortly after the Six-Day War. Some said there was no need to fast – after all, the Jewish nation had returned from exile.
The Orthodox Union Job Board will host two “Resume Checkup Days” in South Florida for students and professionals. The events are open by reservation only at www.oujobs.org on a first come, first served basis.
Young Israel of Deerfield Beach is sponsoring a sit-down kiddush/luncheon after morning services, Saturday, July 20. The event will celebrate Shabbos Nachamu, which follows the fast of Tisha B’Av.
At the recent seventh graduation ceremonies of Touro College Los Angeles (TCLA) at Sapper Hall on its West Hollywood campus, Touro’s president, Dr. Alan Kadish, referred to the graduates as pioneers who have laid the foundation for the future of Touro’s growth and its increasing service to the Greater Los Angeles Jewish Community.”
South Florida was gripped with excitement as the recent NBA championship series unfolded with the Miami Heat battling the San Antonio Spurs for the 2012-2013 title.
Chabad Chayil of Highland Lakes recently celebrated the completion of another successful year of its Hebrew school for children who attend public school. The dinner was held in The Shul of Bal Harbour. A crowd of 250 parents and supporters attended.
The sisterhood of The Cuban Hebrew Congregation held its annual luncheon at their shul, 1700 Michigan Avenue, in Miami Beach. Pola Chyzyk, Emilia Grabb, Ina Meceras and Sara Pullt chaired the event.
Machon Menachem-Boca Raton Rabbinical College ordained fourteen rabbis at a graduation ceremony held at Chabad of Boca Raton on Military Trail, Thursday, May 30.
By dvora
A special recital of chamber music by a trio of musicians, including Rabbi Dovid Lipson on the piano, took place in Los Angeles recently. Funds raised at the recital benefited Kollel Aliyos Shlomo of Yerushalayim.
What brought together hundreds of Jewish fashionistas to attend an event with women with taste, class and an appreciation for the finer things in life and for an evening filled with laughter, joy, camaraderie, kindness?
Pablo Manuel Diaz is an inmate in a Florida prison. He was born in Cuba 37 years ago. His mother was Jewish. Pablo Diaz is a Jew.
Southern NCSY held its annual Spring Regional convention Friday, May 31- Sunday, June 2. More than 150 participants spent Shabbat together at the Marco Polo Resort in Aventura for a weekend focused on personal growth and achievement.
The Men’s club of the Young Israel of Deerfield Beach will be celebrating America’s Independence Day by hosting a fun-filled “Bar-b-que Bash” on Thursday, July 4.
Bat Mitzvah Club is designed for Jewish girls as they approach their bat mitzvah birthday. A Jewish girl's bat mitzvah birthday reflects a major turning point in her life. The club emphasizes that a bat mitzvah is a process, not a self-contained event that transpires in one day.
The RASG Hebrew Academy, located at 2400 Pine Tree Drive in Miami Beach, held a pre-kindergarten graduation celebration on Thursday, June 12.
Rabbi Pinchas Gruman is the new rav of the Minyan at Aish Tamid. One of the most respected Torah figures in Los Angeles, Rabbi Gruman has been described as “The Los Angeles link in the mesorah of the yeshiva world” by Rabbi Nachum Sauer. As a talmid in Lakewood in the 1950s, Rabbi Gruman received semicha from Rav Aaron Kotler, zt”l, and Rav Moshe Feinstein, zt”l. Soon after, he moved to Los Angeles.
The annual ritual has begun. Preparations are officially underway for Florida’s 2013 hurricane season. Weather forecasters air their dire predictions. Store shelves sag under planks of plywood, generators and other supplies. Many residents stockpile water, canned food and batteries.
Rabbi Pinchas Weberman gave the invocation at the Republican Executive Committee of Miami-Dade County at the group’s May 9 meeting. The event took place at the Renaissance Ballroom, located at 5910 S.W. 8th Street, in Miami.
The students of Aventura-Turnberry Jewish Center in Aventura volunteered to stock the shelves of the Kosher Food Bank on Sunday, May 19. Co-chairs for this project were Heather Romeu and Deborah Thaler, parents of ATC children.
Etta Israel Center’s 11th Annual Dessert Reception took place recently in Los Angeles. Etta Israel’s well-respected programs include the Ner Yaakov class for boys with learning disabilities, founded in memory of Aharon Yaakov Kornwasser, z”l, and the Ner Shoshana class, founded in memory of Shoshana Hayman Greenbaum, Hy”d.
Florida is famous for sparkling water. We have the beautiful Atlantic Ocean and Gulf of Mexico surrounding our coast. We have bays, lakes, canals and, of course, an incredible abundance of swimming pools in homes, resorts, apartment complexes and city parks.
The buzz is back as Camp Gan Israel Florida Overnight gears up for another fantastic summer, CGI Florida style. What makes CGI Florida so different from all the other overnight camps? It’s all in the details.
Jewish Press columnist Rebbetzin Esther Jungreis, founder and president of Hineni, the international Torah outreach organization, recently addressed an overflowing audience at the Beth Jacob Congregation of Irvine in southern California. Rebbetzin Jungreis’s address theme, “Making a Good Relationship Magical,” was apropos for the evening’s main mission: raising funds for the Irvine community’s mikveh.
South Floridians held their breaths last week waiting the outcome of a frightening situation. Three children were abducted in front of a Miami grocery store. Two of the little ones were 6 years old. The other was 5.
One of the biggest Lag B’Omer celebrations in the country took place this year in Hallandale Beach, where more than 10,000 people showed up at Gulfstream Park.
The Orthodox Union Karasick Department of Synagogue Services and OU president Martin Nachimson announced that Delray Orthodox Synagogue has become an official OU member congregation.
Boynton Beach has the fastest growing Jewish population in America. Currently, several hundred traditional families call Boynton Beach home.
The Los Angeles community celebrated Israel’s 65th birthday recently with an early morning Walk for Israel, followed by a Celebrate Israel 65 Festival at Rancho Park.
The National Bible Contest, Chidon HaTanach, recently announced the names of the students who are qualified to compete in the national competition this Sunday at Yeshiva University in New York.
Yes, it is true. Man, alone in all of creation, is aware that he will die. The recognition of this certainty is quite sobering. Integrating a happy life with the knowledge that our existence is, in fact, a terminal condition, can be daunting.
The South Florida community will join celebrations taking place around the globe to mark Lag B’Omer. The local Lag B’Omer Unity Parade & Fair is scheduled on Sunday, April 28, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at Gulfstream Park on the corner of US1 in Hallandale.
RASG Hebrew Academy in Miami Beach recently commemorated Yom Hazikaron, the solemn remembrance day for Israel’s fallen heroes, and Yom Ha’Atzmaut, the joyous celebration of the birthday of the Jewish State.
South Florida Yachad, the National Jewish Council for Disabilities, recently presented a captivating speaker to the area. Richard Bernstein addressed audiences from April 11 through April 15.
The Rohr Jewish Learning Institute (JLI) will present Curious Tales of the Talmud: Finding Yourself in the Legends of Our Sages, the institute’s new six-session Spring 2013 course that will begin during the week of April 23.
I often wonder what it would take to encourage women in our community to become chaplains?
By dvora
On Sunday evening, April 7, the Yeshiva Aharon Yaakov Ohr Eliyahu was joined by parents, grandparents, and children for a communitywide commemoration honoring the six million kedoshim of the Shoah.
Pesach is over. The busy swirl of Jewish holidays will end with Shavuot next month. The slow pace of summer days will follow. Schools and organizations will shut down. Synagogues will stop many of their activities. Their front office is often shuttered. The facility will only open for prayer services. Organizations are closed for vacation. They will reopen in the fall.