יום שישי, כ״ה תמוז תשפ״וFriday, July 10, 2026
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Janos Ader made West Coast history last week by becoming the first sitting president of the Republic of Hungary to visit a synagogue. Ader was accompanied at Congregation Bais Naftoli by his wife and a 14-member high-level delegation. Bais Naftoli president and attorney Andrew Friedman hosted a breakfast in the president’s honor.
“We’ve had a relationship with the LAPD senior leadership for many years,” said Rabbi Alan Kalinsky, director of the OU West Coast Region. “And it is vitally important that we keep that alive as we show the Police Department that we care about them and the work they do.”
Deborah Raskin, principal at Or HaChaim Academy, an Orthodox elementary school for girls and boys with a middle school for boys in North Hollywood, is one of four recipients of the Milken Jewish Educator Awards.
On Sunday, Oct. 6 Etta Israel’s 4th group home, the Aaron Bloom Home in North Hollywood, officially opened.
With more than 150 alumni establishing themselves in an array of professional and communal careers and 15 new graduates this fall, Yeshiva University’s Presidential Fellowship in University and Community Leadership is celebrating its 10th anniversary. Yitzy Frankel of Los Angeles has been selected for this year’s cohort.
During Chol HaMoed Sukkot, The Orthodox Jewish Chaplaincy Board (OJCB) conducted holiday programs for Jewish inmates at Los Angeles County Men’s Central Jail and Twin Tower Correctional Facility.
As a result of more than 15 inches of rainfall over a matter of days in Boulder, Colorado and surrounding areas last month – killing seven people, causing damage to more than 15,000 others, and destroying nearly 2,000 homes – synagogues and its scheduled services took a major blow.
This past summer, Yeshiva University’s Center for the Jewish Future Certificate Program in Experiential Jewish Education graduated its second group of students and inaugurated a third. The program is one of the few to focus on the unique role experiential Jewish education plays in the transmission of Jewish values and traditions. It arms practitioners with research, methodology and skills in order to increase their effectiveness on the job.
After several years of negotiations, Yeshivas Bais Toras Menachem of Los Angeles and ORT-College of Los Angeles are joining forces in an educational endeavor.
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.
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.
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).
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.
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.”
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
The Ronald and Ethel Gruen Endowed Fund for the Advancement of Secondary Jewish Education has awarded $20,000 to YULA Boys High School. As one of eight grant recipients, the funds are intended to either provide need-based scholarships to students or to support the school’s mechinah (beginners) programs. The gift will be administered through Yeshiva University’s Institute for University-School Partnership.
In honor of the 20th Anniversary of “Schindler’s List,” Universal Studios Home Entertainment has partnered with the USC Shoah Foundation – The Institute for Visual History and Education for the launch of the IWitness Video Challenge.
Andrew Friedman, president of Congregation Bais Naftoli, recently greeted Rav Chaim Halpern, rosh yeshiva of Ohr Yosef Novardik in France.
Yeshiva Day School of Las Vegas (YDLV) recently celebrated its sixth year of educational excellence with a banquet.
By Micah Hyman
Last year, Gabriel Naghi (who has since graduated and is now studying in Israel) and Alex Fax, father of then-10th grader Yair Fax, pioneered the YULA Robotics Team, a co-ed squad that held biweekly meetings. Although the team built a robot that could have competed, all of the qualifying competitions were held on Saturday, restricting the team’s ability to progress.
Led by the Reuben Klamer “Game of Life” Youth Leadership Council, the Soille San Diego Hebrew Day School recently held its first Achieving Chesed and Excellence (A.C.E.) Community Service Program, in response to President Obama’s National Day of Community Service.
Taking long Shabbat walks in Beverly Hills bore fruit recently in Miami as Rabbi Alan Kalinsky, director of the Orthodox Union West Coast Region, competed in the ING Half-Marathon as a member of Team Yachad. He finished the 13.1 miles in 3 hours and 20 minutes – by walking and jogging.
By dvora
Rav Yechezkel Roth, the Karlsburger Rav, began his recent visit to the Los Angeles Jewish community by delivering a shiur at the Los Angeles Chassidishe Kollel.
Dr. George Szapary, the Hungarian ambassador to the U.S., recently visited Los Angeles to discuss political, social and economic matters with that city’s leaders.
The Orthodox Jewish Chaplaincy Board (OJCB) of Southern California recently held its Chanukah candle lighting program with Jewish inmates at Men’s Central Jail (MCJ), Twin Towers Correctional Facilities (TTCF) and Pitches Detention Center (PDC).
Chabad Lubavitch of Utah recently hosted its annual Chanukah menorah lighting ceremony at that state’s Governor’s Mansion in Salt Lake City.
The Friedman Law Offices recently hosted a breakfast reception honoring Los Angeles mayoral candidate and the city’s current controller Wendy Greuel. The breakfast was attended by numerous rabbis and other L.A. clergy members, along with special guest speaker Rabbi Eliyahu Abergel, the chief judge of Jerusalem’s Rabbinic Court.
By dvora
More than 1,200 members of the Los Angeles Jewish community gathered recently to witness the observance of the mitzvah of petter chamor. Organized and led by Rabbi Yehuda Lebovics, a Los Angeles mohel, the event was held in the immense outdoor courtyard of Yeshiva Aharon Yaakov Ohr Eliyahu.
Jewish community leaders gathered recently in Washington to recognize the accomplishments of Rep. Brad Sherman (D-CA) on issues dear to the Jewish community. Sherman is known for his unwavering support for a strong U.S.-Israel strategic relationship, for sponsoring a tough Iran sanctions bill, and for cosponsoring legislation that would require the State Department to immediately move the U.S. Embassy in Israel to Jerusalem.
By dvora
The Kollel Yechiel Yehuda Menlo Family Building recently celebrated its move to its new beis medrash at 444 N. La Brea with a Chanukas Habayis.
Touro College Los Angeles (TCLA) offers a full array of prerequisite science courses for those interested in continuing their education and/or working in the health science fields. TCLA has recently increased their offerings due to popular demand.
By dvora
Hosted by Esther and Rafi Katz and attended by a wide spectrum of the L.A. Jewish community, the 4th Annual Los Angeles Puah Brunch was recently held to support the groundbreaking endeavors of Puah – the Israel-based international organization that assists Jewish couples with fertility problems within halachic parameters.
By dvora
A double Hachnasas Sefer Torah celebration, recently held at Shaarei Torah of Los Angeles, began with the kesivas osios at the home of Regina Rechnitz, the Rechnitz family matriarch. The writing of the final letters was followed by a large procession through the streets of Los Angeles to the Shaarei Torah shul, home of the new Sifrei Torah.
In a creative initiative, Touro College Los Angeles’s new education concentration for working teachers is designed to meet the professional development needs of teachers in the Greater Los Angeles area by providing education courses each semester.
Jewish community and organizational leaders gathered recently at the home of Sarita Spiwak in Century City, California to meet and hear from Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, chairwoman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee. The congresswoman, the first Cuban-American female elected to Congress, is the longest-serving Republican woman the House of Representatives.
Touro College Los Angeles (TCLA), the West Coast’s only WASC-accredited Orthodox Jewish college, recently celebrated its sixth annual commencement ceremony.
Both houses of Congress unanimously passed bills awarding World War II hero, Raoul Wallenberg, with the country’s highest civilian honor, the Congressional Gold Medal, in recognition of his heroism in saving 100,000 Jews during the waning days of the Holocaust. The legislation is expected to be signed by President Barack Obama shortly.
Summer Kollels: The Seattle Kollel offers a men’s evening SEED program from July 2-August 14. On those same dates, there will be a morning learning program for boys – grade 2 and up – which includes twice-weekly baseball in the park following the learning, plus a masmid ha’siyum program for boys in grades 3-8… The […]
By dvora
With bows and arrows, and around a bonfire, parents and children joined the Pittsburgher Rebbe on Lag B’Omer in joyously singing “Bar Yochai,” “V’amartem” and “Amar Rabbi Akiva.” Rabbis, teachers and members of the Los Angeles Jewish community – with their spouses – joined the celebration.
By dvora
The Lakewood roshei hayeshiva, Rav Malkiel Kotler and Rav Yisroel Neuman spent Shabbos Parshiyos Tazria-Metzora (April 28) with the two largest Jewish communities of Los Angeles – Rav Kotler in Los Angeles-Hancock Park, and Rav Neuman in Pico-Robertson/Beverly Hills.
As a result of the combined efforts of administration, faculty and student body members toward implementing the academic mission of Touro College Los Angeles (TCLA), the college has grown mightily over the past year. TCLA’s focus on developing innovative programs is being lauded in academic circles.
Events In The West: This Shabbos Malcolm Hoenlein, executive vice chairman of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, will be the scholar-in-residence at Beth Jacob Beverly Hills… On March 30, Rabbi Dr. Nathan Lopes Cardozo will be the scholar-in-residence at Young Israel of Century City. LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA Mazel Tov – Births: […]
Over the past three months seven groups of NCSY teen leaders researched non-profit organizations, meeting with and learning from these organizations’ representatives about the Jewish perspective regarding philanthropy.
July 10, 2026 
