Category: Science and Health

Editor’s note: This is second in a series on the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA). The Democratic Socialists of America of Los Angeles claim that their mission is to build a “better world” where “everyone can live a life of dignity,” but many in the Los Angeles Jewish community believe that the local chapter of […]

The terrorist attack by an American citizen turned ISIS ambassador in New Orleans on New Year’s Day, which killed 14 and left 35 seriously injured, was about as predictable as an unfulfilled New Year’s resolution. Problem is: New Year’s resolutions usually involve a nation without the self-discipline to lose weight. What happened in New Orleans […]

Over the eight nights of Hanukkah, author and activist Noa Tishby may have just set a record for most-viewed menorah lightings of all time. On each night — Dec. 25, 2024 through Jan. 1, 2025 — Tishby posted a new video of her lighting a menorah with a different celebrity friend. As of January 3, […]

Wikipedia editors decided to rename the “2024 Nuseirat rescue operation” article to “Nuseirat rescue and massacre” after enough editors insisted that the only way the article title could be neutral is if “massacre” is included. The operation, which occurred in June, involved Israeli forces rescuing four hostages in the Gaza Strip. The Hamas-run Gaza Health […]

  The Ghost of Rachel in the Nile Bar and Grill Thoughts on Torah Portion Va-Yigash (retold, 2025) ©Rabbi Mordecai Finley   A swirling eddy of pain, love, loss, regret, resentment, hope, reconciliation – core experiences of human beings – forms into the vortex of this week’s Torah portion, Vayigash.   Joseph was the uneasy […]

2024 has been a year of unprecedented antisemitism on both sides of the Atlantic, manifesting on elite campuses, the halls of international justice, diplomacy, civil society and across social media. The list could have extended to 100 or more. Beyond #1 which is Iran’s genocidal axis of evil, the 2024 list highlights the growing normalizing […]

Since its inception, the religious dictatorship in Iran has never been entangled in such numerous and complex crises. Widening social divides, absolute poverty affecting two-thirds of the population, unprecedented inflation, systemic corruption, and the collapse of its international standing are all indicative of the regime’s deep internal and external erosion. According to statistics, 596 executions […]

There were many moments in the Dylan biopic, “A Complete Unknown,” that took my breath away: the performances, the music, the memories of my youth that shook and stirred me. But, there was one moment in “A Complete Unknown” that did something else with my breath. It caused me to hold it — for just […]

While studying abroad at Tel Aviv University during his junior year at Stanford, L.A. tech entrepreneur Tyler Hochman met and worked with former members of Israel’s elite 8200 Unit, an IDF intelligence division known as a prolific incubator of tech startups. Hochman was impressed to see the tight intersection between military service and entrepreneurship, which […]

Hanukkah should have disappeared a long time ago. For centuries, scholars have noted that there is virtually no mention of Hanukkah in the Mishnah, and very little in the Talmud. (By contrast, Purim merits an entire tractate of the Mishnah.) Rabbis and scholars have proposed many clever theories as to why this is so. The […]