Back in the days of snails, pails and puppy dog tails, I would anxiously await the chance to win a bag of goldfish at Valley Beth Shalom’s Purim Carnival. My new pets would invariably die within a week of the carnival, but I didn’t care. The joy was in the chase.
Looking back, I realize I’ve left a lot of dead goldfish in my wake. And I’m going to be honest; I feel guilty. Thankfully, when Purim rolled around this year, I had the chance to show that I’m a changed man.
I began clearing my conscience by participating in Matanot L’Evyonim, the tradition of giving gifts to the poor. Some serious gift giving was in order to appease the ghostly fish that haunt my Erev Purim dreams, so I put on my Fed Up With Hunger hat and got to work.
Federation’s Fed Up With Hunger and Young Leadership divisions mounted a city-wide Matanot L’Evyonim campaign for Los Angeles’ homeless, in partnership with Shtibl Minyan, B’nai-David Judea, Temple Israel of Hollywood and IKAR. We made hundreds of bagged lunches and hygiene kits. Volunteers then fanned out across the Westside, Hollywood and Downtown to deliver the care packages directly to homeless people.
Hand delivering the gifts was crucial to our Matanot L’Evyonim project. The homeless are in need of more than good, healthful food-they also need to be acknowledged as human beings. As we passed out the bags, we made sure to smile, say hello and make conversation. These little gestures, which we take for granted, are rare and precious gems for people who live on fringes of society.
By Rachael Levine, Young Leadership Division Director – City
Federation’s Young Leadership Divisions (city/valley) teamed up with JConnectLA and ATID to host PurimPalooza 2010 this past Saturday. We shut down the entire Rodeo Collection in Beverly Hills for a “party of Olympic proportions.” DJ Miles and the Israeli band Ram 2 kicked off the festivities, and soon, partygoers sporting crazy costumes were swarming about, laughing, talking and dancing.
As you can guess from the photos above, it was really difficult to select winners for the costume contest. But a lot was at stake! The big prize was a free weekend getaway at The Peninsula Hotel. Though he didn’t take home the Oscar for costume design, my favorite entrant was Groucho Marx; the guy went all out!
Meanwhile, in other areas of the Collection, guests got into the Purim spirit by listening to the Megillah Ester (story of Purim) and making hygiene bags for the homeless.
The Moshav Band and Power 106’s DJ Felli Fel capped off the night, fueling the party into the wee hours of the morning.
This was my first event as the YLD Director and I couldn’t have asked for a bigger success! Jonathan Boyer, Valley YLD Director, and I are committed to strengthening our community of young Jews and PurimPalooza shows we’re heading in the right direction.
On Sunday, as part The Jewish Federation’s Fed Up with Hunger Purim events, volunteers delivered food, toiletries, and other care essentials to people in need all over Los Angeles in the Purim mitzvah of matanot l’evyonim (giving gifts to the poor).
A group of volunteers from Federation’s Young Entertainment Division (some of whom helped organize the Ghostbusters JFS/SOVA benefit screening at Hollywood Forever during Sukkot) and their friends joined me to cook a meal for 60 residents of Proyecto Pastoral’s Guadalupe Homeless Project, the only men’s shelter in East Los Angeles. Get their recipes here »
Even before the cooking started, the volunteers spent the earlier part of the afternoon buying all of the ingredients for our menu. Sara Reich, who did the yeoman’s job of coordinating all of the volunteers and the food procurement, bought 35+ pounds of chicken. Jeannine Hamaoui cleared out the produce departments of Vons and Albertsons to get the 30 bunches of Swiss Chard that we needed. Rachel Fleischer brought enough chicken stock to fill a large kiddie pool.
Young Entertainment volunteers joined Fed staffer David Lee on Purim to cook a meal for 60 residents of Proyecto Pastoral’s Guadalupe Homeless Project, the only men’s shelter in East Los Angeles. The recipes they prepared are below. Read about the experience »
The Best Vegetable Soup Ever
(Formerly known as “Vegetarian Pozole Soup”)
Olive Oil
1 medium or small onion
1 carrots [Read more…]
In response to the magnitude 8.8 earthquake in Chile this weekend, which has killed more than 700 people and damaged 500,000 homes, The Jewish Federation of Greater Los Angeles has created an emergency fund to provide humanitarian aid to those in need of immediate assistance.
We are accepting donations online, by phone at (323) 761-8413, or by mail:
The Jewish Federation – Chilean Earthquake Relief Fund
6505 Wilshire Boulevard, Ste. 1000
Los Angeles, California 90048
100% of contributions will go directly to support non-sectarian needs on the ground; The Jewish Federation will absorb all administrative costs. Funds will be distributed via the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (JDC) in coordination with The Jewish Coalition for Disaster Relief.
We are receiving up-to-the-minute reports from JDC’s Latin America team on the ground; they are conducting a full and rapid assessment of the situation by working closely with Chile’s Jewish community to determine critical next steps based on immediate needs of the hardest-hit areas. Chile’s diverse Jewish community has an estimated population of 12,000-16,000. The community supports a JCC, two Jewish day schools, and synagogues. Purim festivities were cancelled as a result of the disaster, but no loss of Jewish life or injuries has been reported.
Our prayers and thoughts go out to the people of Chile. I know that the Jewish community of Los Angeles will respond to their needs just as you did to help those in Haiti. With nearly $500,000 donated to our Federation’s Haitian earthquake relief fund to date, Federation-supported efforts have transitioned from emergency response to recovery. Projects underway are addressing the need for food and water, medical care, rebuilding, and strengthening support of on-the-ground responders as they work to meet the needs of those that have fled from Port-au-Prince to the countryside.
In times of crisis, I am heartened that the Jewish community of Los Angeles rallies together to centralize its support in order to have the most effective and impactful response. I hope you’ll join us by making a donation.
February 23, 2010 Susan S. Pritzker Event with Dani Shapiro
Best-selling author Dani Shapiro discussed her new book Devotion, an intense story about the search for meaning and peace, at the first event of the 2010 Susan S. Pritzker series.
February 21, 2010 Super Sunday in the City
The Jewish Federtion’s biggest annual fund-raising event, where volunteers raised a record sum at the The Jewish Federation Goldsmith Center on Wilshire Boulevard.
Super Sunday in the Valley
Federation volunteers scaled new heights in fundraising at the Valley Alliance headquarters in the Bernard Milken Jewish Community Campus. Making phone calls never looked so fun!
February 16 , 2010 King David Society Dinner
Stephen Dubner, co-author of Freakonomics and Superfreakonomics, entertained KDS members at their annual dinner. Mr. Dubner discussed his book Choosing My Religion, which chronicles his Jewish parents’ conversion to Catholicism, and his own search for his spiritual and ethnic roots.
February 10, 2010 Ruby Lion Luncheon 400 women from across the City and Valley gathered together at the Beverly Hills Hotel for The Jewish Federation Sylvia Weisz Women’s Campaign annual Ruby/Lion of Judah luncheon. Rochelle Cohen was named as the 2010 honoree.
The roars of over 400 Lions of Judah were silenced to a hush in a ballroom at the Beverly Hills Hotel on February 10th as producer Marc Platt took the dais and shared some most gripping, dramatic tales. No, these were not scenes from his latest scripted project; they were scenes from his life — as a committed Jewish man in Hollywood.
Platt, producer of the Broadway sensation, Wicked, and a string of Hollywood films, such as Legally Blonde, Rachel Getting Married, and the recent academy award nominated Nine, made it clear at the Ruby/Lion of Judah luncheon that doing the “right thing” in Hollywood or anywhere is a choice. Further, Platt emphasized that, “too often, we are concerned with being better off, when we should be concerned simply with being better.” He applauded the women in the room for looking in the mirror and saying, “I gave the most that I could” for our community.
At the event, Platt was followed by his wife, Julie, who as the Federation’s Sylvia Weisz Women’s Campaign Chair, said “Individually, we can only do so much. But with the strength of community, we can do so much more.” Rochelle Cohen received the Ruby Award, a prestigious honor bestowed annually at this gathering, for her work and leadership in the Women’s Campaign.
Meet JFedLA’s new Young Leadership Director and check out the hottest Purim event in LA, Purimpalooza. YLD, JConnectLA, and ATID are throwing it together so you know it’s gonna be good!
Details
Saturday 2/27
@ A Cow Jumped Over The Moon, Beverly Hills
9p-2am
$22 online, $28 at the door Get tix now!
The Birmingham Jewish Federation just launched a program that will give members in their 20’s and 30’s an opportunity to do hands-on volunteer work in support of the causes they care about most. It’s called “Fed Up.”
The initiative evolved from a successful Fed Up With Hunger event where 75 young people went to learn about hunger and chipped in a total of $1,700 for Birmingham’s Catalyst Community Garden Coalition and Table to Table, a hunger relief agency in Israel.
“The name ‘Fed Up With Hunger’ was developed by The Jewish Federation of Greater Los Angeles,” said Lauren Klinner, BJF Fundraising & Management Coordinator, in a recent email communication. “And we thank them for letting us use it.”
But the Birmingham Federation is taking the concept in a different direction, and we’re excited to see the results of their efforts. Lauren and fellow group leader Caren Seligman, are broadening the scope of the project beyond hunger and narrowing the member base to young Jews. More importantly, they’re handing over a lot of the power to their group members.
“Caren and I stressed that ‘Fed Up’ was going to be about them; their ideas and the things they wanted to do,” Lauren said. “We hope to make Tikkun Olam an important part of their lives. We want to help people in need, make our city a better place to live, help Israel, learn leadership skills, commit to things greater than ourselves, and most importantly, make a difference!”
Birmingham, we wish you the best of luck! Keep us posted on your progress.
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Back in the days of snails, pails and puppy dog tails, I would anxiously await the chance to win a bag of goldfish at Valley Beth Shalom’s Purim Carnival. My new pets would invariably die within a week of the carnival, but I didn’t care. The joy was in the chase.
