November 12, 2008
Miracle in the Hood
Yaelle and Nouriel Cohen and their 6 children are a family like no other. Every day from the moment they wake up until the moment they go to sleep they dedicate their lives fully to serving and helping those who need it the most. Through their grassroots organization, Global Kindness (which they run from their own home), this amazing family provides food, furniture, clothing and financial assistance to individuals and families in need. They´ve changed the lives of hundreds of people!!
Filed under Blog by Levi Ben Avraham
October 7, 2008
Are Pico/Robertson Residents Nuts?
Here's an essay arguing they are. It concludes with a look at relative morality:
For example, theft is not considered wrong if the person doing the taking has a more serious need for the item taken. This is perhaps an embodiment of the scene in the popular movie, “Ushpazim” in which the protagonist steals a sukkah from a more well-to-do member of the community. For the past two (2) years, my family has erected a sukkah behind our apartment building that we have shared with our friends and neighbors. We take the observance of sukkot seriously and invest a lot of time, effort, and expense in building the sukkah and hosting. After the holiday, we store the frame in our garage. While the gate is often unlocked, the pieces are not visible from the street (one would have to be very close to see them) and upon cursory glance the frame does not appear to be anything more than ordinary steel poles. In fact, the poles have quietly resided in front of our car for 11 months. But, now mysteriously, someone has been taking the poles a few at a time. Sadly, this does not surprise us. The previous year, we had stored the thatch roof in the garage only to have it disappear two weeks before sukkot. The timing of both of these incidents makes it highly unlikely that some random person took the parts. The theft of these parts was deliberate. Someone is preparing to build their sukkah and knew exactly where to get free parts.
Filed under Blog by Levi Ben Avraham
September 28, 2008
What Do You Have Against Pico/Robertson?
"I'm moving out," says an acquaintance. "I moved here to meet girls but it is just too crowded. There are too many lines just to go to the supermarket. Too many cars. I'm moving away. I'll come here once a month for a social weekend."
Filed under Adventist, Blog by Levi Ben Avraham
September 12, 2008
Pico/Robertson Beauty
Every once in a while I grab my camera, a Canon Rebel, and walk around our neighborhood, Pico Robertson, here in Los Angeles, snapping photos of, well, whatever.
Filed under Blog by Levi Ben Avraham
It's Friday, Baruch HaShem. Time to take a break from politics and terrorism. Time, once again, to take a stroll around my wonderful neighborhood here in Los Angeles and focus on the startling beauty that is everywhere.
Found this beautiful industrial composition on the side of a building on La Cienaga Blvd.
On Pico Blvd., I was transfixed by part of a wall that looks like an archeological dig.
Street display from a Jewish-Persian store on Pico Blvd. This art falls under the heading of the classic Jewish-Byzantine-Elvis style.
On a side street off Pico Blvd., I found this mellow yellow grill.
Filed under Blog by Levi Ben Avraham
July 15, 2008
New Yorker Obama Cover Sold Out In Pico-Robertson
That's the report I got from one rabid Hillary supporter who tried to buy the magazine.
Filed under Blog by Levi Ben Avraham
(lubavitch.com) Nadine Veibell is still looking for words to adequately capture her experience at the National Jewish Retreat over the Fourth of July weekend at a resort in Park City, Utah.
Filed under Blog by Levi Ben Avraham
July 10, 2008
Speakers At Bnai David-Judea
Filed under Blog by Levi Ben Avraham
July 2, 2008
Song of the Soul In Maryland
SILVER SPRING, Md., July 1 MD-Jewish-music-chrch
"Song of the Soul" Embraces Music, Social Action to Inspire Worship, Learning
SILVER SPRING, Md., July 1 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ — Rabbi Gerry Serotta and Cantor Ramon Tasat have agreed to become the religious leaders of Shirat HaNefesh (Song of the Soul), an emerging Jewish congregation in southern Montgomery County, MD that seeks to express its faith through music, prayer, lifelong learning, and repairing the world (tikkun olam).
Filed under Blog by Levi Ben Avraham
July 1, 2008
Leaving Los Angeles
I’m not sure you can call this week’s Lives essay by Rachel Cline in the back of The New York Times magazine brilliant. Critiques of Los Angeles always seem hackneyed and trite to those who never lived there. Cline, however, captures the gothic feel of Los Angeles, how time slips away and one month becomes ten years overnight, leaving you with nothing but a few fragmented memories:
Filed under Blog by Levi Ben Avraham