Roughly 12% of UCLA’s student population is Jewish, and these 3,000 or so students may be the luckiest across the nation. They are not only supported by a vast network of Jewish Bruins, but also by various organizations that exist to uphold a Jewish environment just for them. The chief triad of these organizations consists of Chabad, JAM and Hillel...

Politics are a big deal everywhere, but they’re a huge deal at UCLA. Student government candidates, for example, go to great lengths to promote their elections, swallowing Facebook feeds with flawless photos in front of Royce Hall and inundating Bruin Walk with campaign posters. School administrators, for instance, engage with state government leaders to discuss school policy and to lobby...

Dear Ha'Am, I appreciate your including my email in your news paper. I hope you will be gracious enough to print my response to staff writer Max Tessa’s commentary on that email (sic). The words ’villified' , ‘alienated’ , ‘undermined’ an 'affront' are charged. words, they don't reflect the ‘grace’ the author talks about. What my email did is critique...

Written by Sharona Kaplan, Rebbetzin for Jewish Learning Initiative on Campus. What’s more emblematic of Chanukah than relaxing near a burning menorah and munching on latkes or doughnuts? The iconic menorah and the traditional oily foods reflect the ancient origins of the holiday. In response to the Talmudic question “What is Chanukah?” (explicated by Rashi to mean, “Based on which...

It's that time of year again. When most of America is making eggnog and selecting the perfect Christmas tree, Jews are lighting candles in their windows, eating fried food, and giving gifts. One has to wonder if the Maccabees were here now, whether they would grab a dreidel and join the festivities, or shake their heads in utter dismay at...

The past month has been challenging for both our UCLA community and our nation at large. On our campus, tensions flared between the pro-Israel and anti-Israel communities as the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement against Israel surfaced at both the undergraduate and the graduate levels. Concurrently, the tragic death of multiple Black men at the hands of US police officers...

The global movement to boycott, divest from, and sanction the world's only Jewish state ignites a pervasive controversy throughout not only campus life at UCLA, but the Jewish community as well. In previous years, the Jewish strategy was to take a confrontational stance against resolutions affiliated with BDS, spending a taxing 4,000 hours to combat what many identify as —...

Written by Dovid Gurevich, rabbi of Chabad at UCLA. Three adventurers from France, Italy and Israel were captured by vicious Caribbean cannibals. In an attempt to be "civilized," the cannibals offered each captive one last wish before being thrown into a huge cauldron. The Frenchman ordered a baguette and fine wine for his last meal, and the Italian a gourmet...

An Introduction to the Series: Judaism has always been somewhat of a romantic religion to me. Perhaps it is because it never ceases to evoke within me an authentic array of emotions, ranging from awe to love to apprehension. Through my knowledge of biblical and Talmudic tales of the nation of Israel, I would advocate that the purest love (that...

A United States passport is one of the most powerful documents in the world. It entitles the holder to travel unimpeded throughout most of the world's countries, and affords the full protection of the United States government. Like all passports, it also serves as a defining marker of the holder's identity, including legal name, birthplace, and current residence. According to...