1. Games season began with a commemoration of the Israeli team kidnapped and murdered over 30 years ago in the 1972 Olympics in Munich, Germany. 2. Numerous Jews have participated in the Olympics since their inception in 1896 and hundreds have won medals — five of them in the inaugural Games. 3. Most recently for the Israeli delegation, Ukrainian-born figure...

"How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world." — Anne FrankHillel at UCLA is known for its social justice projects, whether they are religiously affiliated or not. On Wednesday evening of February 12, Swipes for the Homeless, The HOLA Project, Teens for Jeans, and Hillel at UCLA hosted a philanthropic event:...

Sunday night’s Achy Breaky Heart, a Valentine’s Day themed fundraiser, combined the caring efforts of Bruins for Israel and GlobeMed at UCLA to support the charity organizations Save a Child's Heart and Mpoma Community HIV/AIDS Initiative, with a fun and energetic environment thanks to the intricately-designed auction events and various booths. The night was filled with much laughter and playful...

An achievement in the school of physically oppressive cinema, Claude Laznmann's The Last of the Unjust spans slightly more than three and a half hours and relies on two factors to compel its viewers to keep to their seats: the silent horror of empty concentration camps and locales in Central and Eastern Europe and the clever, magnetic, and provocative testimony...

This week, the Ha'Am staff followed the latest concerning American Jewry. Take a look at some of our favorites! 1. Mike Dube, also known as the "Santa of tzedakah (charity)," makes it his business to bring smiles to critically ill children via major-league sports. 2. The 2014 Winter Olympics kicked off in Sochi this week. Cheer on fellow American Jews...

Mandatory army service and religious exemptions from such service constitute one of the most provocative issues in Israeli society. This has been a hotly debated topic since 1948, when David Ben-Gurion authorized the postponement of the draft for a small number of yeshiva students from the nascent Israel Defense Forces for the purpose of rebuilding populous yeshivas destroyed in the...

Dairy Crust: 1/3 cup whole almonds¼ cup sugar2 tablespoons kosher toffee chips1 cup flour, scooped and leveled1 stick cold butter cut into cubes Filling: 1 can (14 ounces) sweetened condensed milk1 cup milk chocolate chips, melted1 egg, beaten1 tablespoon flour½ cup slivered almonds½ cup toffee chips Topping: 2/3 cup toffee chips2 tablespoons almonds2 tablespoons chocolate chips Directions: Preheat oven to...

With Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions against Israel garnering so much press recently, Ha'Am's staff picked their favorite links for why Israel is great — and BDS is, well, not. 1. One reason to support Israel: it's a bastion of morality and politeness (Hebrew with English translations). 2. This well-animated video provides a crash course on Israel's establishment and accomplishments to...

*in no particular order... 1) You think of clever and creative ways to spy the Jewishness of other Bruins whom you have just met — maybe by looking for Star of David necklaces or bringing up a Jewish event that you recently attended or will attend, hoping they’ll react with, “Hey! I’m Jewish too!” 2) You coordinate your winter or...

For the attendees of this past week's Shabbat dinner hosted by Chabad at UCLA, the Russian-themed Shabbat was a welcomed comfort, especially at a time when, for many college students, stress has increased with midterms. The theme of Russian Shabbat not only extended to the vast arrays of Russian dishes but also to the Shabbat atmosphere of friendship and camaraderie...