Passover is just around the corner, which means Jewish Bruins may be the hungriest students at UCLA for those eight days. Thankfully, UCLA has an amazingly supportive Jewish community that makes sure its students eat heartily. Hillel, Chabad and JAM all offer meal plans -- check out your options below. Hillel: Hillel offers two options for the first night Seder....

Personal responsibility is rather like the pet tarantula you might have begged your parents for when you were little: it sounded like so much fun until you got it, but then you realized that aside from being fuzzy and hairy, it doesn’t do much besides scuttle towards (or away from) you. However, unlike tarantulas, personal responsibility isn’t something you can...

Written by Kerry Chaplin, Hillel at UCLA Rabbinic Intern Anyone else looking for a job right now? A post-university job? A summer job? An internship? Me too. And it’s hard. Each position requires research, writing a cover letter, and reworking the résumé. Each requires patience, persistence, and humility. As the process drags on and as one opportunity, and then another,...

It is no secret that Persians like a great party with food, wine, dancing and music! King Ahasuerus of 4th century Persia, was no different, throwing a 180-day-long drunken festival in celebration of his vastly growing Persian Empire in its capital, Shushan. Iran under the Pahlavi Dynasty, beginning in 1925, mirrored the comfortable and liberal lifestyle of Persia under Ahasuerus....

Imagine you are living in a land where you must tuck away your kippah or Magen David necklace in public in fear of putting your life in danger, simply because of who you are. This has been an unfortunate reality of the Jewish narrative. Despite establishing successful lives for themselves in foreign nations, many Jews in the diaspora have grown...

Unlike the spoken word, which is formidable in its own right, the written word is powerfully enduring and persistent. In general, people’s perception is that the written word — having been meticulously chosen — is usually well thought-out and therefore more authoritative. Thus, the written word, with all its alter egos -- books, newspapers, magazines — can become a very...

UCLA’s prestige, location, and admiration for diversity within its student body has made it a highly attractive university for potential attendees around the world. In fact, international students constitute 12.6 percent of UCLA’s undergraduate program. Elinor Samuel: The Tea-Loving Hippophile from London, England“I was told to pack everything I would want with me on my first day,” Elinor said defensively,...

The Impetus: What happened?As most of the world is abundantly aware, on Jan. 7, two radical Muslim terrorists charged the offices of the French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo, killing 12 journalists whom they held responsible for depicting the prophet Mohammed. The following day, a policewoman was gunned down by the same attackers. And on the third day, after the initial...

“Germans and Jews never mixed well.”This was spat during one of my ten trips to Germany throughout my lifetime — each of which was accompanied by my family’s mini travel Shabbat set. The quote is a declaration of hatred that was earnestly felt by millions some 70 years ago, and one that is wholeheartedly feared to be true by many...

I’ve never eaten the much vaunted In-N-Out hamburger; I’ve never tasted the rumored deliciousness of a sizzling slice of bacon; and I’ve certainly never bit into a savory ribeye steak at an upscale restaurant. As a product of a conservative Jewish household and extensive Jewish education, I have for my entire life joined with my family in keeping kashrut (to...