Jlife Orange County Jewish Life

SINGLES: Another Saturday Night “Another Saturday night and I ain’t got nobody . . . ” But I could have somebody, if I lived in Israel or even New Jersey. That’s the beauty of JDate, “The World’s Largest Jewish Singles” website. You can look at, or be looked at by, men from all over the world. Sometimes these men contact ... Read More »

Eruv Tov By the time Orange County Jews have removed the last piece of chametz from our homes, we will have achieved a new milestone. A filament, actually made of fishing line, will literally and symbolically define Shabbat boundaries in my Irvine neighborhood. On Shabbat, observant Jews refrain from doing 39 categories of activities. Because the Torah prohibits carrying on ... Read More »

Flour Power: Creative Cleaning for Passover The gates are open! They’re off! Once again, the annual Pesach cleaning competition has begun and, in my humble Jerusalem neighborhood, the Title Bout has never been fiercer. The first gal to declare her home hametzrhein will be declared the winner of annual “My Home is More Kosher Than Yours” contest and find herself ... Read More »

Furry angels One man and his dogs have given hundreds of blind Israelis a new lease on life On a quiet country road just off of one of Israel’s major highways, about 20 minutes from Tel-Aviv, sits the Israel Guide Dog Center for the Blind in Beit Oved. Driving into the premises, a gentle chorus of barking greets you from ... Read More »

Holiday has many flavors. The OC JCC is having a Purim carnival. GAP is doing a mitzvah project on March 25. Teens and Tweens will be making Purim Gift baskets. (949) 435-3400. One Federation Way, Suite 200. Irvine. www.jccoc.org Chabad of Laguna, Congregation Kol Yaakov, will be having a pre-Purim bash for the youth groups JYC and CHI (High Five) ... Read More »

Last year, the Adult Education Task Force, made up of 30 volunteers, educators, and clergy from every synagogue and Jewish organization in Orange County, came up with an idea for advanced adult learners who wanted to go beyond taking a course here and there. An eclectic sub-committee made up of a Reform educator, a Chabad rabbi, and three adult learners, ... Read More »

Say “Reconstructionist Judaism” and most people respond with a question – because they just don’t know what it is. However, University Synagogue and its spiritual leader, Rabbi Arnold Rachlis, are trying to change that. With monthly “Intro Nights” where people are invited to a congregant’s home to learn about Reconstructionism, University Synagogue in Irvine has been attracting affiliated and unaffiliated ... Read More »

Kosher Cuisine at its Best Read More »

A perplexing thought enters the mind when reading about the ten plagues in the Book of Exodus in the Bible. Read More »