Levi Strauss is most well known for the blue jeans he brought to the American market, but he didn’t start in the denim trade. In fact, he might not have earned his fortune if not for a fortunate letter writer with a good idea. Strauss, like many American Jewish entrepreneurs, was an immigrant. He was born in Buttenheim, Bavaria on February 26, 1829 to Hirsch Strauss and his second wife, Rebecca Haas Strauss. Levi’s father died of tuberculosis, after which he and his mother, including two of his …More

Nearly a decade ago, Jennie Starr noticed a problem in her San Diego community. The majority of Jews didn’t affiliate with a particular synagogue or Hebrew school, despite the fact the city had a large Jewish population. So Starr set out to do something about it. Tarbuton is an Israeli cultural center in California focused on giving Jewish families a space to come together and share their collective culture. “About eight years ago I created informal social gatherings to create Israeli social …More

This academic year has posed significant challenges for pro-Israel students on California college campuses. Divestment resolutions have been considered by over half a dozen campus student governments and have yielded a range of results spanning from indefinite tabling to unanimous passage. For activists whose campuses passed a non-binding resolution calling for the university to pull funds from companies that profit from Israeli partnerships, the next step has been confusing, often leading into uncharted …More

Sean Savage, JNS.org The University of California, Riverside (UCR) student government overturned a recently passed student senate resolution that urged the University of California (UC) system to implement Israel divestment. When the resolution—titled “Divestment of Companies that Profit from Apartheid”—had passed in early March, opponents of the Israel divestment measure argued that they were not given enough time to prepare for the vote. “There was not enough time or opportunity …More

San Francisco’s last kosher grocer is closing, ending more than six decades of service for the local community. Israel’s Strictly Kosher opened in the City by the Bay in 1949, and went through several incarnations. At one point customers could choose their own live chicken to have butchered on the spot. Today, the 3,500-square-foot shop sells a variety of baked goods, knishes, latkes and dry kosher wares hard to come by at other stores. But customers will soon have to look elsewhere, as owner Faina …More

Producing wine atop a tranquil mountain in a remote area of northern California is quite a way to make a living. For Benyamin Cantz, whose one-man operation in the hills of Santa Cruz produces kosher wine from organic grapes, it's also a calling. “This is my livelihood but I don’t quite run it like a full-fledged business,” Cantz told JTA in an interview on his vineyard, Four Gates Winery. “It could definitely be run more efficiently, but I don’t see the process like that. I just …More

Holocaust testimony will soon be heard from the mouths of holograms, thanks to a group of scientists in California. A team at the University of Southern California’s Shoah Foundation has spent 18 months tirelessly recording witness accounts from Holocaust survivors, using high tech equipment to transform the video into state of the art technology. Researchers recently unveiled part of their progress to the USC School of Cinematic Arts, predicting it would take just one to five years for full …More

An Israeli company plans to construct a cutting edge desalination plant in California. Once fully operational in 2016, IDE Technologies’ water treatment facility is expected to turn 54 million gallons of seawater into potable water each day. Modeled after the Ashkelon and Hadera desalination plants in Israel, the Carlsbad facility will use reverse osmosis technology to make safe drinking water from seawater, which will then be pumped into the San Diego County’s water system. According to IDE, this …More

The son of an Israeli billionaire has gone missing in Los Angeles, the LA Jewish Journal reported last week. The LAPD is currently investigating the disappearance of Syril Zimand, 28, who has been missing since November. Zimand is the son of Henri Zimand, an Israeli philanthropist who made his fortune in real estate and startup businesses. The elder Zimand contacted the police after not hearing from his son since late November, after Syril Zimand had traveled to California to pursue a screenwriting career. The …More

When 13-year-old Joshua Neidorf took to the bima for his bar mitzvah, he knew his first act as a man would be giving back to others. Joshua recently donated $13,000 in bar mitzvah money to Operation Mend, a program that offers reconstructive face surgery to US military veterans. "I just love knowing that it’s going somewhere … to help the people who save our lives and keep us safe everyday," the California-based teen told reporters. "It makes me feel like our world is going in a good direction with …More

One writer ponders a return to life with rockets in Tel Aviv, as Hamas fires on the city bringing first sirens since 1991. [Tablet] A look at some of the journalistic misrepresentations already taking place concerning Pillar of Defense. [Tablet] And some more. [Algemeiner] A London Times political cartoon outlines the Hamas human shield technique. [Algemeiner] How Orthodox women keep their physical distance from the opposite sex at college. [Forward] University of California rejects Israel divestment bill. …More

Hamas' PR war begins. [Tablet] How social media is playing a part in Pillar of Defense. [Algemeiner] More information surfaces on the young pregnant woman killed in southern Israel today. [Algemeiner] How outsiders can help those living in the rocket-ravaged areas of Israel. [Times of Israel] A California synagogue is vandalized with swastikas. [Forward] Six women were detained at the Wailing Wall today, for praying while wearing prayer shawls. [Forward] A new exhibit in Jerusalem shows the many sides …More