West Coast Happenings

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The participants discussed the rich Jewish-Hungarian heritage, including that two-thirds of the fourteen Hungarian Nobel Prize winners have Jewish origin.

Cantor Moti Boyer came from the East Coast to support the event.

Alex Shloime Friedman, 93, departed from this world on August 18, 2013 (13 Elul 5773) to meet his Creator.

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Bais Toras Menachem is proud to welcome its new staff member, Yaakov Mark, who will be the Administrator as well as Ort College and GED class coordinator.

Tal Dimenstein has been selected to present her ELI Talk about Appreciation during this year’s conference in Chicago.

Deborah Raskin, principal at Or HaChaim Academy, an Orthodox elementary school for girls and boys with a middle school for boys in North Hollywood, is one of four recipients of the Milken Jewish Educator Awards.

The Los Angeles Kollel Yechiel Yehuda recently held its annual dinner honoring Mr. and Mrs. Berel Weiss. Reb Elie Ryzman spoke of his meeting with the previous Modzitzer Rebbe, who said, "You should know that Reb Berel Weiss is a gaon b'chesed, and we should all learn from him."

In a creative initiative, Touro College Los Angeles’s new education concentration for working teachers is designed to meet the professional development needs of teachers in the Greater Los Angeles area by providing education courses each semester.

Etta Israel Center’s 11th Annual Dessert Reception took place recently in Los Angeles. Etta Israel’s well-respected programs include the Ner Yaakov class for boys with learning disabilities, founded in memory of Aharon Yaakov Kornwasser, z”l, and the Ner Shoshana class, founded in memory of Shoshana Hayman Greenbaum, Hy”d.

Jewish community and organizational leaders gathered recently at the home of Sarita Spiwak in Century City, California to meet and hear from Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, chairwoman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee. The congresswoman, the first Cuban-American female elected to Congress, is the longest-serving Republican woman the House of Representatives.

Zvi and Lila Eilat recently opened their L.A. home for a reception on behalf of Bonei Olam, which has been in the forefront of responding to the needs of Jewish couples requiring assistance with fertility problems and their associated costs.

The Friedman Law Offices recently hosted a breakfast reception honoring Los Angeles mayoral candidate and the city’s current controller Wendy Greuel. The breakfast was attended by numerous rabbis and other L.A. clergy members, along with special guest speaker Rabbi Eliyahu Abergel, the chief judge of Jerusalem’s Rabbinic Court.

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A double Hachnasas Sefer Torah celebration, recently held at Shaarei Torah of Los Angeles, began with the kesivas osios at the home of Regina Rechnitz, the Rechnitz family matriarch. The writing of the final letters was followed by a large procession through the streets of Los Angeles to the Shaarei Torah shul, home of the new Sifrei Torah.

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As a result of the combined efforts of administration, faculty and student body members toward implementing the academic mission of Touro College Los Angeles (TCLA), the college has grown mightily over the past year. TCLA’s focus on developing innovative programs is being lauded in academic circles.

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Touro College Los Angeles (TCLA) offers a full array of prerequisite science courses for those interested in continuing their education and/or working in the health science fields. TCLA has recently increased their offerings due to popular demand.

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Rebbetzin Esther Jungreis, founder and president of Hineni, the Jewish outreach organization, addressed an overflow crowd recently at Congregation Shaarei Tefila in Los Angeles.

As all this was happening, three Jewish representatives of the U.S. armed forces were honored and saluted the flag as the National Anthem was sung.

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Dr. George Szapary, the Hungarian ambassador to the U.S., recently visited Los Angeles to discuss political, social and economic matters with that city’s leaders.