Blog

At 87 years young, the Balboa Fun Zone in Newport Beach is going strong. It began during the Depression, in 1936, when the owner of a failing boatyard leased his land on the peninsula to businessman Al Anderson, who quickly constructed a Ferris wheel and merry-go-round on the property, thus creating the destination we know today. One of many activities people enjoy is paddling around the bay in kayaks—a fun choice introduced in 1938 by OC Jewish pioneer Allan Fainbarg. According to Allan, ...

Mount Vernon is bringing its newly produced film, George Washington and the Pursuit of Religious Freedom to the Merage Jewish Community Center on March 22.

Harry (Hebrew name Tzvi) the oldest of Chaim and Yetta Stein’s five children, was born in Austria/Poland in 1897 and immigrated to New York with his family in the early 1900s. Living on the very Jewish Hester Street, Harry met his wife, Helen (née Pheffer) and the two moved to Cleveland, where Harry was a clerk in a pawn shop and their son, Alvin, was born. It appears that sadly Alvin passed young, because by the 1940 census the Steins are living in Fullerton with their 7 year old ...

As readers of this column know, most of the early Jewish pioneers of Orange County lived in Anaheim and Santa Ana. The Mendelsons were one of the few exceptions: they lived farther south in San Juan Capistrano and were the only Jewish family for miles around. Polish immigrants Max and his wife Clara settled in the tiny mission town in 1874 with their growing family; four of their seven children had been born in Mississippi and Missouri and the remaining three would be born in Capistrano. A year ...

The joke is that Jews go to the movies and eat Chinese on Christmas Day. Not at the Merage JCC.

Jews the world over are preparing for an oil crisis, but I don’t mean prices at the pump. Eastern European Jews, the majority in the U.S., have been celebrating by frying latkes (pancakes) ever since.

Our partnership with the matnas (JCC) of Kfar Yona was established in 2008 as a way for our community to develop personal connections to the Land of Israel and its people. 

For the Love of Challah World famous Challah Prince comes to the Merage JCC Thursday, December 22, 6 P.M. Idan Chabasov’s journey to becoming the Challah Prince worshipped by 70,000 Instagram was unexpected. An Israeli Sephardic Jew, he did not grow up watching his mother preparing and braiding dough. What started as a small Instagram account soon grew into a growing community of art, creativity and deliciousness. With a background in professional dancing, video production, animation, ...

Shinim are high school graduates who choose to defer their military enlistment and embark on a year of service. ShinShin is a Hebrew acronym for Shnat Sherut (year of service). They are carefully selected, recruited, trained, and deployed to Jewish communities around the world, bringing Israel to life through their youthful enthusiasm and dedication. Amit and Yael have been in Orange County since August. Let's see what they've been up to...