Blog

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...

Undisputed comic legend, Lenny Bruce—born Leonard Alfred Schneider—was one of the greatest stand-up artists of the 20^th century. His unwavering commitment to free speech led to numerous obscenity charges and arrests as he fought for freedom of speech all the way to the Supreme Court. 

The paths of two minority communities in early Orange County, Hispanic (mostly Mexican) and Jewish, usually didn’t overlap, but it was a bit different in San Juan Capistrano, which had a significant long time Hispanic population, and where Max Mendelson, owner of the Mendelson Mission Inn and the local postmaster, was affectionately known as “Don Marcos.” Mendelson was unwittingly placed in the middle of a conflict between Modesta Avila, a young woman who had lived in the ...

Adolph, Leopold and Simon Goldsmith, AKA the Brothers Goldsmith, emigrated from Prussia in the late 1800s and made their way to California, where in 1870 they made a typical Jewish immigrant move and opened and operated a general store in San Bernardino County. This location worked quite well for awhile, until Leopold decides there are greener pastures elsewhere and teams up with one Adolph Kolsky, an active member of the Los Angeles Jewish community, to establish Kolsky & Goldsmith General ...

Educator and philanthropist Doris Chasin notes, “The JCC became more than an impressive building, it became a second home. It is a place for sports and speakers, to explore broader views on Israel and Judaism. And most importantly, it is a place of belonging.”

Often, being cool is related to the latest technology gadget or toy. Sometimes it is cool to have a special talent or knowledge about arcane subjects. Rarely is anything that parents or adults in general want to “teach” teens considered cool.

Well at least we know what was served for second night Rosh Hashana dinner in Anaheim in 1894/5655 – goose! According to the local Anaheim news, “a number of fat ganders have been spotted whose heads will fall into the basket on Monday morning,” referring to the preparation for the evening’s festive meal. Jewish-owned businesses in Anaheim at the time included P. Davis & Bro. General Store and Bank, Hippolyte Cahen General Merchandise, Rudolph Luedke Jeweler, and ...

It might seem a bit odd, but the person who single-handedly introduced modern Latin American art as a legitimate field of study was not, herself, Hispanic. She was Jewish, and her name was Shifra Meyerowitz Goldman. Born in New York in 1926 to Russian immigrants Abraham and Sylvia (née Perla Kadish), she spoke only Yiddish until the age of 6. Her father was a waiter and her mother a seamstress, but they loved the arts and spent any free time they had immersing Shifra and her younger ...

Vacay at the J features outdoor activities with music, games, arts, water fun, and more. Every JCC member is invited to bring a friend!