Support Group

Less than a week ago, I was looking out of a 12th-story window of a hotel near Los Angeles International Airport, watching with horror as flames and smoke began to consume the hillsides of the Pacific Palisades. Our staff was hosting a regional professional development conference, with seminars on professional skill-building including, of all things,…

Our entire Los Angeles community continues to reel from the devastation of the past few days. With miles of land burned, thousands of buildings gone, and casualties rising, our wonderful city faces a historic catastrophe. As the crisis intensifies, our Federation’s central purpose is to put our values of strength and community in action to…

JFEDLA continues to put the value of community in action by providing resources to those in need during our webinar with local elected officials and Jewish community leaders on the current situation, our coordinated response to the fires, and resources available.

As the year draws to a close, I want to thank our entire Los Angeles Jewish community for your compassion, your empathy, and your love. While times continue to be difficult for Jews everywhere, the resilience of our people fills me with pride and inspiration.   I’m sharing a video that recaps some of the most…

Short of a lottery win, there wasn’t a way for us to keep him in a Jewish day school while servicing his behavioral and emotional needs.  Our oldest son had just turned 3 when we started getting calls from his Jewish day school about his behavior. He was struggling with transitions between activities, was frequently…

While law enforcement and political echelons generally support and work well with us, the Jewish community must take action to ensure our own security. Local and global events after the horrific October 7 terrorist attack have underscored a sobering reality for Jews everywhere: The threats we face are real and unrelenting. While law enforcement and…

This week we celebrate Thanksgiving with our families or friends. Some of us watch football, some of us watch parades, and some of us watch for sales on our favorite items. Some of us probably do all these things. While these are all trappings of the holiday, what we really celebrate is our common humanity.…

Earlier this week, JFEDLA co-hosted L.A. Remembers: October 7th at the Saban Theatre. Thousands of in-person guests, as well as thousands more online, joined 35 elected leaders and consuls general from 16 countries to honor the lives lost during the most heinous massacre of Jews since the Holocaust and to commemorate the strength and unity…

Over the past several weeks, I have accompanied groups of leaders, university presidents, elected officials, and donors through the Nova Exhibition, a pop-up museum dedicated to telling the story of the largest music festival massacre in history. I often walk through with a chosen guest, giving context to a video or an artifact, and then bring…

“Today, Jewish college students embody the essence of Jewish peoplehood: resilience. We are no longer the ‘future generation of leaders’; we are the present ones. We are today’s leading scholars and activists, and we are proudly carrying the torch of our ancestors. Even though there is much more work to do, with the support of…

Our hearts hurt. Our pain is real. It feels like failure. For 330 days, Hersh Goldberg-Polin languished in the dark. For 330 days, he fought back against despair and kept striving for life. For 330 days, he suffered, waiting for rescue. For 330 days, his was the face and name we recognized. For 330 days, we…

Starting this week, parents across Los Angeles are sending their children back to school. Let’s be honest. For some, it’s a blessing – having kids at home all summer sounds nice at first, but it is exhausting. On the other hand, after last year, when many Jewish families faced dizzying antisemitism and Jewish isolation, we’re…

One of our core Jewish values is that human life is sacred. On June 26th, the Jewish Security Alliance — our partnership with ADL Los Angeles and the Community Security Service (CSS) — hosted a critical webinar to uphold that value and protect our community in the aftermath of the antisemitic attack in the Pico-Robertson…

Yesterday’s abhorrent violence in the Pico-Robertson neighborhood of Los Angeles, the most densely populated Jewish area on the West Coast, is yet another example of the rising antisemitism and violence targeting Jews. Harassment, intimidation, and physical attacks against our Jewish community cannot be tolerated or normalized. Jews, like everyone else, have the right to live,…

Summer is here, and it’s a time when some in our community can slow down, get away, and recharge. For some, especially our family in Israel, summer brings another season of uncertainty. That’s why we are especially happy to announce a new program called Campers2Gether. Starting in July, we are putting our values in action…

Last year was a study in contrasts for Jewish Los Angeles. The unimaginable horrors of October 7th enraged and traumatized our entire community. Those feelings persist to this day. But the darkness of that low point in our history could not extinguish the light of our people, as we came together to create a historic…

This month has been challenging, but the Federation has ensured that Jewish life is protected and continues to thrive and prosper. Below, please find a speech I recently gave that illustrates these efforts and more. Warmly, R’ Noah Farkas

We are relieved that the illegal encampments at UCLA’s campus have been removed. Our goal is to ensure the safety and protection of every Jewish student at UCLA. As such, we are grateful to Chancellor Gene Block, his team, and to law enforcement for securing order. We hope the University will once again be a…