County Executive Isiah Leggett and the Department of Health and Human Services awarded Homecrest House $5,000 to support the services provided in its Edwards Building for handicap accessible public bathroom doors.  The Edwards Building is a non-profit, non-denominational, mission based rent and service subsidized community for very low-income seniors.

The idea for this grant request was suggested by Elizabeth “Betty” Zake, a nineteen year employee at the Edwards Building who saw a need for handicap access bathrooms.

Donna Tucker, Assistant Executive Director and Manager of the Edwards Building and Joe Podson, Executive Director said, “It’s a wonderful thing to have such a caring staff who are looking for new ways for us to improve our community”...more.

by Dmitriy Shapiro

Israeli-Palestinian conflict negotiations and the Iran nuclear program are at the top of the Jewish community’s agenda ahead of tonight’s annual State of the Union address.

Like presidents before him, President Barack Obama has traditionally used this address before Congress to lay out an ambitious agenda—and he probably still will—but it would be difficult to do so without acknowledging the saga endured by the plans he touted in his State of the Union address last year.

Mark Olshan, associate executive vice president of B’nai B’rith International:

“One of the things I would love to hear in the State of the Union, though I don't think it’s going to come up although we would love to see it, is the commitment to senior citizens housing, in particular, but more nationally, the issues relating to refocusing our nation’s housing policy to persons who might need affordable rental housing...more.

Le Bar des Fleurs Dimanche 12h00, présenté par Nuno Wahnon Martins en partenariat avec le B’nai B’rith France et le B’nai B’rith International. Le Bar des Fleurs, c’est l’analyse européenne de l’actu internationale et proche-orientale”

Pour cette  émission Le Bar des Fleurs invite Umberto GAMBINI : conseiller de l’eurodéputé espagnol Ramon Tremosa i balcells membre du Groupe Alliance des démocrates et des libéraux pour l’Europe.

Le BBF se réjouit que la France ait enfin décidé d’en finir avec l’antisémitisme de M. Dieudonné, sous l’impulsion décisive de Monsieur le Ministre de l’Intérieur, soutenu par Monsieur le Président de la République. Ce sinistre personnage vomit en permanence sa haine des juifs, en appelle à « M. Patrick Cohen dans les chambres à gaz », ridiculise à longueur de journée la Shoah, ayant une influence exécrable sur des esprits désorientés prêts à rejoindre le pire dans ce qui n’est ni rire ni comique. Mais le BBF rappelle que cet individu continue son commerce lucratif, comprenant la vente de nombreux objets, via sa compagne et sa mère, en prétendant ainsi être insolvable, et par de nombreuses représentations tant dans son théâtre parisien qu’en s’apprêtant à entamer une tournée, une tournante de la haine, dans toute la France. Cette dernière doit commencer jeudi prochain à Nantes, et les Fils et Filles des déportés juifs de France ont appelé à y manifester mercredi pour demander l'interdiction de son meeting antisémite. Le BBF se joint à cet appel. Il serait incompréhensible que ce personnage continue à défier la France entière mobilisée contre lui. Il y va des valeurs universelles de la France. Il y va d’une raison élémentaire, d’un entendement basique, d’un pays dressé contre une pathologie individuelle toxique. Le pays des droits de l’homme a toujours su faire face à l’adversité. Il a fait le plus difficile face à M’bala M’bala. Qu’il aille au bout de sa dignité, qu’il oppose son honneur à l’horreur...more.

by Jan Lee

Looking back, 2013 was a challenging year for many Jewish communities across the world. A host of organizations, some well known and some barely known at all, did their part to make it a richer year for both Jews and non-Jews. In many parts of the world, these organizations, and their humanitarian efforts are the face of the Jewish community. They not only save lives, but shape global perceptions about Jews...

B’nai B’rith
B’nai B’rith has been around for more than 150 years, and still is a formidable voice for human rights. It speaks up when many of us might be inclined to stay silent, and it supports communities that would otherwise not have the resources to protect themselves against antisemitism. Our history is all the richer for its efforts...more.

Shalom TV quotes the B'nai B'rith International statement condemning the Modern Language Association for an anti-Israel discussion planned for Annual Conference -- http://youtu.be/SQgE6t3flE0?t=5m32s

by Diane Kanner

So you think the 25-year-old Autry National Center in Griffith Park is strictly a cowboy and native American museum? Oy, vai, you could not be more wrong.

An exhibit there which is about to conclude takes a look at men and women of the Jewish faith who shaped institutions like Hollywood’s Cedars of Lebanon Hospital on Fountain Avenue, hardly a frontier hangout. Some whose faith was little known, like Austrian immigrant architect Richard Neutra, rose to the heights of their professions.

The other artifact is a crystal bowl given to Dorothy Chandler by the oldest Jewish fraternal organization in the region, B’nai B’rith. After Chandler and husband Norman were married, they lived in an apartment on Vermont Avenue before building a home at 2520 Nottingham Avenue. The 1965 award recognized her “extraordinary” efforts in fundraising and bridging the gulf between Jewish and non Jewish Angelenos...more.