Brian Fishbach

1 month ago | jewishjournal.com | Brian Fishbach

Iris Bahr is bringing her seventh solo show to Los Angeles this month — and she wants you to “schlep to the East Side” for an entertaining evening. “Stories From the Brink,” which plays March 21 and 22 at The Lyric Hyperion Theatre, is a fast-paced, character-driven, 55-minute journey through Bahr’s life as a secular Israeli kid from the Bronx, a reluctant yeshiva student, an IDF soldier, a “Curb Your Enthusiasm” guest star, and now a caregiver navigating her mother’s dementia.

1 month ago | jewishjournal.com | Brian Fishbach

Comedy writer Rob Kutner’s latest book, “The Jews: 5000 Years and Counting,” is a hilarious and informative Judaism lesson wrapped in a comedy special — equal parts Monty Python’s ‘Life of Brian’ and “The Daily Show.” This is the kind of bar/bat mitzvah gift that stays on the bookshelf far into adulthood. Best known for his writing on “The Daily Show” and “Conan,” Kutner doesn’t just tell Jewish history — he roasts it, celebrates it as it flies through five millenniums of punchlines.

1 month ago | jewishjournal.com | Brian Fishbach

An anonymous American World War II veteran contacted the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum (USHMM) in December 2006 about an album containing photographs of SS officers at Auschwitz. They weren’t snapshots of the Nazis committing atrocities, but eating blueberries, playing music, and enjoying their days off. There was a disturbing ordinariness to them — they weren’t monsters. The scenes between committing murder looked mundane.

1 month ago | jewishjournal.com | Brian Fishbach

When Shayna Chalom launched Mazal Market in July 2024, she knew there was a need for giving Jewish small businesses a leg up, but she had no idea how big it would get. In the months following the attacks of Oct. 7, 2023, Jewish businesses in Los Angeles (and world-wide) faced vandalism, got abandoned by customers, and struggled to contend with online trolls.

1 month ago | jewishjournal.com | Brian Fishbach

For more than a decade, the Global Day of Unplugging (GDU), held this year on March 7-8, has encouraged people to step away from screens, put down their phones and engage with the world around them. What began as an offshoot of Shabbat traditions has expanded into a movement that spans beyond the Sabbath and onto multiple continents. This year’s campaign is taking a new step: unplugging with purpose.