Category Archives: Chanukah

Rabbi Meir Soloveichik on Chanukah, The Triumph of Monotheism

By Robert J. Avrech | Published: December 5, 2018

Families on Hanukkah gather together and celebrate around dreidels, chocolate coins, and presents. Yet the holiday’s most profound meaning is in its core symbol and ritual: the lighting of the menorah. Rabbi Meir Soloveichik takes us through Hanukkah’s two pivotal historical stages, the age of the Temple and the age of Diaspora, teaching us about […]

Also posted in Judaism, Rabbi Meir Soloveichik, Torah | Tagged Chanukah, Judaism, Meir Soloveichik, Monotheism, Torah | 1 Response

Chanukah 2018: Same Enemies, Same Conflicts

By Robert J. Avrech | Published: December 3, 2018

Today is the first day of Chanukah. And here is a timeless message from Simon the Maccabee: “We have not taken a foreign land, nor did we take the property of others — for this is the inheritance of our fathers, which was for some time unjustly possessed by our enemies. But we, having the opportunity, […]

Also posted in America, Donald Trump, Holidays, Israel, Jerusalem, Jew-hatred, Jewish Holidays | Tagged Antiochus IV, Chanukah, Israel, Jewish History, Maccabees, Menorah, Torah | 2 Responses

Friday Photos: True Hollywood Confessions

By Robert J. Avrech | Published: December 15, 2017

Also posted in Art, Dovima, Friday Fotos, Glamour, Hollywood, Hollywood Stars, Hollywood Still Photography, Kim Novak, Movie Posters, Movies, Painting, Photography, Quotes, Wisdom of Hollywood Screenwriters | Tagged Daniel Mainwaring, Dovima, Francesco Bacchiacca, Jane Greer, Kathleen Byron, Kim Novak, Lauren Bacall, Out of the Past, Richard Avedon, Robert Mitchum, Rock Hudson, Samuel van Hoogstraten, Tiffany, Veronica Lake | 13 Responses

Chanukah 2017: The Battle of the Maccabees Continues

By Robert J. Avrech | Published: December 13, 2017

Also posted in Donald Trump, Israel, Jerusalem, Judaism | Tagged Antiochus IV, Chanukah, Jerusalem, Judea, Maccabees, Menorah, President Trump, Samaria, The Miracle of Chanukah | Leave a comment

Friday Photos: True Hollywood Confessions

By Robert J. Avrech | Published: December 30, 2016

Also posted in Design, Family, Hollywood, Hollywood Stars, Hollywood Still Photography, Jewish Holidays, Judaica, Judaism, Photography, True Hollywood Confessions | Tagged Barbara Stanwyck, Carrie Fisher, Debbie Reynolds, Diane Arbus, Dovima, Flesh and the Devil, Frank Lloyd Wright, Gabriel Metsu, Gaudi, Greta Garbo, John McLaughlin, Josef Hoffman, Julie Christie, Richard Avedon, Richard Diebenkorn, Rick McGinnis, Sam Fuller, Sean Scully, Vermeer, Winslow Homer, Zelig Segal | 8 Responses

Chanukah 2016: A New Antiochus, The Same Bloody Ground

By Robert J. Avrech | Published: December 26, 2016

A Chanukah message from Simon the Maccabee: “We have not taken a foreign land, nor did we take the property of others — for this is the inheritance of our fathers, which was for some time unjustly possessed by our enemies. But we, having the opportunity, returned to us the inheritance of our fathers.” — First […]

Also posted in 2016 Election, IslamoNazis, Israel, Obama Watch | Tagged Antiochus Obama, Jewish Collaborators, Progressive Jews | Leave a comment

Antiochus Obama

By Robert J. Avrech | Published: December 25, 2016

Ever since Obama was elected we have said that he is a classic leftist Jew-hater. Obama spent 20 years as a faithful member of Jeremiah Wright’s church because Wright, a proud and vocal Jew-hater, articulated everything Obama felt: hatred of America, hatred of Jews. Obama’s envoy in the UN, Samantha Power, has a history of […]

Also posted in Iran, IslamoNazis, Israel, Jerusalem, Jew-haters, Jew-hatred, Jewish Holidays | Tagged Antiochus, Israel, Obama, Samantha Power, UN | 5 Responses

Friday Photos: True Hollywood Confessions

By Robert J. Avrech | Published: December 23, 2016

I would be remiss if I did not link to a splendid Christmas or Chanukah gift. You have my personal guarantee that this item is awesome. Also available from the Apple iTunes store.

Also posted in Hollywood, Hollywood Stars, Hollywood Still Photography, Judaica, Judaism, Movies, Photography, True Hollywood Confessions | Tagged A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving, Adam Tihany, Chanukah, Elisabeth-Louise Vigée-Lebrun, Gerard ter Borch, Harry Callahan, Hiroshi Watanabe, Joel Meyerowitz, John McLaughlin, Lawrence of Arabia, Miriam Hopkins, Nicholas Maes, Night of the Hunter, Peter O'Toole, Rick McGinnis, Ruth Chatterton, Shelly Winters, Shneur Zalman Mendelowitz, Tim Walker, Twilight Zone | 8 Responses

Tibor Rubin, Holocaust survivor and Korean War Medal of Honor recipient, dies at 86

By Robert J. Avrech | Published: December 10, 2015

Tibor Rubin has passed away. He was an authentic Jewish-American hero, a modern day Maccabee. Baruch Dayan Emet. Tibor Rubin, a Hungarian-born Holocaust survivor who joined the U.S. Army out of gratitude for his liberation from the Nazis, then earned the Medal of Honor for heroism in the Korean War, died of natural causes Saturday […]

Also posted in America, History, Holocaust, Tibor Rubin, U.S. Army | Tagged anti-Semitism, Hungarian Jews, Jewish Heroes, Jews in Uniform, Korean war, Mauthausen, Medal of Honor, POW | 2 Responses

Chanukah 2015, The Same Bloody Ground

By Robert J. Avrech | Published: December 7, 2015

A Chanukah Message from Simon the Maccabee: “We have not taken a foreign land, nor did we take the property of others — for this is the inheritance of our fathers, which was for some time unjustly possessed by our enemies. But we, having the opportunity, returned to us the inheritance of our fathers.” — […]

Also posted in Jerusalem, Jew-haters, Jew-hatred, Jewish Holidays, Judaism | Tagged Greek Culture, Hellenized Jews, Judea & Samaria, Maccabees, Menorah, Syrian Greeks | 2 Responses

A Timeless Chanukah Message From…

By Robert J. Avrech | Published: December 24, 2014

A married couple, two of our dearest friends, are making aliyah (going up) to Israel tomorrow. They sent us this message as the timeless reason they are, at last, moving to the Jewish state.

Also posted in Bible, Holidays, Israel | Tagged Aliyah, Book of the Maccabees, Shimon the Maccabee | 4 Responses

Friday Photos: Because the World Really is Burning

By Robert J. Avrech | Published: December 19, 2014

Is it our imagination or is the global order falling into systemic disorder? North Korea, a giant gulag, has managed to intimidate the entire Hollywood system. Meanwhile, the Obama regime, allegedly sworn to defend and protect America from all threats foreign and domestic, seems far more interested in cozying up to the ruthless tyrants of […]

Also posted in Art, Audrey Hepburn, Brigitte Bardot, Clark Gable, Friday Fotos, Hollywood, Hollywood Stars, Hollywood Still Photography, Jean Harlow, Leaning Boards, Marilyn Monroe, Movies | Tagged American citizenship, Charlie Chaplin, Genia Keiler, Grace Kelly, James Nares, JM Turner, Kotel, Leaning Boards, Ma'ayan Ariel, My Fair Lady, Red Dust, Rex Harrison, The Great Dictator, Vermeer | 13 Responses

Hollywood: When Evil Triumphs

By Robert J. Avrech | Published: December 18, 2014

The most popular and durable Hollywood character is the lone hero. The man, or woman, who against all odds, confronts and defeats evil. In the old days, there was usually a shoot out, a duel on the dusty street of a frontier town between the forces of darkness and the forces of decency. From the […]

Also posted in Hollywood, Iran, Islam, Islamic Terror, IslamoNazis, North Korea, Propaganda War, Sony | Tagged Alan Ladd, Courage, Cowardice, James Franco, Seth Rogan, Shane, The Interview | 27 Responses

The Old-New Chanukah War 2014

By Robert J. Avrech | Published: December 17, 2014

On December 5, 2012, The New York Times filed this story: Cheering U.N. Palestine Vote, Synagogue Tests Its Members. Congregation B’nai Jeshurun, a large synagogue on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, is known for its charismatic rabbis, its energetic and highly musical worship, and its liberal stances on social causes. But on Friday, when […]

Also posted in Israel, Jerusalem, Jew-haters, Jew-hatred, Jewish Holidays | Tagged Apostate Jews, Congregation B’nai Jeshurun, Hellenized Jews, How I Married Karen, Jewish Collaborators, Liberal Jews, Maccabees, Meshumadim, Stupid Jews | 13 Responses

Where’s Your IslamoNazi Membership Card?

By Robert J. Avrech | Published: December 16, 2014

Take a look inside your wallet. Chances are you have various membership cards. Seraphic Secret belongs to: the Automobile Club of Southern California, Writer’s Guild of America, West, The Parking Spot, Halachic Organ Donor Society, just a few among many. Are these cards the sum total of our existence? According to the leftists who are […]

Also posted in al- Qaeda, Australia, ISIS, Islam, Islamic State, Islamic Terror, IslamoNazi Kidnappings, IslamoNazis, Jihad Watch | Tagged Caliphate, Fort Hood, Islam and Psychology, Lone Wolves, Membership in Jihad, Sydney Australia | 5 Responses

Hasmonean Past Is Present

By Robert J. Avrech | Published: December 4, 2013

As the Demorats and their ObamaCare law grinds millions of Americans into misery, we who love this republic, are deeply worried about its future. Simultaneously, Obama betrays Israel at every step, enabling the IslamoNazis of Iran to achieve their nuclear goal. Thus, Israelis, and those who love Zion, are also worried about the future. But […]

Also posted in America, Iran, Israel, Jerusalem, Obama Watch, Obamacare | Tagged Archeology in Israel, Hasmonean Period, Jerusalem National Park | 11 Responses

Judah Maccabee Wants You to Man-Up

By Robert J. Avrech | Published: November 29, 2013

Before Judah the Maccabee and his pitifully small band of 3,000 men went to battle against the great armies of the Selecuid empire, Judah assembeled his troops and gave them a rousing speech. This excerpt, from the Book of Maccabees, gives you an idea of the noble and pious rhetoric Judah used to inspire his followers. […]

Also posted in Israel, Judaism | Tagged Consercative values, Judah Maccabee, Menorah, Selecuid empire, The Jewish Temple rededicated, The Miracle of Chanukah | 5 Responses

Thanksgiving, Chanukah 2013

By Robert J. Avrech | Published: November 27, 2013

The problem with liberty is, once achieved it becomes like oxygen — something taken for granted. Said John Adams, “There never was a democracy yet that did not commit suicide.” For the first time, and never again, the first day of Chanukah will be celebrated on Thanksgiving. This is a moment in time we should […]

Also posted in Thanksgiving | Tagged Assyrian Greeks, Hebrew Language, Hellenized Jews, Jewish Collaborators, John Adams, Liberal Facism, Liberty, Maccabees, Paula Corday, Pilgrim Identification with Jews, Pilgrims, Social Justice, The Jewish wars | 30 Responses

The Old-New Chanukah Wars

By Robert J. Avrech | Published: December 11, 2012

Posted in Chanukah | Tagged Congregation B’nai Jeshurun, Hellenized Jews, How I Married Karen, Maccabees | 5 Responses

Hamas Leader Khaled Mashal: We Will Not Relinquish Palestine from the River to the Sea…

By Robert J. Avrech | Published: December 10, 2012

On Saturday, Hamas leader Khaled Mashal gave a speech notable for its honesty. Which is to say that this IslamoNazi fully articulated the goal of Hamas: the liquidation of the Jewish state. When Hamas or the Palestinian Authority speak of the “occupation,” they are not referring Judea and Samaria. They are speaking of the entire […]

Also posted in Hamas, Israel, Jew-haters | Tagged IslamoNazis, Maria, Sesame Street, Sonia Manzano | 7 Responses

How I Married Karen

The new book
by Robert J. Avrech

Available in All Major Book Stores

Adobe Digital Edition's version is available through the Lulu store!
About Me
Robert J. Avrech
Los Angeles, California
I'm an Emmy Award winning screenwriter. I'm also an observant Jew, a religious Zionist, a conservative Republican, and a member of the NRA. I've been writing and producing in Hollywood for over twenty-five years. But the focus of my life is my family: my radiant wife, Karen—with whom I have been in love with since I was nine years-old—and my two daughters, who, thankfully, look like Karen. Not too long ago, we had three children. But our son, Ariel, died at the age of twenty-two from cancer. We miss him terribly. We think about him practically every minute of every day. People tell us that time heals, but Karen and I know this is not true. Time grinds away doing its terrible work. Ariel is gone. Yet absence becomes presence.

Ariel Chaim Avrech, ZT'L, May His Righteous Memory be a Blessing.
Search
Annual Ariel Avrech
Memorial Lectures
Young Israel of Century City
NOTE: Click on video titles inside the thumbnail images, below, to open that video in YouTube

Fifteenth: June 10, 2018
Jackie Danicki: “Confessions of a Convert: A Humbling, Joyful Journey to Judaism.”

Blog Post | Audio: (94 MB)

Fourteenth: June 11, 2017
Daniel Greenfield: “Fighting Anti-Semitism and Defending Israel in the Age of BDS.”

Blog Post | Audio: (100 MB)

Thirteenth: May 22, 2016Ben Shapiro: “How You Can Save Israel”

Blog Post | Audio: (70 MB)

Twelfth: June 7, 2015
Larry Elder: “The New Black Anti-Semitism”

Blog Post | Audio: (100 MB)

Eleventh: June 8, 2014
Michael Medved: “Shifting Alliances: Why Liberals No Longer Reliably Support Israel — And Conservatives Do.”

Blog Post | Audio: (97MB)

Tenth: June 9, 2013
David Horowitz: “The War Against Judaism on the University Campus.”

Blog Post | Audio: (16MB)

Ninth: June 3, 2012
Joel B. Pollak: “The Mainstream Media’s Betrayal of Israel.”

Blog Post | Audio: (15MB)

Eighth: June 5, 2011
Yossi Klein Halevi: “What is Expected of a Survivor People: Lessons My Father Taught Me.”

Blog Post | Audio: (18MB)

Seventh: June 13, 2010
Dennis Prager: “Happiness is a Mitzvah, Not an Emotion.”

Blog Post | Audio: (80MB)

Sixth: June 21, 2009
Rabbi Steven Pruzansky: “Conformity in Jewish Life: Vice, Virtue or Affectation?”

Blog Post | Audio: (64MB)

Fifth: June 15, 2008
Rabbi Dr. Gil S. Perl: “What Was the Rosh Yeshiva Reading: Intellectual Openness in 19th Century Lithuania.”

Blog Post | Audio: (70MB)
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