from the Forward:

Storied L.A. Shul Thinks Big, Seeks $100 Million

The Wilshire Boulevard Temple is seeking to raise $100 million over the next few years to refurbish its historic sanctuary and build a sprawling campus that will serve as the hub for Jewish life on the city’s east side.

“This is the largest single synagogue capital campaign I have ever heard of by a magnitude of perhaps as much as two,” said David Mersky, a consultant to not-for-profit organizations who works regularly with synagogues on fundraising endeavors. “If the Wilshire Boulevard Temple campaign succeeds, what it will have done is said we have a role to play in the building of community and are worthy of philanthropic investments at a very significant level.”

from The Jewish Chronicle:

Charities join up to fight crunch

Charities are being forced to share their resources to save money as the credit crunch bites at the heart of their services.

from Jewlicious:

Get ready LA for Love Fest

Before speed dating, J-Date, Valentines Day or Sadie Hawkins Day, there was the original ancient Love Holiday -Tu B’Av. Jewish maidelach and suitors went out into the fields to see and be seen, really, the first Jewish singles event.  It’s a celebration of love for everyone.

from Haaretz:

Jewish bloggers to gather in capital

While some influential bloggers scorned the First International Jewish Bloggers Convention in Jerusalem as one-sided and agenda-driven, the organizers maintain that not only will many attend the event physically, but hundreds more will join from in front of their computer screens.

“The response has been tremendous, already 200 people signed up to attend the conference,” said Danny Oberman, vice president of Israel Operations for Nefesh B’Nefesh, which is organizing the event. He added that an additional 200 bloggers have signed up on the group’s Web site to view the live webcast of the August 20 meet and to join conference discussions via an Internet chat room…

Nefesh B’Nefesh denies any bias in its selection process. “The First International Jewish Bloggers Convention is open to the entire Jewish world,” the group’s director of communications, Yael Katsman, said yesterday. “All official bloggers are welcome and invited to join. We don’t have a prerequisite – if you’re Orthodox or not, if you are on the right or left-wing, it doesn’t matter.”

Katsman noted that a number of blogs whose authors are scheduled to participate in the panel discussions are “completely secular.” The fact that all participants have to register is standard for international conferences and merely serves to ensure that only Jewish bloggers can participate, she added.