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Picture of Ruth Stroud

Ruth Stroud

Community

Before there was \”Ellen,\” Chastity Bono, Rock Hudson\’s death from AIDS, or AIDS itself, there was Beth Chayim Chadashim. The year was 1972, and most lesbians and gay men were deep in the closet. For four gay Jews who showed up for a rap session at Metropolitan Community Church in LosAngeles, there was no other place to seek spiritual solace. But, as welcoming as Rev. Troy Perry was, MCC was still a Christian place of worship. Many gay and lesbian Jews felt deeply alienated from thesynagogues in which they had grown up, but there were no shuls where they felt comfortable to be who they were and love who they loved.

Not For Sale

An estimated 400 people packed the auditorium atthe Westside Jewish Community Center Tuesday night, prepared to chidethe leaders of the Jewish Community Centers of Los Angeles forseriously considering an Orthodox Jewish high school\’s offer to buythe center.

Cover Story A Call for Support

Orli is the first to admit that she had everythinggoing for her while growing up in Brentwood: loving parents who tookher around the world, a top-flight Harvard education.

Taking the Freeway to Love

Single and stuck in evening rush-hour traffic onthe 405 Freeway on the last Friday of the month? Instead of leaningon the horn and screaming at the driver in the next lane, you mightconsider pulling over and dropping in at one of nine Reform andConservative synagogues that have joined the new 405 Jewish SinglesShabbat services circuit.

Westside JCC May Be Sold to Shalhevet

The Westside Jewish Community Center, a recreation and education institution in Los Angeles for more than four decades, may be sold in the next few weeks to Shalhevet High School.

A Commitment toEducation

In a move that many see as a turning point for the future of Jewish education in Los Angeles, the Jewish Federation ofGreater Los Angeles board agreed last week to almost double the amount that the Federation gives to Jewish day and Hebrew schools.

Gearing Up for 50

The peace process is stalled, pluralism issues remain unresolved and the Netanyahu government is in turmoil. But organizers of a major, star-studded 50th anniversary tribute to Israel later this year are focusing their attention on celebration, not contention. Indeed, a rare in-gathering of major Hollywood celebrities, Jewish communal officials and organizational leaders has come together to mark Israel\’s first half century.

Judaism & Homosexuality

In Leviticus, male sexual relations are considered an abomination,punishable by death. \”A man shall not be with another man as if with a woman. It is an abomination,\” reads one passage.

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