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Jewish Journal

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Mysteries of the Jews

Jewish Journal January 6, 2000

The big surprise of the holiday season, if you caught it, was Jerry Seinfeld\’s wedding.\nIt turns out the man whose television persona perfectly embodied men\’s fear of commitment was, in real life, simply waiting for the right Jewish woman. Once he found her, baddaboom, baddabing, you\’ve got a traditional Jewish wedding, chuppah, broken glass, the works. It\’s so traditional, the crabmeat canapes come out only after the rabbi leaves. They even saw to a kosher Jewish divorce for the once-married bride. Who knew television\’s darkest satirist was such a sentimental traditionalist offscreen?

Will He or Won’t He?

Rob Eshman December 30, 1999

It happened one evening just outside the men\’s room at Valley Beth Shalom synagogue in Encino. A historic dialogue between Rabbi Harold Schulweis and Cardinal Roger Mahoney had concluded in the sanctuary, and County Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky went to the restroom.

Making Maui Family-Friendly

Rob Eshman December 30, 1999

We met a man by the pool at the Grand Wailea. Our children were splashing around together, and he and I got to talking with all the intimacy that comes from knowing for certain we would never see each other again.

Upcoming

Jewish Journal December 30, 1999

It\’s past midnight, and I can\’t sleep. I call a friend back in San Francisco, a scientist I know who is really good at thinking.

Mantle’s Home Run

Rob Eshman December 23, 1999

Spin the radio dial in any direction and most of what you come up with is just plain junk. One clear exception is Larry Mantle\’s \”Airtalk,\” weekdays on public radio station KPCC.

Choosing Judaism: My Father’s Story and My Own

Rabbi Mordecai Finley December 16, 1999

At a recent Shabbat, a guest at our services asked the person staffing our welcome table, \”Is the rabbi here Jewish?\” What the person meant was, \”Is the rabbi a convert?\” Many have shared with me over the years, as our congregation has grown, that acquaintances of theirs have told them, on good authority, that Rabbi Finley \”is not really Jewish.\”

Ten Years After the Wall

Ruth E. Gruber December 16, 1999

Memories of lost family are conjured when walking in footsteps of the past

Letter to an Expecting Parent

Yehuda Lev December 16, 1999

Dear Mr. Prime Minister;

By now you have certainly received thousands of congratulatory messages celebrating the good news that you and your wife, Cherie, are expecting a baby next summer.

Reflections on Joseph Heller

Sanford Pinsker December 16, 1999

When you write a book-length study of a living author lots of things can happen; most of them are bad.
\”You\’ve missed a nuance here, a shading there,\” some will point out, in the iciest language possible, while others go straight to the jugular and angrily insist that you don\’t know beans about their work.

Joseph Heller, who passed away Dec. 13 at the age of 76, was a wonderful exception.

Lovely Light

Marlene Adler Marks December 2, 1999

Chanukah begins this evening, and not a moment too soon.
When my daughter was young and the sun rose and set on her every lesson with alphabet and equation, I bemoaned any gap between Christmas and the Festival of Lights. The closer, the better, if you ask me. How better to illustrate the primal lesson of Rabbi Mordecai Kaplan, the pleasure and challenge of a Jew living simultaneously in two civilizations.

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