Below is the sermon I gave last Shabbat at Temple of Aaron. Please note that there is a paper that has been submitted to the Conservative Movement's Committee on Jewish Law and Standards with credited sources and a version of that can be found
Shabbat Shalom
As antisemitism rises again — and as figures who claim Catholic identity trivialize Hitler and vilify Jews — it is incumbent upon you to speak with moral thunder.
Let us speak plainly: many of these influencers are not advocates. They are actors. They cry on cue, curate their grief and sell Jewish tragedy as content. They master the algorithm, not the fight.
“Whenever there is a communal issue, our concept is, ‘let’s try doing it as a community.’ Not just Young Israel. Young Israel is one piece of it.”
Notable people and events in the Jewish LA community.
The tension between Athens and Sparta, openness and fortification, building and defending, has been with the Jewish people from Tanakh through Jabotinsky and into the present moment.
If people can give up their cellphones, soda, football and stock trades, they can give up politics for 50 hours.
For more than 30 years, Ogen, Israel’s trusted nonprofit social lender, has provided families, entrepreneurs, and nonprofits with economic stability, financial guidance, and the tools to rebuild with dignity.
Free expression is essential in a democracy. No one should call for the censorship of ideas. But there must be accountability when speech crosses into incitement of political violence.
Ari Fuld’s heroism is evident because rarely does the victim become the savior.
While Bill Maher and John Fetterman demonstrated an understanding of Jewish values, across town at the Emmys we saw just the opposite, delivered with the hollow prefix “as a Jew.”
As Gen. Petraeus warned, “Half-measures in urban warfare do not save lives. They only postpone defeat.”
Why is Saturday Night Live star Bowen Yang falsely accusing Israel of genocide, while ignoring the confirmed genocide perpetrated against Muslim Uyghurs in China?
It’s hard to overstate how reckless, unserious, and corrosive this claim is — not just for Israel, but for the meaning of the word “genocide” and the principle that nations have a right to defend themselves.
In reviving this dream, Milken’s center is reviving something even more vital– our faith in life. It is that very faith in life, that force that drove our ancestors, where we can find our optimism as we enter the Jewish new year.
