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Israel’s Sephardi Chief Rabbi Amar to visit Los Angeles

Israel\'s Sephardi Chief Rabbi Amar to visit Los Angeles; Ask A (Different) Rabbi; Inquiring Minds Want to Know.
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October 19, 2006

The Sephardi chief rabbi of Israel will visit Los Angeles next week for the first time, a move that signifies the growing importance of the religious community here around the world. Rabbi Shlomo Amar, who has been serving as chief rabbi since 2003, along with Ashkenazi counterpart Rabbi Yona Metzger, comes to Los Angeles Oct 22-28 to meet with leaders of Los Angeles Jewish community — both Ashkenazic and Sephardic — to offer religious and spiritual support.


“This is the first time he’s coming to the West Coast, and he will learn about the vast Jewish activity here, from the schools and the shuls to the institutions and the mikveh and the eruv,” said Rabbi David Toledano of Magen David, the Sephardic Syrian community of Beverly Hills, who is coordinating and hosting the trip.

Amar, also respectfully referred to as Rishon L’Tzion, will meet with community leaders from the Wiesenthal Center, the Rabbinical Council of California and various Sephardic rabbis. He will also visit several Los Angeles’ ultra-Orthodox schools (including Hillel Hebrew Academy, Torath Emet, Etz Jacob Hebrew Academy, Yeshiva Gedola, Chabad, Ohr Eliyahu, Bais Yakov and Yavneh), as well as staff at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center.

Israel Consul General Ehud Danoch, who is also helping plan the trip, has set up an interfaith meeting between Amar and 100 Christian clergy.

“This will help open dialogue with different religions,” Toledano said.

He is also set to meet with government officials such as Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and hold “kabbalat panim” reception hours in Toledano’s home by appointment. In addition to his lectures and shiurim Torah studies, Amar will be honored on Thursday, Oct. 26, by Em Habanim in North Hollywood. Amar will spend Shabbat in the city at Mogen David in Pico-Robertson and will appear on a panel open to the public on Saturday afternoon.

Amar is the first Sephardi chief rabbi not of Iraqi descent (he is Moroccan). He is known in Israel for his changes to the conversion and divorce laws, which are administered by the Israeli government. According to an announcement from the Rabbinate last December, Jews converted in the Diaspora by rabbis not recognized by the religious courts will have to undergo another conversion in Israel in order to be recognized by Rabbinate courts as Jews.

Women granted a get, or Jewish divorce, by rabbis not recognized by the courts, will also have to go through the process again.

Toledano stressed that by setting down standards and a list of accepted rabbis, the chief rabbi has streamlined the process and eliminated corruption from the system.

“The most important thing is the proper approach,” he said. “It’s not random anymore, not anyone can [do a conversion or divorce] so it’s more kosher.”

Ask A (Different) Rabbi

Can a religious businessperson keep his Internet site open on Shabbat? What about a Web site uploaded on Shabbat — can a religious person look at it? Are you allowed to watch television on Shabbat if the set has been on since before sundown?

These types of modern-day halachic questions aren’t addressed in the Talmud or the ancient rabbis’ books of wisdom, but they are at Jerusalem’s Eretz Hemdah Institute, The Institute for Advanced Jewish Studies.

Rabbi Yosef Carmel, dean of the institute, which trains rabbis for advanced, post-ordination study (equivalent of a Ph.D), will be visiting Los Angeles this week.

The Institute, which opened in 1987 to train future Zionist rabbinical leaders of the State of Israel, has graduated some 100 rabbis from its seven-year course. The institute also grapples with modern-day questions of Jewish law. Its Web site, “Ask A Rabbi,” which is affiliated with the Orthodox Union, has answered more than 1

1,000 questions pertaining to Jewish law.
Last summer, when Israel was at war with Hezbollah, Eretz Hemdah (“beautiful land”) opened a special hotline for soldiers. Some questions: What should a soldier do with his car if he has to drive to base on Shabbat? How can a man in combat celebrate his son’s pidyon ha-ben (redemption of the oldest son).

Carmel will lecturing at Rabbi Daniel Korobkin’s school, Kehillat Yavneh (5353 W. Third St.) on Friday Oct 27 and Shabbat Oct. 28, on topics such as “Dilemmas in the World of Halacha” and “Indirect Business Transactions on Shabbat.”

Inquiring Minds Want to Know

Ignorance is not really bliss, as current events have proved. Rather, knowledge brings about understanding and peace, especially when it comes to faith and religion. That’s why Wilshire Boulevard Temple has opened up The Center for Religious Inquiry, an adult education institution hoping to build bridges between all faiths.

Partnering with the Center for Religious Inquiry at St. Bartholomew’s Church in New York and St. Mark’s Episcopal Cathedral in Minneapolis, Wilshire Boulevard’s new center will feature religious leaders, scholars, ethicists and scientists from different religious backgrounds and is open to Angelenos of all faiths. Its motto is “Mipnei d’archei shalom” (Because it leads to paths of peace).

“After 144 years, we are recommitting our historic temple campus not just as the center of Jewish life and practice, but, now, as a home to all religious exploration,” said Rabbi Stephen Julius Stein, director of the Center for Religious Inquiry.

Programs include the tried and true, such as “Intro to Judaism,” and special lectures such as “The Jewish Bible in Christmas Art,” and a lecture series titled, “America: The Moral Nation,” whose last panel discussion, “What Is a Just War?” is scheduled for Nov. 14. Next semester’s programs will include a deeper look into different faiths, as well as classes on Jewish topics, such as “Not Madonna’s Kabbalah,” an introduction to Jewish mystical literature.

The center is one of a number of Los Angeles Jewish organizations featuring lectures and classes for adults, but hopes to be different because “rather than presenting a speaker on a topic or himself, we’re hoping to thread these into a larger socio-cultural context,” Stein said.

“It’s necessary because the world is an increasingly complicated place,” he said. “It’s becoming ever more focused on religious ideas. And in our small, humble way, we hope to be a center where people can come and encounter learning and explore religion in a safe environment.”

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