fbpx
Category

June 17, 1999

Things Fall Apart

One recent day, all was right with the world. I was the master of the details in my universe. I had arranged to pay my bills online, lugged five pairs of shoes in to be shined and reheeled, picked up my dry cleaning, bought stamps.

Family Feud

Recently, on a visit to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, I shared an elevator ride with a well-dressed man who was carrying a bulging portfolio under his arm. Wondering what he was doing in the hospital, I inquired about the nature of his visit. He replied that he was a lawyer visiting a client. I was impressed with such compassion and asked, \”Do you visit every client that is in the hospital?\” He immediately explained that this was a rare visit. \”My client called me in great rage. She insisted that I come right over. She wants to change her will before it is too late. The reason for her sudden decision is that yesterday she had a fight with one of her relatives, and her daughter encouraged her to remove that relative\’s name from the will. So here I am.\”

Replacing a Legend

This month sees the official retirement of a Valley legend. Rabbi Eli Schochet of Shomrei Torah will step down after nearly 40 years at the pulpit. Still available for \”life-cycle events,\” the synagogue\’s new rabbi emeritus will be essentially withdrawing from his very public position.

Dear Dad

From \”The Extraordinary Nature of Ordinary Things,\” by Rabbi Steven Z. Leder (Behrman House, Inc.)
\”A parent\’s love isn\’t to be paid back; it can only be passed on.\”– Herbert Tarr

Dear Dad,

Tomorrow is Father\’s Day, and we are thousands of miles apart — apart as we are too often and for too long. So it seems a good time to write you and tell you — dear God, what to tell you? How can a son possibly say what a father means to him — how can I say what you mean to me?

Great Exploitations

\”I went into therapy because I needed to resolve a horrible conflict,\” Martin Lewis reveals in his delightfully cheeky one-man show, \”Great Exploitations! An Audience With Martin Lewis.\” \”I happen to be obviously British, but also Jewish.\”

Sealing the Breach

This Father\’s Day, I\’d like to say a word about masking tape.

A Call for Justice and Freedom

A dramatic appearance by the Rev. Jesse Jackson in Los Angeles last week helped kick into high gear an international campaign to free 13 Iranian Jews who were arrested by Iranian authorities for alleged espionage, and who face possible execution.

Have Library, Must Travel

To reach David Hirsch\’s narrow, cluttered office at UCLA, you traverse bare, labyrynthine corridors in the basement of the University Research Library.

More news and opinions than at a
Shabbat dinner, right in your inbox.

More news and opinions than at a Shabbat dinner, right in your inbox.

More news and opinions than at a Shabbat dinner, right in your inbox.