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Jewish Journal

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September 7, 2000

The Long Wait

Leave a Comment / Worldwide /

The waiting game continues in Iran, as the judiciary there has postponed at least for another week a decision in the appeals of 10 Iranian Jews convicted on charges of spying for Israel.The delay is ostensibly because the three judges reviewing the appeals are divided on whether the charges the Jews were convicted of actually constituted a crime.

But few observers doubt that domestic Iranian politics are at play.

If anything, they say, the delay undermines the efforts by Iranian President Mohammad Khatami – on the eve of his address to the United Nations this week – to spruce up his image as a reformer and to bolster his claim that he is truly in control of his county and not the Islamic fundamentalists.

The delay also did nothing to defuse a flurry of street protest and behind-the-scenes diplomacy that greeted Khatami as he and 150 other heads of state arrived in New York for the U.N. Millennium Summit.Jewish groups sponsored two media events just blocks away from the United Nations, while an Iranian exile organization held a noisy anti-Khatami demonstration within earshot of visiting dignitaries from around the world.

“We cannot tolerate a situation where it is a crime simply for being Jewish,” said New York Gov. George Pataki, who headlined Tuesday’s first street event, sponsored jointly by the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations and the Jewish Community Relations Council of New York. A second event, held later, was organized by AMCHA – The Coalition for Jewish Concerns.

“Mr. Khatami, to you, your Parliament and your judiciary, human rights and dignity must be the right of every citizen,” Pataki said.

“You claim to be a reformer. Show it and release these 10.”

Convicted July 1, the 10 Jews have already served some 18 months in prison. Their sentences range from four to 13 years, but Malcolm Hoenlein, executive vice chairman of the Conference of Presidents, says his sources indicate that several more may be released, with jail terms reduced for the rest.

But he wouldn’t bank on it.

As delaying the appeals decision demonstrates, said Hoenlein, “the only thing predictable about Iran is that nothing is predictable.”

Thus, the need to prod Khatami, both publicly and privately.

Hoenlein, who met with Iran’s Parliament speaker last week, still holds out hope that he will be able to plead his case directly to Khatami this week. There was talk of such a meeting on Monday at the United Nations, when Khatami spoke with a reportedly “pre-selected” gathering of Iranian emigres, including a few Jews.

From the Jewish side, Hoenlein conceded there was internal debate on whether a meeting with Khatami would somehow be manipulated by the Iranian media for domestic consumption. Hoenlein said a meeting would take place only if Jewish leaders were guaranteed their say. In the end, that point was moot, because American Jewish leaders weren’t invited at all.

“We should meet with Khatami to send the right message that the appeals should succeed and security guaranteed for the entire Jewish community,” Hoenlein said at Tuesday’s media event.

On the arrests and trial of the Jews, however, non-Jewish Iranian Americans have been notably silent.In part, they say, it’s been due to a lack of organization and the fact the community has yet to find its political voice, like, say, the Cuban-exile community. One activist even says she was unaware of the rallies of American Jews.

Nevertheless, Tuesday may have marked a watershed moment. Several at the protest, organized by the Paris-based National Council of Resistance of Iran, spoke out about the trial, describing as a transparent attempt to frighten the masses and impose conformity on all Iranians.

They also noted Iran’s financial support and training for terrorist groups like Hamas and Hezbollah.Charges of espionage are a “typical punishment for those the regime wants to discredit,” said Mitra Bagheri, a member of the council’s foreign relations committee, who recently relocated from Paris to New York to help organize Iranians here.

“I don’t think people in Iran believe anything the government says, because it tells big lies, and the truth is always the other way around.”

Says Anahita Sami, 18, the move against Iran’s Jews is part and parcel of the campaign against all of Iran’s minorities.

“It’s so obvious the Jews were not guilty of anything,” said Sami, a student at George Washington University.

“This is happening to innocent Iranians all the time. They want to control people through the word of God and to keep the pressure cooker from exploding by brainwashing them.”

Another activist cautioned Americans not to judge all Iranians by the current regime.

“One thing has to be made clear,” said Kasra Nejat, president of the Iranian American Cultural Association of Missouri.

“The Iranian government, the supreme leaders – the whole system is corrupt. It has nothing to do with the Iranian people. That’s why we’re here, because this government doesn’t represent real Iranians.”

The Long Wait Read More »

Ticket prices

Leave a Comment / Membership, Old Stories /

Ticket prices are for the full series, including Rosh Hashanah evening and morning, Yom Kippur evening, and all day on Yom Kippur. Many synagogues offer tickets for single services, and many will nego-tiate. And remember, whatever you pay for holiday tickets is a tax-deductible charitable contribution.

$5-$50

  • Arbeter Ring/Workmen’s Circle

  • Temple Beth Israel

  • Aish Los Angeles

  • Sholem Community (Kol Nidre)

$51-$100

  • Temple Beth Emet

  • B’nai Ami Synagogue

  • B’nai Tikvah Congregation

  • Etz Jacob Congregation

$101-150

  • Jewish Learning Exchange ($50 children)

  • B’nai David-Judea

  • Malibu Jewish Center and Synagogue

  • Cong. N’vay Shalom

  • Cong. Or Ami ($25 children)

  • Rodeph Shalom

$151-$200

  • Beth Chayim Chadashim

  • Temple Beth Hillel ($100 seniors, $40 students)

  • Beth Shir Shalom

  • Cong. Kol Ami

  • Leo Baeck Temple

  • Makom Ohr Shalom

  • Temple Menorah

  • Mishkon Tephilo

  • Sha’arei Am

  • UCLA Hillel (other than UCLA students)

$201-up

  • Adat Shalom ($140 for people under 25)

  • Temple Beth Am (less for alternative BAIT Tefillah service)

  • Cong. Beth Ohr

  • B’nai Horin

  • Temple Emanuel

  • Temple Isaiah (seniors $150)

  • Kehillat Israel

  • Stephen S. Wise Temple ($50 membership ages 21-32)

Congregation Ner Tamid in Rancho Palos Verdes does not sell tickets to nonmembers but offers a three-month membership.

Free services and programs

  • All holiday services at Southwest Temple Beth Torah in Gardena are free and open to the public.

  • Leo Baeck Temple offers a free service for families with very young children at 2 p.m. on the first day of Rosh Hashanah and on Yom Kippur, and a Rosh Hashanah “family program” with music, art and drama activities at 10 a.m. on the second day of Rosh Hashanah.

  • Cong. Or Ami offers free family services at 2 p.m. on the first day of Rosh Hashanah and on Yom Kippur.

Many synagogues that hold services on the second day of Rosh Hashanah (most do, except for some Reform temples) do not require tickets. Similarly, many congregations do not require tickets for Yom Kippur services late in the day, following an after-noon break. Call around to locate temples offering these open services.

Chabad offers free holiday services all over Southern California; see synagogue listings for West Coast headquarters and specific congregations. Also, the Chai Center will hold free services near LAX.

Ticket prices Read More »

Congregational Directory

Leave a Comment / Membership /

The listings below are for Jewish congregations within the geographic area of The Jewish Federation of Greater Los Angeles. Congregations in areas adjacent to Los Angeles Federation can be found by calling neighboring federations:

San Gabriel Valley: Jewish Federation of San Gabriel and Pomona Valleys at (626) 967-3656; sgpvfed@aol.com

Southeastern Los Angeles County: Jewish Federation of Greater Long Beach and West Orange County at (562) 426-7601, ext. 1314 or 1008; sharonk@jewishlongbeach.org

The Internet is a great tool to use in screening synagogues. Many, many congregations have Web sites, as do the national offices of the major Jewish movements (which have links to those synagogues with Web sites). Also, local movement offices may be able to help you find a congenial synagogue:

Chabad Lubavitch West Coast Headquarters (310) 208-7511; rabbicunin@chabad.com

Jewish Reconstructionist Federation (323) 933-7491; Jrfwcreg@aol.com

Union of American HebrewCongregations (Reform) (323) 653-9962; pswuahc@uahc.org

Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations (310) 229-9000; srebro1@juno.com

United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism (818) 986-0907; pacsw@uscj.org

Key to denominations:

A denominational label means that a congregation is formally affiliated with a Jewish religious movement OR that it generally follows the philosophy and worship style of that movement.

(R) Reform

(C) Conservative

(O) Orthodox

(T) Traditional (Orthodox-style service without separation of men and women)

(S) Sephardic, including Persian and Middle Eastern congregations

(Rec.) Reconstructionist

(Ren.) Jewish Renewal

(I) Independent

Westside South

Adat Shalom (C) Rancho Park area: (310) 475-4985; ADATSHALO2@aol.com

Temple Akiba (R) Culver City: (310) 398-5783; TemAkiba@aol.com

Temple Beth Torah (C) Mar Vista: (310) 398-4536

Bais Chabad of Simcha Monica (O) Santa Monica: (310) 829-5620

B’nai Horin (Ren.) West Los Angeles: (310) 559-0587; lindasings@aol.com

Chabad of Cheviot Hills (O): (310) 837-8083; aronbcoch@aol.com

Chabad of Marina Del Rey (O): (310) 578-6000

The Chai Center (O): (310) 391-7995; schwartzie@chaicenter.org

Temple Isaiah (R) Rancho Park: (310) 277-2772; Sue@TempleIsaiah.com

Kahal Joseph (S) Westwood area: (310) 474-0559

Kehillat Ma’arav (C) Santa Monica: (310) 829-0566; office@KMwebsite.com

Cong. Mishkon Tephilo (C) Venice: (310) 392-3029; mail@mishkon.org

The Movable Minyan (I): (310) 285-3317

Nessah Educational & Cultural Center (S/O) Santa Monica: (310) 453-2218

Cong. N’vay Shalom (I): (323) 463-7728, (310) 535-1617

OhrHaTorah (I) Rancho Park area: (310) 278-9049, (818) 769-8223; office@ohrhatorah.org

Pacific Jewish Center (O) Santa Monica: (310) 392-8749; office@pjcenter.com

Sha’arei Am (R) Santa Monica; (310) 453-4276: shaareiam@aol.com

Sholem Community (I) Culver City: (818) 760-6625

Society for Humanistic Judaism (I): (213) 891-4303; info@shj.org

Westwood Kehilla (O); (310) 441-5288: outreach@kehilla.org

Young Israel of Santa Monica (O): (310) 314-3888

Young Israel of Venice (O): (310) 450-7541

Westside North

Beth Shir Shalom (R) Santa Monica: (310) 453-3361

Chabad of Bel Air (O): (310) 475-5311; belair770@aol.com

Chabad of Brentwood (O): (310) 826-4453

Chabad on Montana (O) Santa Monica: (310) 394-5699

Chabad of Malibu (O): (310) 456-6581

Chabad of North Beverly Hills (O): (310) 859-3948

Chabad of Pacific Palisades (O): (310) 454-7783

Temple Emanuel (R) Beverly Hills: (310) 274-6388; TEBBJS@aol.com

Kehillat Israel (Rec.) Pacific Palisades: (310) 459-2328; KIHOME@aol.com

Leo Baeck Temple (R) Bel Air: (310) 476-2861; lbtoffice@aol.com

Magen David of Beverly Hills (S/O): (310) 285-9957

Malibu Jewish Center & Synagogue (Rec.): (310) 456-2178; mjcandsynagogue@earthlink.net

Sephardic Jewish Center/Persian Chabad (S/O) Beverly Hills: (310) 855-0555; (310) 275-6920

Sephardic Temple Tifereth Israel (S/T) Westwood: (310) 475-7311

Sinai Temple (C) Westwood: (310) 474-1518

Stephen S. Wise Temple (R) Bel Air: (310) 476-8561

Synagogue for the Performing Arts (I): (310) 472-3500

University Synagogue (R) Brentwood: (310) 472-1255; jkrautman@unisyn.org

Westwood Village Synagogue (O): (310) 470-0080

Young Israel of North Beverly Hills (O): (310) 203-0170; rst@pacbell.net

Hollywood/ L.A. East

Temple Beth Israel of Highland Park (C): (323) 255-5416

Chabad of Greater Los Feliz (O): (323) 660-5177

Chabad of Mt. Olympus (O): (323)650-1444

Chabad Russian Synagogue (O) West Hollywood: (323) 848-2999

Creative Arts Temple (I): (323) 656-6685

Hollywood Temple Beth El (C) and Iranian American Jewish Center (S) West Hollywood: (323) 656-3150

Temple Israel of Hollywood (R): (323) 876-8330; shalom@tioh.org

Temple Knesset Israel of Hollywood (C): (323) 665-5171

Cong. Kol Ami (R) West Hollywood: (310) 248-6320; staff@kol-ami.org

Shir Hadash (R) Mid-Wilshire: (310) 456-5323

Wilshire Boulevard Temple (R) Mid-Wilshire; (213) 388-2401

Fairfax/LaBrea

Aaron David Cong. (O): (323) 933-1411

Ahavas Yisroel Syn. (O): (323) 937-1247

Cong. Bais Naftoli (O): (323) 931-2476

Cong. Bais Yehuda (O): (323) 936-7568

Cong. Bet Elazar (O): (323) 857-0577

Bet Midrash (O): (323) 939-0298

Cong. Beth Israel (T): (323) 651-4022

Chabad of Hancock Park (O): (323) 954-8381

Chabad Mid-City Center (O): (323) 655-9282

Etz Jacob Cong. (O): (323) 938-2619

Jewish Learning Exchange (O): (323) 857-0923; jleoutreach@yahoo.com

Kehilas Yaakov (O): (323) 935-8572

Midrash Od Yosef Hai (S/O): (323) 653-5163

Cong. Ner Israel (O): (323) 933-3405

Cong. Ohel David (O): (323) 651-3594

Cong. Ohev Shalom (O): (323) 653-7190

Cong. Shaarei Tefila (O): (323) 938-7147

Temple Shalom for the Arts (I): (310) 858-1100

Tifereth Zvi (O): (323) 931-3252

Torah Ohr (S): (323) 939-6763; torahohr@torahohr.org

Cong. Torah V’Chesed (O): (323) 653-5083

Yismach Moshe Cong. (O): (323) 939-2681

Young Israel of Hancock Park (O): (323) 931-4030

Young Israel of Los Angeles (O): (323) 655-0300

Pico-Robertson

Aish Los Angeles (O): (310) 278-8672; LA@aish.com

Anshe Emes Synagogue (O): (310) 275-5640; info@anshe.org

Temple Beth Am (C): (310) 652-7353; betham@tbala.org

Cong. Beth Chayim Chadashim (R): (323) 931-7023; bcc@bcc-la.org

Beth Jacob Cong. (O): (310) 278-1911; bjacob@pacbell.net

Temple Beth Zion (C): (323) 933-9136; TempleBethZion@juno.com

B’nai David-Judea Cong. (O): (310) 276-9269; bnaidavid@aol.com

Congregation Bais Bezalel (O): (310)282-0444

Chabad Israeli Center (O): (310) 271-6193

Kehillat Hashalom (O): (310) 652-9014; hashalom@hotmail.com

Cong. Knesseth Israel of Beverlywood (T): (310) 839-4962

Midrasho Shel Shem (O): (323) 935-6081

Cong. Mogen David (T): (310) 556-5609

Ohel Moshe Cong. (S): (310) 652-1533

Torat Hayim Synagogue (S/O): (310) 652-8349

Arbeter Ring/Workmen’s Circle (I): (310) 552-2007; ArbeterSCA@mindspring.com

Yeshiva of Los Angeles Beis Midrash (O): (310) 553-4478 ext. 296

Young Israel of Beverly Hills (O): (310) 275-3020

Young Israel of Century City (O): (310) 273-6954; Rebekah@yicc.org

San Fernando Valley West

Temple Ahavat Shalom (R) Northridge: (818) 360-2258; templeas@aol.com

Temple Aliyah (C) Woodland Hills: (818) 346-3545; sylvia.moskovitz@templealiyah.org

The Ami Havurah (C) Woodland Hills: (818) 884-6042

Beit Hamidrash of Woodland Hills (O): (818) 712-0365

Temple Beth Solomon of the Deaf (R) Tarzana: (818) 363-5580

Temple Beth Torah (R) Granada Hills: (818) 831-0835; office@bethtorah-sfv.org

B’nai Ami Syn. (C) Chatsworth: (818) 700-0492; tuckeranch@aol.com

Chabad of Encino (O): (818) 784-9986

Chabad of Northridge (O): (818) 368-3937

Chabad of Tarzana (O): (818) 758-1818

Eretz Cultural Center (S/T) Reseda: (818) 342-9303

Temple Judea (R) Tarzana: (818) 758-3800; judeatarz@templejudea.com

Kol Tikvah (R) Woodland Hills: (818) 348-0670

Makom Ohr Shalom (Ren.) Woodland Hills: (310) 479-0559; mikem@melnick.com

Temple Ner Maarav (C) Encino: (818) 345-7833

Temple Ramat Zion (C) Northridge: (818) 360-1881; gayleb@trz.org

Sephardic Cohen Syn. (O) Tarzana: (818) 705-4557

Shomrei Torah Syn. (C) West Hills: (818) 346-0811; info@shomreitorahsynagogue.org

Valley Beth Shalom (C) Encino: (818) 788-6000; info@vbs.org

Valley Outreach Syn. (R): (818) 348-4867

Young Israel of Northridge (O): (818) 368-2221

San Fernando Valley East

Adat Ari El (C) North Hollywood: (818) 766-9426; alankarpel@adatariel.org

Adat Yeshurun Cong. (O) North Hollywood: (818) 766-4682

Bais Medresh Ohr Simcha (O) North Hollywood: (818) 760-2189

Beis Midrash Toras Hashem (O) Valley Village: (818) 980-6934

Bet Midrash Mishkan Israel (S) Sherman Oaks: (818) 901-1598

Temple Beth Emet (R) Burbank: (818) 843-4787

Temple Beth Hillel (R) Valley Village: (818) 763-9148

Cong. Beth Meier (T) Studio City: (818) 769-0515

Cong. Beth Ohr (I) Studio City: (818) 773-3663

Temple B’nai Hayim (C) Sherman Oaks: (818) 788-4664

Burbank Temple Emanu El (C): (818) 845-1734; Btee2000@juno.com

Chabad of Glendale (O): (818) 240-2750

Chabad of North Hollywood (O): (818) 989-9539

Chabad of Sherman Oaks (O): (818) 789-0850

Em Habanim Cong. (S/O) North Hollywood: (818) 762-7779

Shaarey Zedek Cong. (O) North Hollywood: (818) 763-0560

Temple Sinai of Glendale (R): (818) 246-8101

Valley Beth Israel (C) Sun Valley: (818) 782-2281

Valley Mishkan Israel Cong. (O) North Hollywood: (818) 769-8043

Yad Avraham (O) North Hollywood: (818) 766-6736

Conejo Valley/Santa Clarita

Temple Adat Elohim (R) Thousand Oaks: (805) 497-7101; adatelohim@earthlink.net

Temple Beth Ami (R) Santa Clarita: (661) 255-6410

Temple Beth Haverim (C) Agoura Hills: (818) 991-7111; tbh@templebethhaverim.org

Beth Knesset Bamidbar (R) Lancaster: (661) 942-4415; office@bkb.org

Cong. Beth Shalom (C) Santa Clarita: (661) 254-2411

Cong. B’nai Emet (R) Simi Valley: (805) 581-3723; bnaiemet@rain.org

Chabad of Agoura Hills/Chabad of Conejo/Chabad of Oak Park (O): (818) 991-0991; rmdb@aol.com

Chabad of Santa Clarita Valley (O): (661) 254-3434

Chabad of Simi Valley (O): (805) 577-0573

Temple Etz Chaim (C) Thousand Oaks: (805) 497-6891; office@templeetzchaim.com

Cong. Or Ami (R) Agoura Hills: (818) 880-6818; kipper23@aol.com

South Bay

Temple Beth El (R) San Pedro: (310) 833-2467; bethelsp@aol.com

B’nai Tikvah Cong. (C) Westchester: (310) 645-6262; btc@lafn.org

Chabad of the Beach Cities (O) Redondo Beach: (310) 372-6879; chabad@msn.com

Chabad of Palos Verdes (O): (310) 544-5544; chabadpv@aol.com

Chabad of the South Bay (O) Lomita: (310) 326-8234

Temple Menorah (R) Redondo Beach/Torrance: (310) 316-8444

Cong. Ner Tamid of the South Bay (C) Rancho Palos Verdes: (310) 377-6986

Temple Rodeph Shalom (R) El Segundo: (310) 390-3242; irvnao@aol.com

Southwest Temple Beth Torah (C) Gardena: (310) 327-8734

Cong. Tifereth Jacob (C) Manhattan Beach: (310) 546-3667

Congregational Directory Read More »

Machzorim (prayerbooks)

Leave a Comment / Membership /

Gates of Repentance (standard Reform liturgy): Temple Menorah, Rodeph Shalom, Temple Emanuel (main sanctuary and family services), Beth Ohr

On Wings of Awe (nondenominational, known for its poetic interpretative English readings): Beth Chayim Chadashim, Kol Ami, Temple Emanuel (minyan service), UCLA Hillel (liberal service)

Rabbinical Assembly machzor (new Conservative): Mishkon Tephilo, UCLA Hillel (traditional service)

Silverman machzor (old Conservative): Beth Am, B’nai Ami, Ner Tamid, Valley Beth Israel

Machzor Hadash (Conservative structure but with more transliteration and many supplemental English readings): Adat Shalom, Beth Shalom, B’nai Tikvah, N’vay Shalom

Tikunay Nefashot (a streamlined, alternative liberal machzor): Or Ami and four or five other congregations, mainly Reform

Birnbaum (Orthodox): Etz Jacob, B’nai David-Judea

Temple’s own prayerbook: Temple Isaiah, Makom Ohr Shalom, Leo Baeck, Sha’arei Am, Beth Shir Shalom, Temple Beth Hillel

Other: Kehillat Israel and Malibu Jewish Center and Synagogue use the Reconstructionist machzor, Kol Haneshamah; Temple Beth Emet uses the old Reform machzor, Union Prayer Book II

Music styles

Many synagogues describe themselves as offering a mix of musical styles (one or more among traditional chant, formal set pieces, folk tunes and “pop” settings of liturgy) and a balance between congregational singing and “active listening.” But in some temples, a certain style or philosophy will predominate.

Participatory (the congregation gets to sing a lot): Temple Beth Am (Library Minyan and BAIT Tefillah services), Beth Chayim Chadashim, B’nai Ami, B’nai Tikvah, B’nai David-Judea, Temple Emanuel (New Emanuel Minyan and family services), Temple Isaiah, Sha’arei Am, Sholem Community (Yiddish songs), UCLA Hillel (liberal service), Arbeter Ring (also Yiddish)Formal cantorial: Temple Beth Emet, Adat Shalom, Temple Emanuel (adult service in sanctuary); Beth Am (main sanctuary service)

Volunteer choir: Temple Isaiah, Makom Ohr Shalom, Valley Beth Israel, Or Ami, Mishkon Tephilo, Kehillat Israel, Beth Shir Shalom, Malibu Jewish Center and Synagogue

Professional choir: Leo Baeck, Stephen S. Wise (services in the sanctuary and satellite locations), Temple Emanuel (adult service in sanctuary), Beth Am (main sanctuary service)

Traditional chant: Mishkon Tephilo, Beth Ohr, Southwest Temple Beth Torah, UCLA Hillel’s traditional services, most Orthodox venues

Guitars will be strummed at: Leo Baeck, Temple Menorah, Beth Shir Shalom, Temple Emanuel (New Emanuel Minyan services), Sha’arei Am, UCLA Hillel’s liberal service

The organ is alive and well at: Leo Baeck, Temple Menorah, Stephen S. WiseNo instrumental accompaniment: Mishkon Tephilo, Ner Tamid (traditional services), Beth Am, any Orthodox synagogue

Take time to meditate: Makom Ohr Shalom, N’vay Shalom, Shir Hadash

Machzorim (prayerbooks) Read More »

A Very Fine House

Leave a Comment / Education /

The socialist experiment may have failed and the kibbutz movement may be struggling, but communal living is alive and well at the Westwood Bayit. Part of Jewish life at UCLA since 1974, the Bayit (Hebrew for house) is a cooperative living setup where young men and women commit to participating in Shabbat, kosher group cooking and dining, and Jewish programming.

“I decided to live here because I needed to have a kosher kitchen and a shomer Shabbat [observant] atmosphere, and I liked the idea of living with Jewish people in a Jewish community,” says Ruth Pitterman, a UCLA student from Las Vegas who has lived in the Bayit for a year.

Having gone through a cycle of ups and downs during the past 25 years, the Bayit in the past few years has benefited from a major facelift and a commitment on behalf of its board to revitalize the program.Avi Davis, now in his third year as president of the board for the Bayit Project, a nonprofit group that owns and operates the house, says the Bayit’s influence goes well beyond the 18 students who live in the 4,200-square foot facility.

“My own philosophy is that the Bayit is a leadership training program,” says Davis, who lived in the Bayit when he came here from Australia in the mid-1980s. “We hope the residents acquire skills and a level of tolerance and respect that will allow them to go out into the community and become leaders either by joining an organization or by pure example.”

Bayit residents say the house is a microcosm of the Jewish community, where they are thrown together with Jews of different nationalities and religious observance and are challenged to create a flourishing environment.

“We are all at different degrees of Judaism, yet we all get along,” says Annette Hayum, who lived in the Bayit for two years before she graduated this year. “Even if we do debate, it’s always with respect.”Students who live in the Bayit tend to be active in other areas of campus Jewish life, and the Bayit serves as something of a Jewish hub in Westwood.

Residents are required to spend two Shabbats a month at the house, and many other students who don’t live there stick around as well. On Friday nights and Shabbat afternoons, dozens of young people make themselves comfortable in the newly redecorated lounge playing board games or just talking, Hayum says.”It’s a good place for people who are observing Shabbat to have a fun place to hang out,” Hayum says.That’s partly due to the policy prohibiting any public use of electricity on Shabbat, so that anyone who walks into the house will feel comfortable in the Shabbat atmosphere. The newly remodeled kitchen is also held to the highest standards of kashrut.

The kitchen is perhaps one of the best examples of how much work has gone into the house. Once the kind of facility that would have merited a big blue “D” in the window if it were a restaurant, the kitchen is now divided into separate meat and dairy sides, complete with tile floors, granite counters, stainless-steel sinks, dishwashers and refrigerators.

Structural improvements have been made, the bathrooms have been refurbished, and the house’s common rooms and mix of double and single bedrooms are painted and carpeted every few years – a big improvement from the decrepit state of the house in the late ’80s and early ’90s.

Faltering financially several years after it was founded in 1974, the Bayit was rescued by businessman Michael Goland in 1981. Goland created the Bayit Project to develop and run houses around the country, but he himself ran into financial problems in the late ’80s, and the Bayit Project began to fall apart.In events that would eventually lead to a five-year legal battle, Chabad obtained ownership of the house in 1989 and turned it into a homeless shelter. But in 1994 a judge ordered Chabad to return the Bayit to the Bayit Project, which rebuilt the board and mounted a huge fundraising campaign to refurbish the decaying, three-story building on a steep hill.

Today, the board has about 30 people from all different walks of Judaism, all of them dedicated to keeping the Bayit a viable, attractive option for young adults.

The board, which has dinners and retreats with the residents to maintain a relationship, decided to hire a resident adviser and program coordinator.

Shiurim, Jewish classes or lectures, are a regular feature at the Bayit, and once a quarter residents are also required to participate in a mitzvah project, such as visiting an old age home or working in a food pantry.While the program coordinator oversees those programs, it is the student board that creates and runs them. Students also pay their own bills, maintain the house, and decide which applicants to accept.”Students are adults,” Davis says, “We’re trying to create a framework in which Jewish values and spiritual development can thrive, and it’s very important for us to give them a sense of their own responsibility.”

Rabbi Chaim Seidler-Feller, director of UCLA Hillel, sees the Bayit as an important component of student life.

“The Bayit has a lot of potential to develop into an intense Jewish community that could be one setting where Jewish life is vital and impactful upon others,” he says.

Davis is hoping with that each year will bring students closer to realizing that potential.

“We really want students to get a sense of community, to understand how vital it is, to understand that interdependence is what Jewish community means,” he says.

The Bayit is currently accepting applications. Call Avi Davis for more information at (310)858-3059

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Teen Founds Jump-n-Jive Minyan

Leave a Comment / Education /

Most Shabbat worshippers expect decorum. But Adat Ari El’s new Jump-n-Jive minyan is different. Its founder, Aaron Kaychuck, describes the monthly Saturday morning service as “upbeat neo-Chassidic egalitarian.” The service is unusual partly because it combines traditional Conservative liturgy with exuberant song and dance, set to the beat of an African hand-drum. It is also distinctive because Kaychuck, who leads the congregants in prayer, is 15 years old.

In creating Jump-n-Jive, Kaychuck was inspired by his summers at Camp Ramah, his teachers at Milken Community High School, and the Chassidic songs and stories of the late Shlomo Carlebach. Rabbi Jonathan Bernhard oversees the services, which attract both teens and adults. In Kaychuck’s terms the “raw energy” of the teens is nicely balanced by the adults’ mature seriousness. True, grownups tend to be inhibited at first, but “the more teenagers there are, the more the adults warm up.”

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‘Survivor’ Ethics

Leave a Comment / Torah /

Sixteen strangers are left on a wilderness island to fend for themselves. They endure starvation, infestation, exposure to the elements. Each night they gather in council to vote one of their company off the island. Finally, only two are left. The castoffs are brought back as jury to choose the sole survivor. Conniving, manipulation, betrayal, deceit – that’s entertainment! And 48 million Americans stopped to watch. A media sensation, “Survivor” made the covers of Newsweek and Time and the headlines in every newspaper.

The appeal of “Survivor” is more than its voyeurism. It offers a metaphor for human existence that touches something deep in our civilization. Stripped down to its basics, “Survivor” teaches that we live in a hostile environment where subsistence is a daily challenge and brutal competition is life’s way. Success means climbing over others, leaving the weak and needy behind. Compassion is a distraction, kindness is inexpedient, conscience is a trap. Trust no one, care for no one. One’s only loyalty is to oneself. The object of life, its only meaning, is to be the last one standing – the winner, the survivor. If Friedrich Nietzsche wrote for television, “Survivor” would be his show.

We Jews know this game. We played in Egypt millennia ago and have been forced to play many times since. We learned that life on these terms is hell – empty, lonely, meaningless. Ours is a different game. In our game, winning is not about competition and exclusion but about inclusion and acceptance. The task of life is to build a heart, a home, a community, a world big enough to include everyone. You win when everyone belongs and no one is left out.

This game is more challenging than “Survivor” because you don’t vote people out. You learn to live with them. Those who are different and difficult and needy. Those you love and those you can’t stand. The game is to find the image of God in them all.

This Torah portion, Ki Tetze, sets the rules of the game. Find room for everyone: the captive taken in war (Deuteronomy 21:10-14), the child of an unloved wife (Deut. 21:15-7), the Edomite and the Egyptian (Deut. 23:8-9), the fugitive slave (Deut. 23:16-17), the destitute laborer (Deut. 24:14-15), the poor, the orphan and the widow (Deut. 24:17-22). All of them powerless, dependent, needy. All of them your responsibility.

The Torah portion lists three exceptions to this rule of inclusion which are even more instructive. According to the Torah, the Moabite has no place in the community even to the 10th generation (Deut. 23:4-5). That holds until we get to the book of Ruth, in which a Moabite woman is not only accepted but celebrated for her chesed and her loyalty and becomes the ancestor of King David, the progenitor of the Messiah. Redemption comes, according to Ruth, only when we find the way to include the other and embrace the stranger.

The “wayward and defiant son” is brought to the elders of the town. Accused by his parents of insolence, gluttony and drunkenness, he is to be stoned to death. This so shocked the rabbis that they interpreted the law out of existence. According to Talmud Sanhedrin, “There never has been a ‘wayward and defiant son’ and there never will be.” But read literally, the law is significant. A “wayward and defiant son” is the flip side of a violent and abusive parent. The Torah does not allow that parent to destroy his child. Instead, the child is placed in community custody. While the parent may fantasize of a stoning, the child is protected, reformed, educated and nurtured.

Finally, we are to remember the evil of Amalek and “blot out [their] memory from under heaven.” (Deut. 25:19) Amalek was our first national enemy, who “surprised you on the march when you were famished and weary, and cut down all the stragglers in your rear.” (Deut. 25:28) Who is Amalek? They are the personification of the “Survivor” ethic – those who would destroy the weak, the needy, the stranger in order to win. This is our perennial opponent.

The game begins immediately. The challenges are infinite, but the prizes are remarkable. Care to sign on?

Ed Feinstein is rabbi of Valley Beth Shalom in Encino.

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The 6 O’Clock Solution

Leave a Comment / Community /

Ralph Fertig, a retired judge and current community activist and novelist, has what a lot of progressive Californians are looking for: a solution to voting on Nov. 7.

Fertig, a lifelong Democrat until four months ago, registered with the Green Party recently as a statement against the two major parties’ kowtowing to corporate America. “It’s not ideology that runs the government anymore,” Fertig said. “It’s money.”

Fertig calls the Green Party “characteristic of a [past] Jewish commitment to social justice, a party clearly devoted to those issues. [The Green Party] may not be pragmatic, but it appeals to anyone who was reared in that epoch.”

However, Fertig was impressed enough by Gore’s acceptance speech that he’ll wait until voting day to make his final decision. If Gore is pulling ahead, he’ll vote for Nader, a vote he believes that will contribute to building an alternative third party in this country. (Nader needs 5 percent of the vote to get 12 million dollars from the federal government for the 2004 election.) If not, he’ll vote Gore.

“I’ll wait and see what Gore does,” he said.

Although this may serve as a perfect solution for some of us – those who like what the Green Party stands for but are terrifically afraid of a Bush presidency – waiting until 6 p.m. on voting day isn’t exactly what the Green Party had in mind. For one, they’re not happy about Nader being tagged as a spoiler for Gore, as many political analysts have claimed.

For Greens, who are dedicated to establishing a viable third party in this country, Nader is anything but the spoiler; it is the Democrats and the Republicans that have ruined the party. The Republicrats, as they call them, are pawns of private interests that push profits above all else, with little regard for social responsibility.

And for Jewish Greens, who make up a large percentage of party leadership, the Democratic Party has failed to support the populist values of their forebears: immigrant rights, a living wage, health care and fair trade, all the issues they are now fighting for under the Green banner. For them, voting Green is the only morally right thing to do.

“Historically, Jews have been at the forefront of social activist movements,” said Rebecca Kaplan, a candidate for Oakland City Council on the Green Party ticket. “We need to be actively concerned with forms of oppression, even when Jews are not the targets.

“A lot of values of the Greens are the same as tikkun olam,” said Kaplan, who attended the Conservative [Jewish] Academy of Toronto, where it was considered normal to be engaged in politics. “In the Talmud there is a saying that any knife you use to injure another person is treif forever. We look at rules like that and relate it to our modern [world]. It is analogous to the way our food is gotten … or the way we pollute our environment,” Kaplan said.

As an example of socially responsible Judaism, she cites eco-kashrut, dietary practices that forbid eating foods from crops raised or harvested using environmentally harmful methods or involving the oppression of workers, a doctrine extended to any consumer item.

“Today, genetically altered food can contain pigs’ genes without FDA disclosure,” Kaplan said. “The Greens are calling for mandatory labeling of engineered food.”

Our ancestors might not have had pigs’ genes on their minds when they fought for immigrants’ and workers’ rights, but the Jewish populist movement at the turn of the 20th century was driven by key values that constitute the Green Party platform today: social justice, ecological wisdom, grass-roots democracy and nonviolence.

“The Greens share historical roots with 1890 populism drawn from socialist [Jewish] Europe,” said Mike Feinstein, a member of the Santa Monica City Council. For him, the Green Party is a natural fit. “Traditionally, Jews are raised to be rigorous thinkers and question authority, to be interested in something that changes the system, not just to accept the status quo.”

In the early ’90s, after helping found the Green Party in California, Feinstein made two trips to Sweden to experience firsthand the workings of the Greens in action. “I saw that having a third party succeed wasn’t such an unreachable dream but a practical reality,” he said.

By practical, Feinstein means the slow, painful process of building something worthwhile. “To have an internally democratic organization, things are slow, frustrating, especially when trying to come to consensus,” he said. “If one was only focused on the short term, one would go to the nut house.”But Feinstein doesn’t dwell on his frustrations. “I’m ecstatic about what is happening to us,” he said enthusiastically. “We have focused on municipal races where we have an opportunity to bring our message to the people.”

Although it took several years for the Green Party to build enough support to make an electoral approach viable, Greens have made a strong showing in a number of local races. Seventy-two Greens hold office in the United States, and 243 Greens are running in the 2000 general elections, including Medea Benjamin for U.S. Senate (see sidebar, below).

As much as supporters would like to see the Green Party succeed, the concept of President George W. Bush is too scary to wish them too much luck.

On the one hand, the Greens seem naive about the differences – or lack thereof, according to them – between the Democrats and the Republicans. Just look at gun control, health care, education and a woman’s right to reproductive choice, for one thing (and one could go on).

On the other hand, the Greens don’t seem remotely disillusioned about what it will take to build a third party in this country. By concentrating on the long run – winning support through municipal and county elections – rather than the short run – who wins the 2000 Presidential race – they are making a commitment to the issues that will lead us into the next century.

“I tell people to think of the bigger picture,” says Benjamin, “to think about creating something new: a progressive party that stands for all the things we really care about and that will invigorate the democratic system.”

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Traveling Salesman

Leave a Comment / Community /

Gerald “Jerry” C. Lasensky describes himself as the Jewish community’s traveling salesman, road warrior and itinerant emissary.

For a more formal title, Lasensky, whose round face and white beard lend him a touch of the leprechaun, is the Western regional director of the United Jewish Communities Network of Independent Communities.Not for him the glittering black-tie fundraisers in Los Angeles or New York, studded with Hollywood celebrities and addressed by an Israeli prime minister or an American vice president.

Rather, his job is to make the rounds of small Western towns and cities with too few Jewish inhabitants to warrant an organized, professional federation structure. He makes sure, for instance, that the few dozen Jews in Victorville, Calif. don’t fall off organized American Jewry’s radar screen or miss the opportunity to contribute their monetary share to the common good in Israel and the Diaspora.

No old-time circuit-riding rabbi or Jewish peddler came close to covering Lasensky’s territory. He makes the rounds of 50 nonfederated communities in the 13 Western states, and his beat extends from Texas to Hawaii, and north to Alaska.

He recalls one memorable trip, which took him from Puerto Rico to Santa Fe, N.M., to Los Angeles and on to Honolulu. In a normal year, Lasensky figures, he logs more than 100,000 air and road miles.

Jewish populations in the towns on Lasensky’s circuit range from less than 100 to 5,000, and the attitudes he encounters toward Jewish identity and communal responsibility vary widely.

In some places, their small numbers draw the Jews close together into a kind of shtetl bond, with a concomitant responsibility for each other’s welfare. Lasensky cites one small Texas town, in which 14 out of 16 Jewish families contribute to the annual fund drive.

In other towns, the lack of Jewish partners and social bonds results in an unusually high intermarriage rate, even by American standards.

“The main product I’m selling is Jewish continuity by fostering Jewish identity,” declares Lasensky. “First comes the friendraising, then the fundraising.”

He sees his task as a two-way street, encouraging Jews in the hinterlands to support organized American Jewry and vice versa.

For instance, when fires recently ravaged the area around Los Alamos, N.M., Lasensky figured out the loss to Jewish families and institutions and then lobbied for assistance from big city federations.

Appropriately, the future emissary to small-town America was born 61 years ago in Sioux City, Iowa, then home to 1,500 Jews, where his Russian immigrant father worked as a cattle dealer. On a rough calculation, Lasensky figures he has raised, directly and indirectly, some $500 million for Jewish causes.Lasensky, the constant traveler, yoked to his cell phone and laptop computer, cherishes his close family ties. He and his wife Dorothy have three adult children and look forward to grandparenthood next February.

His persistence in pursuing his goals can be gauged by an incident a few years ago. At the time, he was in Honolulu attending the annual meeting of the Jewish Federation of Hawaii when he read that President Clinton was coming for a private vacation, following his 1996 reelection.

The Sunday federation dinner in a hotel was well under way when someone reported that Clinton and his entourage were standing in a nearby hallway.

Lasensky dashed out and somehow managed to get close enough to invite Clinton to break bread with a group of Hawaiian Jews. “Bring ’em over,” responded Clinton, and then cordially shook hands and chatted with every one of the 64 guests.

“You’ve got to be prepared at all times,” concludes Lasensky. “You never know who you’re going to meet next.”

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Dear Deborah

Leave a Comment / Dear Deborah /

Dining and Whining

Dear Deborah,
My friends and I have always wanted to write to you, and now we have a cause! We are grandmothers (one of us is a great-grandmother) who have been dining out weekly at reasonably priced restaurants for about nine years. We have noticed the rapid and alarming decline of manners in youngsters. This past week, the following examples of poor restaurant behavior occurred: 1. Children shrieking with laughter and running back and forth to the bathroom. 2. Children sliding under the table and playing, eating or causing mischief. 3. Children taking and wasting ridiculous portions from the salad bar that were left barely touched. 4. Total lack of table manners – no napkins, blowing bubbles through the straw, eating with hands, talking with full mouths, etc.

What has happened to parental authority, manners and civilized meals? We very rarely took our children out to restaurants, but when we did, they most certainly knew how to behave, or else we wouldn’t have taken them out again. Restaurants are not the kitchen table or park picnic table. Also, is it appropriate to say something to the parents of children who are disturbing others? Thank you for your advice.

Appalled Grannies

Dear Appalled Grannies,
Care for fries with that complaint? If so, take a number and duck. I believe that’s a projectile stream of ketchup soaring overhead.

All moderately priced restaurants these days have become “family” establishments. Why? Most parents work and do not have the time and, as some would consider, the luxury of preparing meals at home and teaching children to consume them in a way that does not result in appetite loss in others. You were far likelier to stay home with your children than are today’s working parents, dining out on special occasions only. Today, for some families, restaurants are no longer a luxury – they’re simply cost-effective. Sadly, a portion of that cost must be absorbed by you and disgruntled diners everywhere.

As for the advice part, it is not a good idea to criticize parents in restaurants, because – let’s face it – ill-mannered offspring are produced by adults who don’t give a crouton about how their spawn behave at salad bars. You may not only not get the desired response, you might get a tirade, finger or some white bread hurled in your direction.

So unless a child is endangered by his actions – imminently rather than theoretically – or unless a small reptile or Barbie limb plops into your jello, lay low. In fact, why not dine at more suitable restaurants – read pricier – every other week? Either go elsewhere or carry on, wear protective gear, sit back and enjoy the show. Attempting to change it is not worth the indigestion.

One last thing: it is your civic duty to induct your grandchildren into restaurant training. You know, napkins, size of bites, Manners 101 – and don’t forget to richly reward behavior with dessert or perhaps points that result in, oh, you know, some good-kid sort of thing. It would be a favor to them, their weary parents and dejected diners everywhere.

Bitterness Backfired

Dear Deborah,
Your last column was about mothers and daughters. I sympathize with the daughter of “Hurting Mom,” the mother who wrote in because her adult daughter was still angry about the mistakes she made in raising her. The only thing that began to cure me of my bitterness toward my mother for the years of neglect was giving birth to a beautiful baby. I was too busy to be thinking about my mother. I am still angry, but I have learned to live with it. I have better things to do. I want to tell that daugh-ter, “It does get better with time. You are lucky your mother cares, asks for forgiveness and is trying to make it up to you.”

The only thing I get from my mother are postcards from fancy trips with younger men and big checks on birthdays and Chanukah. I’d rather have the yelling and crying and apologizing, like with “Hurting Mom’s” daughter, than the big void my irresponsible, drugged-out “flower child” mother left. I vow to be a better mother to my son.

Bitter But Better

Dear Bitter But Better,
Isn’t it ironic that your mother is off having fun on fancy trips and you are the bitter one? Haven’t you suffered enough? Your mother never was and still is not what you would like her to be. Stop waiting for the real goods from her and accept the checks as a consola-tion prize. In fact, why not spend that money on something “fun” as well? Fun for you. Fun enough for you to get on with your life and stop setting an example for your beautiful young son about how not to let go of anger.

If your bitterness is diminishing only because you are “too busy” to think of your mother, what happens when you stop being so busy? Do you resume the wrath? If you can begin to let go of the past and the bitterness that poisons your own well, you will multiply your odds of fulfilling the vow to be a better parent – and person. Good luck.

Bubbe Trouble

Dear Deborah,
My brother is divorced. His children, ages 10 and 12, are devastated. My mother, seeing that, spends more time with them than with my children, ages 9 and 11. They [my children] are deeply resentful of her favoritism. My mother insists that it is not favoritism, but that the other children need her so much more. All my children see is that they are neglected by their grandmother. My explanations have not helped…

R.

Dear R,
Try this explanation to your children: Life isn’t fair. They won’t always get their needs met. Adults and children often divide things unequally, whether it’s time, feelings or a piece of chocolate cake. It would help if they can learn to have empathy for their hurting cousins by inviting them over, calling them, spending time with them (and grandmother?).

Yet I suspect from the subtext of your letter that there may be some feelings you yourself have about your mother’s “favoritism.” If you can admit it to yourself, reread the last paragraph – but this time for yourself. Take a deep breath. If you can sit with and be at peace with the knowledge that life isn’t fair. and if you are able to accept that for now, if you pull up enough empathy and attention for all four children, your children will be able to handle what comes just fine.

Deborah Berger, Psy.D., is a West Los Angeles psychotherapist.

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