On Yom Kippur, my wife Sally and I went to shul just around the corner from the Vatican. It was a visit we will not soon forget. The imposing Comunita Ebraica di Roma Synagogue (the Great Synagogue of Rome) sits just off the Piazza del Firori close to the Tiber River and spitting distance from Vatican City across the river in one direction, and Palatine Hill and the Roman Forum in the other.
\”Gershwin the Klezmer\” aims to show their continuing contribution to the musical zeitgeist: \”It\’s really about the Jewish soul of American music,\” Vass says.
Gurinder Chadha was having one of those surreal multicultural moments you get in L.A.
Late November and early December is Chanukah festival time in L.A. This weekend, no less than 30 artisans from all over the globe will converge on West L.A.\’s Temple Isaiah for the Festival of Jewish Artisans, which celebrates its second decade this year. Making her first appearance at the annual event will be metal artist Aimée Golant – a young artist not much older than the Festival itself – who fashions mezuzot and menorahs in a quasi-abstract style.
A small but vocal group of demonstrators rallied outside Paramount Pictures in Hollywood last week, wielding signs and chanting slogans like \”Jodie Foster wants to glorify a Nazi\” and \”Stop Jodie\’s project now.\”
It\’s the obvious first topic of conversation, and Paul Castro has no problem addressing it. As the newly minted executive director of Jewish Family Service of Greater Los Angeles (JFS), Castro now runs a Jewish social outreach organization – and yet he is neither Jewish nor holds a degree in social work.\”It was more of a challenge for the organization than for me,\” Castro told The Journal. \”I\’ve never really not felt part of the family at JFS. The fact that I\’ve not been Jewish has not been an issue in the day-to-day operations or in my interactions with people.\”
On Nov. 9, five years after the assassination of Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, Milken Community High School students reached across 7,563 miles and 10 time zones to their sister school, Tichon Chadash, in Tel Aviv.
They say you can never go home again.
Well, you can. Only you might find yourself staying at a Travelodge, driving a rented Ford Contour and staking out your childhood home like some noir private eye just trying to catch a glimpse of the Johnny-come-latelys that are now living in your house.
Judaism commands us to be kind to animals.
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