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Jewish Journal

Connect. Inform. Inspire.

June 5, 2003

Jewish Churchgoers on the Rise

Leave a Comment / Community /

It’s Sunday morning at the Church of Ocean Park, a Methodist church in Santa Monica that strangely lacks overt Christian insignia: there are no crosses or crucified Jesuses decorating the walls, but the stained-glass windows do picture a bearded figure tending to a flock of sheep, with a shaft of light illuminating his head.

Some 30 casually dressed people of varying ages sit in chairs arranged in two semicircles facing the Rev. Sandy Richards, who is discussing Lazarus, a character who appears in one of Jesus’ parables to teach Christians that the poor deserve our respect, not neglect. The service continues with hymns, tearful discussion of the morning’s topic (suffering) and “bread,” a ritual where a loaf of bread is shared among the congregants.

It’s all par for the course for another Sunday at church, except for the fact that at least one-third of these churchgoers are Jews. These aren’t Jews who have converted to Christianity. They still identify as Jews, and although some are intermarried, others are not. Many of them belong to a synagogue as well as the church, but most view the church as their first choice as a locus for spirituality and community, identifying with the congregation’s strong commitment to social justice.

According to the American Jewish Identity Survey (2001), coordinated by the Center for Jewish Studies at the Graduate Center of City University of New York, only 18 percent of the American Jewish population is affiliated with Jewish organizations, and out of 5.3 million Jews, 1.36 million are estimated to be adherents of a religion other than Judaism. The Jews at the Church of Ocean Park have not turned their back on Judaism, but their enthused participation in the church raises questions for the Jewish community about what should be the appropriate response to religious assimilation.

The church was established in 1898 as a small beachside church, but by the 1970s, it had only a handful of very old congregants. It experienced a revival in that same period, when the Rev. Jim Conn (Richards’ predecessor) started Sunday night happenings, which attracted young people who got together to dance and discuss their opposition to the Vietnam War. The community grew, and the church got involved in Santa Monica political issues — such as rent control and saving the pier. Today, the church is well-known for its participation in the living-wage movement, and, although it is Christian, it sees itself as having a “progressive definition of Christianity,” according to Richards, which allows people of different faiths to partake in its services.

“I don’t ask that people make a hard allegiance [to Christianity],” Richards said. “You can be as Jewish as can be, and you may be offended from time to time, but we are all there together, and the diversity is part of our identity.”

“The church is a group of people who are very committed to being in community with one another,” said Beth Leder-Pack, a Jew who has been attending the church since 1990. “My definition of God is basically being in community and doing good works here on earth, and the Church of Ocean Park really lives out those values. I really love Judaism, but I have never considered leaving the church, and it is true that I have never felt that a synagogue brings me all that I need.”

Leder-Pack’s sentiments are shared by many of the Jewish churchgoers. Although they admit that their choice of Sunday activity causes shock among their Jewish friends and family, they say that the feel more at home in the Church of Ocean Park than they do at any synagogue.

For its part, the church has made concessions to its Jewish members. In deference to the people of other faiths, Richards no longer practices communion at the church. On occasion, the church brings in people like Cantor Steve Puzarne of Breeyah (a synagogue revival organization) to give classes on Jewish music, and this Passover, Puzarne conducted a seder at the church.

The Jewish presence in the church, Puzarne said, is a rebellion against Jewish materialism. He added that the Jewish community needs a concerted outreach effort to reach Jews who have stepped away from the faith by either attending church or by intermarrying.

“Synagogues have become so associated with big money, catering to the big machers [wealthy people], and building one huge edifice after another,” he said. “There is a gluttony of self-indulgence around the bar mitzvah, and whatever philosophies we proclaim, we are not walking the walk.”

Rabbi Bentzion Kravitz, the founder and West Coast director of Jews for Judaism, an anti-missionary organization, called Jewish affiliation with Christian organizations an epidemic.

“This is a horrific trend of the Jewish community,” he said. “I think it is a wake-up call when we hear these things, and we need to figure out what they are doing right and what we are doing wrong. Judaism is a beautiful, spiritual, fulfilling religion. If we value Jewish survival as a people, we have to double our efforts to make Judaism more spiritual and more welcoming to people.”

Jewish Churchgoers on the Rise Read More »

Literary Look at the ‘Jewish Experience’

Leave a Comment / Books, Entertainment /

This Shavuot, as we read about Ruth’s decision to convert, we should examine our own religious connection: To what extent do we (and would we) internalize the essence of the Torah?

In fact this question touches upon the much larger issue of what it means to be a Jew. "The Jewish Experience" is mentioned frequently and can refer to bagel brunches as easily as it can to surviving the Holocaust. That both of these are cultural references is not a coincidence; Judaism has traditionally emphasized actions and American society echoes this approach. There is however, a component beyond The Jewish Experience. There is an experience of being Jewish. There is a unique way of seeing life that informs all of our cultural practices and associations. This distinct worldview is what we embrace on Shavuot.

Three books in particular directly address the experience of being Jewish, each from a slightly different vantage point.

Rabbi Hayim Halevy Donin’s work, "To Be a Jew: A Guide to Jewish Observance in Contemporary Life" (Basic Books, $18.50), is often at the top of the reading list for people considering conversion. It begins with an overview of the basic tenets of Jewish thought, then elaborates upon these tenets by showing how they manifest in Jewish practices. And while it can certainly function as a practical handbook, it differs from one in that it constantly engages in a discussion of "why". Donin explains early on that the Torah was given in order to bring sanctification to the world. He continues, "The purpose of holiness permeates all of Jewish religious law, and encompasses every aspect of human concern and experience." Even if the reader gets no farther than page 35, orienting oneself to this concept alone can be life-altering.

The book is highly informative, with facts brimming on every page. It can be read in its entirety or consulted as a reference. Discussions are authoritative without being preachy. And where there is the possibility of controversy (e.g., birth control), Donin is remarkably adept at focusing on areas of common ground among rabbinic opinions.

"Judaism for Everyone: Renewing Your Life Through the Vibrant Lessons of the Jewish Faith "(Basic Books, $27.50) by Rabbi Shmuley Boteach (of Kosher Sex fame) incorporates imagery and language from popular culture, especially the realm of New Age. The book contains a great deal of social philosophy, a fair amount of theorizing on contemporary life by the author and some very cogent articulations of the Jewish perspective on life. By packaging traditional Jewish thought in Bodhi Tree wrapping, potentially daunting ideas are made accessible to an audience that might not otherwise be reached.

Among the book’s most compelling points are the contrasts between Judaism’s views on life and those of the ideological competition. Jackie Mason jokes that Jews don’t have a sense of what it means to be Jewish beyond the understanding that "we’re not goyim." In this age of cross-cultural pollination, it is useful to know where ideas originate in order to better recognize what is the essence of our own.

Divergent approaches to suffering place Judaism in opposition to Christian thinking as well. Boteach notes that the message of the crucifixion to Christians is: "Without suffering there can be no redemption." On the other hand he writes, "In Judaism, however, suffering is anything but redemptive…. Ennoblement of character comes through triumph over suffering, rather than its endurance." As a supreme example of this view he cites the establishment of the State of Israel in the aftermath of the Holocaust: "The response to death is life." Though it borders on the melodramatic, no one familiar with Jewish history would argue with this statement.

The most profound distillation of what it means to be Jewish can be found in the pages of "The Gifts of the Jews: How a Tribe of Desert Nomads Changed the Way Everyone Thinks and Feels" by Thomas Cahill (Anchor Books, $14). The book is written with a poetic sensibility that belies an appreciation of life so rare in academic circles it is almost nonexistent. Cahill’s scholarship focuses on history as "the narratives of grace."

The Jewish gift referred to in the title is the introduction of linear thinking. Prior to Abraham, all people conceived of life as a circle or spiral, with events simply repeating themselves into infinity: "The Jews were the first people to break out of this circle, to find a new way of thinking and experiencing … so much that it may be said with some justice that theirs is the only new idea that human beings have ever had."

The text illustrates how choice and decisionmaking could not exist without the shift from the circular to the linear. The Ten Commandments could not exist, nor could the capacity for morality, nor, ultimately, Western civilization.

It seems ironic that the book that best encapsulates the Jewish contribution to society was written by a non-Jew. Then again, perhaps it is appropriately heartening and in keeping with our role as the standard-bearers for a more perfect world. Maybe we’re doing something right after all. And maybe, the more we internalize our gifts as a people the better able we will be to share.

Literary Look at the ‘Jewish Experience’ Read More »

A Short Escape to Prewar Italy

Leave a Comment / Rob Eshman, Travel, Worldwide /

Even when it’s 40 F out and a freezing wind sweeps through the narrow streets of Florence, it is good to be in Italy.

No, it’s great to be in Italy.

My wife, Naomi, and I spent 10 days in Rome and Florence in the dead of winter, bundled like Aleuts in the Mediterranean cold. I’ve read that of all the world’s art treasures, 70 percent reside in Italy — the sacking of Baghdad has probably upped that number to 75 percent — and a chance to see beauty we had only read about was one reason for our long-planned vacation.

What better place to visit as civilization teetered at the brink than the repository of much of civilization’s bounty?

There was a subtext to the voyage as well, inevitable when a rabbi and a Jewish journalist disembark anywhere. The war in Iraq was a few weeks away, and the conflict in Israel blared over CNN International and in the Italian headlines. We would inevitably seek out Jews, Jewish sites and opinions on the international situation, finding plenty of all three along our way. But this was primarily a vacation, and we had no qualms about a brief encounter with Italy’s seemingly unlimited array of pleasures.

Rome was first. Although it was cool in the capital city, we found ourselves walking everywhere from the new and charming Hotel Ottocento, near Piazza Barberini. Nicola, the concierge, just about threw his arms around us when he discovered we were Jewish and from Los Angeles. He was convinced we knew the lyrics to every Barbra Streisand song ever sung. “Peace, war, Bush yes, Bush no” he waved off all talk of the impending conflict. “Do you know, ‘Stony End?'”

Laden with maps Nicola marked up for us, we set off.

If all roads lead to Rome, all Roman streets lead to surprises. Turn a corner and there before you is the Spanish Steps. Tourists dawdle, lovers snuggle and poets linger in the shadow of the building where Byron and Shelley once wrote (and where Shelley, at age 24, died). More walking that first evening led to the sites we had read about but never visited — the Pantheon, the Trevi Fountain, Piazza Navona. Even in February, even before a war, tourists crowded into Rome, but the atmosphere was festive and the people relaxed. If the world was coming to an end tomorrow, why not enjoy tonight?

If the looming war was hurting tourism among Americans, it didn’t seem to faze thousands of others. The next day, when we set off by subway for the Vatican, we emerged to find a line for the Vatican Museums that was at least a mile long. Instead, we headed for the synagogue.

Rome’s grand synagogue sits on the banks of the Tiber River at the edge of the ghetto, or Jewish quarter. Security is tight, and has been ever since a PLO attack in 1982 that left a child dead. Italian soldiers stand guard with machine guns, and visitors pass an armored door to get inside. The interior is stunning, and an exhibit of congregational artifacts, including Nazi-era deportation orders, provides yet more evidence that Jewish life is both adaptable and immutable.

Many Israelis joined us in one of the many daily tours of the synagogue, and over the next 10 days we’d meet several more Israelis taking a break from their country’s tensions by making the four-hour hop from Lod airport to Rome or Milan. Several carriers, including El Al, offer the flights, which run about $500 round trip, making Italy a perfect stop to or from Israel. Perhaps not what Moses Hess had in mind when he penned the Zionist manifesto “Rome and Jerusalem,” but the makings of a great trip nevertheless.

The ghetto is home to several busy kosher butchers, bakeries and a handful of restaurants specializing in Roman Jewish cuisine. To eat this food is to understand, in a bite, much about Italian and Jewish history. As early as the second century B.C.E., Jews traded and settled in Rome. Thousands more were marched off as slaves to the city after the sacking of Jerusalem in 70 C.E. forming, by some estimates, a quarter of the ancient city’s population.

“Perhaps the greatest single force in maintaining culinary tradition over the city’s 2,800-year history,” writes David Downie in the indispensable “Cooking the Roman Way” (HarperCollins, 2002) “has been the Roman Jewish community.”

The 16,000 Jews of Rome (about half of Italy’s Jewish population) are scattered about the city now, but the ghetto still provides Rome’s best glimpse into the Italian Jewish past.

At La Taverna del Ghetto, just behind the synagogue, you can sample excellent renditions of these contributions to Italian cuisine, including deep-fried carciofi alla giudia (literally, “Jewish artichokes”) and sweet-and-sour salt cod.

Working backward in history, we visited the ruins of ancient Rome next, stopping to see the frieze on the Arch of Titus depicting the destruction of the Temple. The image looms large in books on Jewish history. In reality, it is tucked away inside the arch. One people’s tragedy is another’s interior decoration.

At the Coliseum, we joined up with a local tour group. The guide, Paulo, tells us it is Jewish slaves who built much of the structure, which was adorned with gold and silver from the sacked Temple. History books are less certain on this point, but in itself it seems a mere footnote to the tens of thousands of people murdered there in the name of sport. The worst reality TV is the pinnacle of civilization compared to what the emperors watched, and our own bloody times seem reassuringly tame in comparison.

When we finally joined the line at the Vatican, it was down to a half-mile, and it went surprisingly fast. The Vatican Museums are built partly on the conquest of bodies — plundered treasures from around the world — and partly from the winning of souls — wondrous artworks from devoted, or at least well-paid, masters. In any case, the assembly is mind-boggling. By the time we reached the Sistine Chapel and Michelangelo’s revived frescoes, we doubted any art could further impress us.

We were wrong. The chapel, a vast room with the soul of a warehouse, is home to a creation that somehow magnifies the power of all creation. We lingered, refusing to be shooed away, as the guards emptied the vast crowd for closing time. Our stiff-necked refusal paid off as we stood almost entirely alone beneath God and Adam.

Somehow it was fitting, not jarring, to be surrounded by so much beauty even as the world was poised on the brink of a war which, if you remember, threatened to doom the Middle East, Europe and America. Flags calling for PACE were hung from hundreds of windows, groups gathered in St. Peters Square singing hymns of peace, the headlines inveighed against President Bush and the Italian prime minister, who had joined the coalition of the willing. In my college Italian, I followed café arguments about how America, with Israel behind her, was pushing the world into a war no one wanted. But whatever doubts Italians had about our country’s policies, they were warm and effusive toward us.

In Florence, the people were just as warm, the air colder.

The lush Tuscan countryside was taking the winter off, but the city itself was full of life and tourists. And art.

Neither of us had ever been to Florence, and we walked the narrow streets unashamedly clutching maps, camera and guidebooks. You get giddy from the quantity and quality of the masterpieces — the light and shadow of Il Duomo; the work of the young Leonardo in just one of the endless galleries of the Uffizi; Ghiberti’s bronze doors at the Baptistery; and, of course, Michelangelo’s David at the Accademia di Belle Arte.

For nearly five days, we explored Florence and Sienna. Sienna’s main square, or campo, proved a perfect place to soak up the sun’s rays on an otherwise cold day, and the small city is a marvel of well-preserved tradition.

The synagogue in Sienna — one of Europe’s best-preserved — was shuttered (we had neglected to call ahead), but the Florence synagogue became a trip highlight.

A friend of mine from Israel, Shulamit, met and married the man who would eventually become the chief rabbi of Florence, Yossi Levi. Shulamit showed us the beautiful interior, painted in Tuscany’s muted reds and greens, and the preschool, where the din of children matched that at any busy L.A. synagogue. Florentines, in general, are private and tolerant of other people’s privacy, and despite the fears of Jews in France and other parts of Europe, Shulamit said the community in Florence felt generally secure.

But Shulamit did say the congregation in Florence could benefit from the participation and energy of long-term non-Italian residents, Jews on study or work visits to Florence, and she was eager to get that word out.

On our last day in Florence, with about 500 museums left unseen and only 2 percent of Italy’s masterpieces under our belts, we made one last stop to see David. Nothing in picture books had prepared us for the power of that sculpture, and we knew, back in Los Angeles, back in our lives, we would miss it. So back we went, and the line was magically nonexistent. You stare and stare at David, and end up feeling that we humans, with our petty arguments and massive wars, are capable of a much grander world. Maybe a world more like … Italy. N

Italian Travel Tips

Kosher establishments are so noted.

ROME

Hotel

Albergo Ottocento

Via dei Cappuccini 19

info@albergottocento.it

011-39-06-42011900

Food

La Taverna del Ghetto (Kosher)

Via del Portico d’Ottavia

011-39-06-68809771

Kosher Bistrot (Kosher)

Via S. Maria del Pianto, 68-69

011-39-06-6864398

Gusto

Piazza Augusto Imperatore, 9

011-39-06-3226273

La Tamerici

Vicolo Scavolini, 79

(Fontana di Trevi)

011-39-06-69200700

La Toretta

Piazza della Torretta, 38

011-39-06-6833494

At this family-run restaurant specializing in fish, the owners forbid smoking — a fact which makes it a rarity in Italy. It’s also quite good and reasonably priced.

Caffe Sant’ Eustachio

Piazza Sant’ Eustachio, 82

(Near the Pantheon)

011-39-06-6861309

The be-all and end-all of coffee. Roasted over oak wood and prepared by dedicated barristas following a secret method. Stand in line, order a gran’ caffe, and you’ll weep the next time you set foot in a Starbucks.

Gelateria San Crispino

Via Della Panetteria 4

011-39-06-6793924

Long ago discovered by The New York Times, still superior to all other gelatos we tried in Italy — 45 F weather be damned.

Other

Kadima

Murano Glass Judaica

Via del Lavatore, 33

(Fontana di Trevi)

011-39-06-6789860

FLORENCE

Hotel

Hotel Galileo

Via nazionale 22/a

011-39-055-496645

A very reasonably priced three-star hotel in a city known for high-priced accommodations. Clean rooms, friendly and helpful staff, and a convenient location near the train and bus stations.

Food

Buzzino

Via dei Leoni, 8r

011-39-055-2398013

Zibibbo

Via di Terzollina, 3

011-39-055-433383

www.zibibbonline.com

Garga

Via Del Moro, 48r

011-39-055-2398898

Now famous and deservedly so.

Ruth’s Kosher Vegetarian Food (Kosher)

Via Farini, 27a

011-39-055-2480888

Next to the synagogue, Ruth’s focuses on Middle Eastern specialties.

Osteria Ganino

Piazza dei Cimitori, 4

011-39-055-214125

Know Before You Go:

www.FaithWillinger.com is a wondeful site by an expert on Italian food and restaurants.

www.Jewishitaly.org has all the names and addresses of the country’s Jewish sites.

CulturalItaly.com is an L.A.-based firm through which you can make museum reservations before you leave. It costs a bit more, but unless your idea of a vacation is standing in line for a half day, do it.

A Short Escape to Prewar Italy Read More »

Book Helps ‘Design’ Delicious Simchas

Leave a Comment / Celebrations/Simchas, Kosher Eats /

“Kosher by Design: Picture Perfect Food for the Holidays & Every Day” (Mesorah Publications, $32.99).

If Pesach signals the emergence of spring, with Shavuot, the season bursts forth in a riot of color and luscious flavors. “Kosher by Design” by Susie Fishbein, captures the beauty of every holiday with a feast for the eye as well as the palate.

“The original concept for the book was based on a Shavuot idea,” said the effervescent Fishbein, who edited the wildly successful “The Kosher Palette.” And no wonder she bubbles over. In the first week, “Kosher by Design” sold 24,000 copies.

Each holiday is photographed as if it were a party. To celebrate Shavuot, Fishbein visualized a cascading flowerpot salad bar and intereviewed party planners to help execute the setting.

“There was a glimmer in one woman’s eye as she started to rattle off ideas to make the salad bar even more spectacular and I canceled all my other appointments,” Fishbein said. “I knew she was the one.”

“The one” turned out to be Renee Erreich, and the luscious table settings and presentation ideas she and Fishbein created — and photographer John Uher shot — seem to leap off the page. Set in spectacular Manhattan apartments, the photos inspire rather than intimidate. Everything in this book is doable.

Take the edible individual challah napkin rings. Never baked bread in your life? You can create these with any challah dough, suggests Fishbein. Why not frozen?

“The recipes and serving ideas require a minimum of fuss to achieve the maximum aesthetic impact,” Fishbein said. “I don’t aim for the level of chef. I’m not a chef myself. No one I know cooks like a chef. I’m aiming for the person who cooks on an everyday basis, every Shabbat basis, every holiday basis; people who want things to look elegant and different, but don’t want to spend seven hours in the kitchen.”

The Flowerpot Salad Bar for Shavuot, while elaborate, is not that hard to duplicate. To create the garden effect, clay flowerpots are lined with purple cabbage and filled with colorful salad ingredients, then displayed at varying heights.

“The Midrash tells us that although Mount Sinai is in the desert,” Fishbein writes, “it suddenly bloomed with fragrant flowers and grasses on the morning that the Torah was given to the Jewish people. The custom of decorating our homes and synagogues with leafy branches and flowers is based on this miracle.”

Beginning with Shabbat, the book is divided by holiday. Fishbein explains the origin and customs of each, then offers a sample menu as well as unique and exciting ideas for presentation.

“Food is so much a part of the Jewish holidays that it enriches the experience to kind of tie the food into the holiday traditions,” Fishbein said. “That’s what this book does, without being overly biblical. It’s not like we thought, we need a soup, let’s put one here. We really tried to pair the food with the holiday. However, any recipe can be for any day, any night, any Shabbat. I picked recipes for specific menus if they fit in a fun or interesting way.”

Most of us think of Shavuot first as the dairy holiday, and even the Baby Blintzes are easy but showy. No rolling here! A cheesy batter is baked in muffin tins and crowned with berries. A mascarpone filling for an nontraditional Tiramisu Cheesecake snuggles in a ladyfinger and chocolate sandwich cookie crust.

“Wherever I can, I try to keep in mind all levels of expertise,” Fishbein said. “Many people don’t have a lot of confidence in the kitchen. I want to give them that confidence. Cooking is fun. I don’t want it to be frustrating.”

Baby Blintzes

8 ounces farmer cheese (regular,

not unsalted)

8 ounces cottage cheese

(2 percent or 4 percent milk fat)

2 tablespoons sour cream

1/3 cup sugar

1/2 cup all-purpose baking mix,

such as Bisquick

1 teaspoon vanilla

3 tablespoons melted butter

3 large eggs

12 raspberries

24 blueberries

Cinnamon/sugar mixture

Sour cream

Preheat oven to 350 F. Heavily grease a muffin tin with butter or nonstick cooking spray. In a large bowl, mix the farmer cheese, cottage cheese, sour cream, sugar, baking mix, vanilla, melted butter and eggs with an electric mixer at medium speed. Fill each of the muffin compartments halfway with the mixture. Place one raspberry and two blueberries on top of each muffin. Bake 20-25 minutes. Remove from oven. Before serving, sprinkle each baby blintz with cinnamon/sugar mixture and a small dollop of sour cream.

Makes 12 servings.

Tiramisu Cheesecake

14 chocolate sandwich cookies

2 tablespoons butter, melted

12-14 soft sponge ladyfingers

(3-ounce package)

1 teaspoon instant espresso

powder or instant coffee

2 tablespoons whole milk

2 (8-ounce) packages cream cheese, softened

1 (8-ounce) package mascarpone

cheese, softened

1 cup sugar

1 tablespoon cornstarch

1 teaspoon vanilla

3 large eggs

1 (8-ounce) container sour cream

Milk chocolate bar, for grating

Preheat oven to 350 F. In the bowl of a food processor fitted with a metal blade, process the cookies until they are finely crushed into crumbs. Add the butter and mix to moisten.

Press the crumbs into the bottom of an ungreased 9×9-inch Springform pan. Cut the ladyfingers in half, crosswise. Line the ladyfingers around the side of the pan, rounded side out and cut side down.

In a small cup or bowl, mix the espresso powder in the milk, stirring to dissolve. Set aside.

In a medium mixing bowl, beat the cream cheese and mascarpone until combined and fluffy. Gradually add the sugar. Beat on medium-high until smooth. Turn the speed to low and beat in the cornstarch, vanilla and eggs until just combined. Stir espresso mixture into the batter.

Pour the batter into the ladyfinger-lined pan. Place the pan on a baking sheet. Bake for 45-50 minutes. Center will appear nearly set when gently shaken. Remove from oven. Immediately spread the sour cream on top, starting at the center and going almost to the edges.

Cool in pan for 15 minutes. Use a small knife or spatula to make sure the ladyfingers are not sticking to the sides of the pan. Cool at least one hour. Cover with plastic wrap and chill in the refrigerator for at least five hours. Sprinkle grated chocolate over the top of the cheesecake.

Makes 12 servings


Judy Bart Kancigor, the author of “Melting Pot Memories” (Jan Bart Publications, $19.95), can be found on the Web at Book Helps ‘Design’ Delicious Simchas Read More »

McDonald’s to Fund Kosher Ed

Leave a Comment / Food, United States, Up Front /

McDonald’s and kashrut? Only in Israel, one might think. But an Illinois court ruled May 20 that the world’s most ubiquitous burger joint must sink $1 million into education about Judaism’s kosher laws.

The money is part of $10 million that McDonald’s must divide among a variety of plaintiffs after it was found that french fries and hash browns advertised as vegetarian in fact contained some beef flavoring.

The ruling by the Cook County circuit court ended a lawsuit that cobbled together class-action suits by plaintiffs around the country.

Ultimately, $6 million was assigned to vegetarian groups, $2 million to Hindu and Sikh organizations, $1 million to children’s charities and $1 million to Jewish groups.

Hillel: The Foundation for Jewish Campus Life, which will receive $300,000 in the settlement, will use the money for an educational program, "You Are What You Eat: A Kashrut Conversation," and to supply students with kosher recipes.

Four Jewish groups were also selected to divide the $1 million: Jewish Community Centers Association will receive $200,000 to develop curricula about kosher food laws and practices; Orthodox Union will receive $150,000 for education about kosher observances and educating kosher food supervisors; Star-K/Torah.org will receive $300,000 to expand its Web site to offer an interactive course for schools, hospitals, synagogues and others on creating and maintaining a kosher kitchen; and CLAL –National Jewish Center for Learning and Leadership will get $50,000 to host conferences on kashrut and disseminate the resulting ideas.

Jeff Rubin, director of communications for Hillel, compared the case to the Chanukah miracle.

"It’s another positive thing that came out of hot oil," he said. "This will help us to promote an understanding of kashrut on college campuses around the world."

McDonald’s to Fund Kosher Ed Read More »

Marlene Marks’ Spirit on the Web

Leave a Comment / L.A. Woman, Up Front /

Being treated for cancer is no one’s idea of fun. But a new Web site, www.chemochicks.com, is bringing moral support and an irreverent sense of humor to women undergoing chemotherapy. The colorful, breezy site gives female cancer patients a place to gripe, share inspiring stories and purchase products that will make life easier when their hair falls out and their self-esteem is nil.

Chemochicks.com is the brainchild of Jana Rosenblatt, a theatrical costumer and interior designer who has spent the past year fighting ovarian cancer. Much of the Chemo Chick product line comes from her own search for stylish headwraps and for eye makeup that will stay put on a hairless face.

“It’s amazing,” Rosenblatt said, “how expressionless you are without your eyebrows.”

The site also reflects Rosenblatt’s feisty spirit. When first facing chemotherapy, she dreamed up a fearless alter ego, Super Chemo Chick, who was tough enough to handle whatever might come. Now this personal coping mechanism helps empower others.

Rosenblatt’s founding partners in Five Chicks Unlimited are four local businesswomen who have been touched by cancer. They bring expertise in finance, product research, Web design and customer service to the site. But its guiding spirit is someone who did not live to see its launch: Marlene Adler Marks.

Rosenblatt had redecorated Marks’ Malibu home in 2000, shortly before The Jewish Journal’s longtime columnist and former managing editor was stricken with lung cancer. When Rosenblatt herself fell ill in June 2002, a visibly ailing Marks came to call. Marks’ courage in the face of her own mortality inspired Rosenblatt to battle back with similar grit. Two months after Marks’ death last September, the idea for chemochicks.com was hatched.

Another major morale boost came from Rosenblatt’s synagogue, Or Ami of Calabasas. Though she was relatively new to Southern California, members showered her with food baskets and friendly visits. Several, in fact, have joined the Chemo Chick team.

“I didn’t realize I was so much a part of any community, let alone a Jewish community,” Rosenblatt marveled.

Which shows that even a cancer diagnosis can lead to good things. “I like the person I am now better than the person I was before I got sick,” Rosenblatt said.

Marlene Marks’ Spirit on the Web Read More »

Your Letters

Leave a Comment / Letters to the Editor /

Rabbi Revolution

Your article on the “Rabbi Revolution” (May 30) omitted one very important Westside rabbi. Rabbi Asher Brander, 35, has led the Westwood Kehilla for nine years, inspiring a renaissance of Jewish learning and thought.

During this last year, he single-handedly established a Kollel in Westwood with five energetic rabbis and their wives, who reach out to all Jews at all levels of learning and commitment, and who give classes all over the city. He has also established a vibrant college program for UCLA students who wish to learn more about their Jewish heritage.

He is always bringing exciting speakers to not only the Kehilla but to the entire Los Angeles area. His learning, teaching, leadership and vision establish him as a role model for the entire Jewish community. He is certainly part of the Rabbi Revolution, the next generation of rabbis that are taking over Los Angeles.

Zach Samuels , President Westwood Kehilla

The Jewish Journal’s “Rabbi Revolution” only seems to be in effect for the Ashkenazi community of Los Angeles. Missing from your article was any mention of Rabbi Haim Ovadia, the recently appointed rabbi of Kahal Joseph Congregation, a “Westside” synagogue serving the Iraqi Jewish community. Ovadia is 36, and, in his short tenure at Kahal Joseph, he has already revitalized the congregation with creative programs that attract large numbers of young people. The Ashkenazim of Los Angeles may never take notice of this, but from all of the Orthodox rabbis serving Orthodox pulpits, Ovadia is probably the most authentically “modern Orthodox” rabbi in this city.

Rabbi Daniel Bouskila, Sephardic Temple Tifereth Israel

As she’s done in the past, Julie Gruenbaum Fax once again cogently highlighted an interesting development in the life of the Los Angeles Jewish community. However, “Rabbi Revolution” (May 30) requires a follow-up article on the truly religious work our rabbis perform. What commitment does the new rabbinic generation make to pastoral care, effectively guiding Jews through the profound challenges happiness and tragedy placed before them?

Come to think of it, Fax doesn’t need to apply her strong journalistic skills to another article. She needs to write a series.

Mark Rothman, Los Angeles

Jews in College

Regarding Sharon Rosenthal’s article, “Book Preps Jewish Students for College” (May 23), I would like to point out one major concern affecting both new and continuing college students: money.

While the financial aid world is constantly growing –both students looking for fellowships, loans or scholarships, and organizationsand foundations offering them — many Jewish students don’t think they qualifyfor any targeted aid. For over a decade, Los Angeles Hillel Council haspublished “The National Guide to Scholarships, Fellowships and Financial Supportfor Jewish Students” in book form. This valuable resource, is now available freeonline at our new Web site www.theBagel.org . It lists over 125 sources of financial aid and is updated on a regular basis.

Alyce Arnick, Editor TheBagel.org Los Angeles Hillel Council

Jewtopia

[Naomi] Pfefferman’s review of “Jewtopia” misses the mark (“A State of ‘Jewtopia,'” May 16).

Jewtopia is mostly funny, but unfortunately departs from poking fun at contemporary Jewish idiosyncrasies to instill “meaning” in an evening of fun.

The two “nice Jewish boys” who wrote and acted in the play, just don’t get it. There is nothing funny about a young lawyer asking his mother why he should raise his children as Jews, nor is there anything funny about her responding with idiotic blather.

Their insensitivity and irreverence is woefully evident in the character of the rabbi who is not simply a buffoon with sexual perversions, but the instrument who desecrates those prayers Jews hold dear. “Cute” becomes testy and slips into self loathing.

The enormous energy of the play often escapes into nothingness, without direction or purpose. The nail is hammered in the coffin of the message when our hero announces that he sees no reason to raise his children as Jews.

Louis Lipofsky, Los Angeles

Geraldo and the Jews

When the latest intensification of Arab violence began, Geraldo Rivera kept showing on TV a scene of an Arab father and young son cowering before being shot and killed (“Do the Jews Need Geraldo?” May 30). This picture was shown over and over on TV while Rivera was reporting to make us think that this father and son were killed by Israeli gunfire.

A thorough investigation revealed that the father and son were killed by Palestinian Arabs. Even German news media reported that. Geraldo never corrected his malicious reports. In essence, Rivera knowingly and wittingly defamed and libeled Israel.

Rabbi Shimon Paskow , Temple Etz Chaim

Correction

In “Moving Beyond Ladies Who Lunch” (May 30), the name of Bat Yam’s incoming membership chair is Sharon Rifelli.

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The Circuit

Leave a Comment / Circuit, Entertainment, Film /

Film Fest Fun

The succession of subtitles onscreen was riveting and jarring: “The biggest singer in France is Israeli…. Mike Brant looked relaxed and beautiful, except his head was lying in a pool of blood.”

The text flashed across the screen during a teaser for “Mike Brant: Laisse Moi T’aimer,” an Israeli documentary exploring the stormy, short-lived starburst of Brant, an Israeli singer who didn’t even speak fluent French when he took France by storm with his pop hits in the early 1970s. By 1975, at age 28, he fell to his death from the sixth floor of his Paris apartment building in an apparent suicide.

“Mike Brant,” an Israeli 2003 Cannes entry, was one of more than two-dozen cinematic offerings at the 19th Israel Film Festival, a film anthology spotlighting the latest crop of feature-film fiction and documentaries coming out of Israel.

Erez Laufer, director of “Mike Brant,” was one of the honorees at the opening-night gala, held at the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences in Beverly Hills. Laufer, during his acceptance speech for the Cinematic Award, told the audience that he was pleased to be at Cannes 33 years to the date of Brant’s first performance on a French TV show.

Israeli filmmakers were, naturally, the focus of the fete, but they weren’t the only ones being honored on opening night. The festival also saluted a couple of local yokels who are doing all right for themselves. Richard Riordan, former L.A. mayor and prospective newspaper publisher, introduced Humanitarian Award-recipient Larry King. Marvel Entertainment’s Avi Arad presented the Visionary Award to Laura Ziskin.

Ziskin, who previously had a hand in “Pretty Woman” and “Fight Club,” said, “I work under the motto that movies aren’t made. They’re forced into existence.”

Meir Fenigstein, festival founder and executive director, shared his incredulity over his event reaching the big 19. He spoke highly of the “challenge bringing the unique films and creativity of Israeli filmmakers to the U.S.A.”

“The festival allows us to see Israel without the politics,” said Kobi Oshrat, the Israel Consulate’s cultural attaché. “It shows what Israeli society is all about.”

This year’s festival, which runs through June 8, highlights films like “Slaves of the Lord,” another Cannes entry; and festival opener “All I’ve Got,” a macabre romantic comedy written and directed by Keren Margalit, which was screened at the gala opening and underscored the special “Reflections of Women” category.

Following the screening of “All I’ve Got,” The Circuit chatted with Ronit Reichman, a Tel Aviv University graduate and the producer of “Under Water,” who is in the process of relocating her Tamuz Productions to Los Angeles, where she will produce a three-part documentary on Islamic terrorism. The Circuit also caught up with Laufer, also a Tel Aviv University alum.

“In France, there’s a big ’70s revival right now, so people were ready for this film,” Laufer said of his Cannes reception. For Laufer, chronicling the life of the late Brant was “a journey to try and piece it together from what people say, from archive footage. You try to find the person.”

Also in attendance: L.A. County Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky; “Wisdom of the Pretzel” producer Shai Werker-Option; “In the Ninth Month” writer-director Ali Nassar and star Nissrin Faour; “Return From India” producer Evgeny Afineevsky; “Local Hero in Jerusalem Beach” director Natali Eskinazim; David Lipkind, Israel Film Fund executive director; Meital Dohan, star of “God’s Sandbox,” and the film’s producer, Yoav Halevy; and Arthur Hiller, director of the original “The In-Laws,” who — with Arnon Milchan, Mike Medavoy, Michael Fuchs, Peter Chernin, Sumner Redstone, Sherry Lansing, Ron Meyer, Joe Roth, Terry Semel, Haim Saban, Steven Spielberg, Ted Turner and Jack Valenti — comprised the impressive roster of honorary chairs and co-chairs for 2003’s Festival.

For more information on the 19th Israel Film Festival, call (877) 966-5566 or visit www.israelfilmfestival.com .

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Kids Page

Leave a Comment / Kids & Teens /

RUTH, A TRUE FRIEND

On Shavuot, we read the Book of Ruth. Even though Ruth’s husband died, she decides not to desert her mother-in-law, Naomi, who has lost her husband and two sons. Ruth leaves her home in Moab to accompany Naomi back to Israel. She cares for Naomi and goes to work in the fields of her relative, Boaz. Ruth later marries him, and lives, I suppose, happily ever after.

This book is about friendship, loyalty and compassion. In fact, the rabbis say that Ruth’s name comes from the Hebrew word for friendship — Re’ut. That is why it is so important to read this book on the day we celebrate the giving of the Torah. All the laws and commandments of the Torah would be worth nothing if we did not, before anything, know how to be a good friend.

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Beyond Summit: Chance for Peace?

Leave a Comment / Israel, Politics, United States, Worldwide /

A double dose of optimism and skepticism led up to this week’s summit at the Red Sea resort of Aqaba, but what really matters is what comes next.

Hardened by past failures, Israelis and Palestinians alike recognize that there is still a long way to go, and a lot that could still go wrong after President Bush’s Wednesday meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and his Palestinian counterpart, Mahmoud Abbas.

There are, for example, still dozens of warnings of planned terrorist attacks, and a new round of suicide bombings could quickly derail a reactivated peace process.

And even if the parties are able to make the first moves Bush is asking of them, they will encounter major problems down the road: Will they be able to agree on the final size of the Palestinian state, on the extent of its sovereignty, on Jerusalem and the refugee question? And what about the rejectionists on both sides? Will the Palestinians have the power to collect illegal weapons held by Hamas and Islamic Jihad? Will Israel be able to dismantle settlements? In other words, can Abbas face down the fundamentalists and can Sharon deal with the settlers?

One far-right Israeli Cabinet minister, Avigdor Lieberman of National Union, warns that “any attempt to dismantle settlements will lead to civil war.”

Despite all the questions, there was a fresh breath of optimism in the air this week. Israeli generals are talking about the end of the nearly three-year-long Palestinian uprising. Palestinians are delighted by Sharon’s unprecedented use of the term “occupation” and are looking forward to the occupation’s end. And most importantly, both sides have been sobered by what they see as the American administration’s newfound determination to put an end to the long conflict between them.

Indicative of the new mood, the Israeli stock market, sluggish during the intifada years, has been skyrocketing.

The Aqaba summit, designed to jump-start a new peace process, was first and foremost a statement about the degree of American commitment. Bush, who had carefully kept his distance from the treacherous Israeli-Palestinian conflict, is now making clear that he intends to play an active role and to exert heavy pressure wherever necessary.

On Monday, Bush vowed to “put in as much time as necessary” to achieve Israeli-Palestinian peace. Bush made his comments in France before leaving for the Middle East, where he attended a summit in Egypt with Arab leaders on Tuesday and met with Sharon and Abbas in Jordan on Wednesday.

At the meeting Tuesday with leaders from Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and the Palestinian Authority at the Egyptian resort of Sharm el-Sheik, Bush said Israel “must deal with the settlements.” Israel must “make sure there is continuous territory that the Palestinians can call home.”

At Tuesday’s summit, Arab states agreed to Bush’s request to back the road map.

The president is also asking Egypt and Jordan to send ambassadors back to Israel as soon as there are tangible signs of progress.

“I hope that as we move forward in this process down the road map, both Egypt and Jordan will see the merit at an appropriate moment to return their ambassadors,” Secretary of State Colin Powell said Tuesday in Egypt.

At the Aqaba summit on Wednesday, both Sharon and Abbas made far-reaching commitments: Abbas announced an end to the armed intifada against Israel.

“We will spare no effort, using all our resources, to end the militarization of the intifada, and we will succeed,” he declared. “The armed intifada must end and we must resort to peaceful means in our quest to end the occupation.”

Sharon came out strongly in favor of Palestinian statehood, and promised to start removing what he called “unauthorized” settler outposts.

“It is in Israel’s interest not to govern the Palestinians, but for the Palestinians to govern themselves in their own state,” he averred. And he added that Israel was fully aware of the Palestinians’ need for contiguous territory on the West Bank for that state to be viable.

Bush carefully listed the major commitments made by both parties, and made it clear that he would hold them accountable.

“These leaders of conscience have made their declarations today in the cause of peace,” he said. “We expect both parties to keep their promises.”

To underline just how serious he is, Bush is sending in a team of about a dozen monitors, mostly CIA officials, to determine where the parties are carrying out their road map obligations and where they are not. And the word is that any side that creates obstacles will be publicly rebuked.

The president also named John Wolf to be special U.S. Middle East envoy to help implement the road map. A team headed by Wolf, the U.S. assistant secretary of state for nonproliferation, was slated to arrive in the Middle East following the summit. Wolf is relatively unknown, and has little experience in the Middle East conflict.

As far as he went in condemning terror and violence against “Israelis everywhere,” Abbas failed to commit to the notion of Israel as a Jewish state.

This led to renewed right-wing criticism of the entire road map approach.

Yuval Steinitz, chairman of the Knesset’s Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, says unless such a commitment is forthcoming, Israel should refuse to move into the second phase of the road map, which leads to the creation of a Palestinian mini-state.

Abbas, meanwhile, has said it will take weeks before Palestinian security forces are in a position to keep the peace.

Still, the Palestinians have at least three very good reasons to achieve and maintain a cease-fire: The weakness of the post-Iraq Arab world; Sharon’s planned security fence, which would leave them only small truncated areas of the West Bank if they don’t cut a deal soon; and the fact that a triumphal George Bush is ready to lean on Israel. If the Palestinians keep the cease-fire, and Bush pressures Israel to make major reciprocal moves, Sharon could be the one leader strong enough to make concessions and carry the country with him.


Leslie Susser is the diplomatic correspondent for the Jerusalem Report.

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