\”The Song of Hannah\” as imagined by Etzioni-Halevy, tells the story of two women — Hannah and Peninah, Elkanah\’s other wife — and its chapters alternate between their two voices.
When Paul Reiser co-created and starred in the 1990s hit sitcom, \”Mad About You,\” — about a secular Jew married to a Christian — he helped spur a new trend in TV comedy: the cute but neurotic Jewish leading man.
Vanessa Paloma\’s performance at the 200-year-old mission is one highlight of the 2005 World Festival of Sacred Music, which will be spread out among many Los Angeles locations over a two-week period beginning Saturday.
It was hard to be in Los Angeles in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, perhaps the biggest natural disaster in our history. I had some previous Red Cross training, and, with some additional fast-track prep on disaster response, I was on my way to Louisiana — first by plane to Houston, then by car to Baton Rouge.
Lodging on one of the first nights was the floor of a church gymnasium. At times, I felt like I was part of a sad \”Amazing Race,\” hurrying throughout Louisiana to provide some assistance to some of Katrina\’s victims.
I have a picture on the wall of my office. It was taken at about 4 a.m. in 1998. I\’m in the picture with a group of Democratic and Republican legislators. We look tired; we\’ve been up late for a number of nights. But there\’s also a glint of celebration.
That was a happy and proud moment. We had just negotiated Proposition 1A, which put $9.2 billion of school bonds on the ballot. This bipartisan breakthrough opened the way for three successful state school bonds that raised $34 billion for school construction.
I\’ve also supported local school bonds, and the state and local money that voters entrusted to the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) is being used to build schools all over the city.
I don\’t take this progress lightly or for granted. But building for seats is not the same as building for reform. To date, L.A. Unified has done the former but only paid lip service to the latter. And I find myself moving to an uncomfortable and unfamiliar position on the question of the school district\’s bid to pass $3.985 billion in school bonds this November.
\”It is not in our hands to explain the prosperity of the wicked or even the sufferings of the righteous.\” So said Rabbi Yannai in the Mishna some 2,000 years ago. The Talmud (Kiddushin 39b) insists \”there is no reward for mitzvot in this world.\” We have had a long time to read and understand the Book of Job, and we know that the calculus of reward and punishment is more perplexing and agonizing than we can know.
Than we can know, but not, apparently, than Rav Ovadiah Yosef, a former chief rabbi of Israel, can know. Rav Ovadiah is an ilui, a genius of halacha.
His memory is astonishing, his range remarkable. Unfortunately, his theology is appalling.
My college friends Jordy and Michelle are throwing a party — a birthday party for their 1-year-old son. That\’s right, my former party \’til the break of dawn dormmates are hosting a luau for their little one. This should be good.
I walk into the Hawaiian-themed rager and am overwhelmed. It\’s like Tot Shabbat with leis. There are a dozen kids playing on the floor. How do my friends even know this many crawlers? Where did they find them? I can only imagine they rented them from the party store along with the tiki bar and folding chairs. And who are all these new mothers?
Museums, like movie studios, prefer to open big.\n\nThe high cost of museum management, from health care to advertising, has forced institutions to reach for blockbuster exhibits — Tutmania! — market them like summer movies, and pray for long lines and lasting buzz on opening day.\n\nThen there\’s Max Liebermann.\n\nSkirball Cultural Center founder and director Uri Herscher was in Jerusalem several years ago, visiting a friend\’s small, art-filled apartment. His eye caught an attractive painting, a Liebermann, his friend said, and Herscher responded, \”Who?\”\n\nVirtually unknown today, Max Liebermann was the most famous German painter of his time. He died at age 87 in 1935, just as Adolf Hitler rose to power. As he watched the Nazis march through the Brandenburg Gate celebrating the takeover of Hitler, Liebermann famously remarked, \”One cannot eat as much as one would like to vomit.\”
Despite the High Holidays arriving late this year, many Jews are still scrambling to prepare. The practical and spiritual work is demanding: cooking, traveling, repenting, forgiving — it all takes time and energy.
In anticipation of the Day of Judgment, Jews judge themselves this month, conducting a cheshbon hanefesh (accounting of the soul). Some people resist this not just because it is daunting, but because the process seems negative. They don\’t want to be mired in self-criticism.
But accounting means looking at both sides of the ledger — deposits and withdrawals, mitzvot and sins. One way to balance the ledger is to reduce withdrawals; the other is to increase deposits. The latter method may be even more effective, because our assets (good deeds) can be leveraged to eliminate bad debt (sins that seem so enticing at the time, for which we pay later).
This week\’s Torah portion, Ki Teitzei, offers many laws that can increase rachamim (compassion, mercy). Rachamim is a particularly valuable asset, because it offsets anger and augments patience. We can deliberately grow midat harachamim in ourselves. The goal is to make compassion greater and more important than being right. Thus, we imitate God, who is said to pray: \”May My mercy overcome My anger\” (Berachot 7a).
Fundraiser for victims of Hurricane Katrina
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