Last month, Kol Nidrei services on the evening of the Day of Atonement held at a local Hancock Park yeshiva were interrupted by the government officials pressing a zoning violation. It was an act of stupidity and insensitivity, not anti-Semitism.
Certainly, this story of Abraham and Sarah\’s tent — as described in Genesis 18 and explicated in the midrash — is particularly timely, as we begin the yearly cycle of Torah readings. Even more so, the story of Abraham and Sarah is directly relevant to what the Jewish community has become and where it wants to be.
With just more than a month to go before the Israeli-Palestinian peace conference is scheduled to take place, Jerusalem is shaping up to become the key issue.
News briefs.
Noah\’s behavior after the flood represents the ultimate consolation to mankind.
So, this past summer, I made the rounds of alternative synagogues, minyans and chavurot in Los Angeles, to see whether any spoke to me. I visited more than a dozen places that aspire to the spiritual life I associate with the 1960s: They\’re egalitarian, inclusive, committed to social action and steeped in music. They seek joyful experience instead of dogma, connection to one another and the outside world rather than status, healing instead of judgment and passionate involvement rather than merely showing up and mouthing prayers.
Letters to the Editor.
The September release of a new documentary that follows Jimmy Carter on tour for his controversial book, \”Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid,\” has reignited the longstanding animosity many Iranian Americans feel toward the former U.S. president.\n
Circuit briefs.
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