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Jewish Journal

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September 11, 2008

Campus hate — while down — is still a problem, wailin’ on Palin

Leave a Comment / Letters to the Editor /

Quiet War at UCI

We agree with the Sept 5 letter from five UCLA academics that anti-Zionism/anti-Semitism at UCLA is less severe than that at UC Irvine (“Quiet War on Campus,” Aug. 22).

However we commend The Journal for running [Brad] Greenberg’s review of the situation on American campuses. It was a comprehensive piece that included differing views about the problem’s severity, and was of great service to Journal readers who are concerned about the issue.

We disagree however with the professors’ strategic recommendations and the elitist tone of their letter. Minimization or denial will not solve the problem, nor will denigrating off campus groups who share concern about the immediate and long-range impact of campus anti-Zionism. The 20,000 faculty members who felt it necessary to form an organization, Scholars for Peace in the Middle East (SPME) to combat imbalance and poor scholarship about the Middle East conflict certainly cannot be accused of being “amateurish,” promoting “shoddy research” and “propaganda,” and of not understanding the campus or “academic freedom.”

SPME’s roster includes highly acclaimed professors and Nobel Prize winners.

There is a crying need for united action so Jewish students and faculty can proudly support Israel, not only in Hillel buildings, but also in classrooms, faculty offices and on campus quads. Jewish campus institutions have a vital role to play in this effort, but they may be constrained by sensitive campus affiliations. Independent organizations also have an important role because they are freer to express student and faculty concerns about abuses, intimidation and propaganda-like distortions.

If the five academics collaborated with other well-intentioned groups, they would find them much more reasonable, open-minded and sophisticated than their letter implies.

Roz Rothstein, Executive Director
Roberta Seid, Education Director
StandWithUs

Palin and the Jews

In response to your recent article, “Sarah Palin and the Jews” (Sept. 5), please count me as one reader who was shocked and sickened by the nastiness and pettiness of Sarah Palin’s speech [at the Republican National Convention].

If insulting community organizers, making snide remarks about Sen. Barack Obama’s popularity and mocking the location of Obama’s acceptance speech make her presidential material, then America is in serious trouble.

Jeff Goldman
Culver City

I was shocked by your flattering treatment of Gov. Sarah Palin. After picking through the trivia and smears for substance, you conclude that she “has genuinely warm relations with her Jewish constituents … and appears to have a fondness for Israel.” However, you present no evidence that she has genuinely warm feelings about Jews or genuine fondness for Israel.

Furthermore, you brush off her wearing a Pat Buchanan button when he visited her town “as a courtesy.” Come on! Would it be acceptable for her to put a sheet over her head as a courtesy if the Ku Klux Klan paraded through her town?

James Kallis
Los Angeles

I hear Jews around America saying that they are voting for Sen. John McCain because he is good for Israel. Democrats are better for Israel than McCain could ever dream to be, but now that Gov. Sarah Palin is on McCain’s ticket, there are more pressing matters at hand.

Palin recently said that the war in Iraq is “God’s task.” She’s even admitted she hasn’t thought about the war much … just last year, she was quoted as saying, “I’ve been so focused on state government, I haven’t really focused much on the war in Iraq.”

Palin wants to teach creationism in public schools. Creationism is not going to be taught from the Tanach; it will be from the New Testament — how can we allow that?

I hope that the Jews of Los Angeles will stand up against Palin so that she will not be able to continue on her path toward ruining our country.

Aimee Sax
Los Angeles

Charter School

As a retired Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) middle school teacher, I was elated to read about the New Los Angeles Charter School (New L.A.) that will be opening this month (“P.S. Tikkun Olam,” Aug. 29).

Given the poor academic performance and high dropout rate throughout much of the LAUSD, it is imperative that parents have meaningful options, such as New L.A., to assure that their children receive quality instruction in a safe and nurturing environment.

Unfortunately, both the LAUSD and United Teachers Los Angeles (UTLA) have misplaced priorities. LAUSD’s insular district office personnel are often insensitive to the real needs of on-site administrators, school faculties and students. Meanwhile, the teachers union (UTLA) spends much of its resources blocking sorely needed reform.

It was the union that stood in the way of Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa’s plan to create 100 additional charter schools in Los Angeles. Little wonder that New L.A. received almost three times as many applications as it has openings.
Anything that can topple the status quo is welcome relief. On behalf of the children of Los Angeles, todah rabbah and yasher koach to Matt Albert and his crew for putting forth the effort and accepting the risk associated with starting the New Los Angeles Charter School.

Leonard M. Solomon
Los Angeles

Singles Comic Strip

Never Mind Amy the Date (“True Confessions of an Online Dating Addict,” Sept. 5). Amy’s comic strip should get dumped. Three words sum up that inert strip: worst comic ever.

Seriously, with all of the amazing Jewish comedic minds out there in Hollywood and beyond, can’t you find one real cartoonist to create something funny? Maybe you can poach a guy from HEEB.

Erin Stack
Beverly Hills

Ed. Note: We like it. Judge for yourself.

Correction
The D.I.S.C caption in the Sept. 5 issue (page 41) should have read "Dr. John T. Knight, Board Certified Orthopedic Surgeon, D.I.S.C. Spine and Sports Center," instead of "Dr. Robert S. Bray Jr., CEO and Founder, one of the country's preeminent neurological spinal surgeons."

Campus hate — while down — is still a problem, wailin’ on Palin Read More »

Obituaries

Leave a Comment / Obituaries /

Betty Balkin died Aug. 28 at 80. She is survived by her daughters, Bonnie Anketell and Renee Wouters; three grandchildren; and brother, Sheldon (Elaine) Sternberg. Mount Sinai

Daniel Bernstein died Aug. 31 at 94. He is survived by his daughters, Michel and Thea. Malinow and Silverman

Morris “Morrie” Bernstein died Aug. 24 at 97. He is survived by his daughter, Beverly (Marc) Olevin. Mount Sinai

Leah Blank died Sept. 4 at 86. She is survived by her husband, Meyer; daughters, Sandy Goldstein and Janice; son, Gary (Michelle); four grandchildren; three great-grandchildren; and step-sister, Marion Pafford. Mount Sinai

Leonard Cane died Aug. 18 at 86. He is survived by his daughters, Lisa and Candy; brother, Harold; and friend, Inecita Nel Katada. Chevra Kadisha

Ruth Cohen died Aug. 23 at 78. She is survived by her daughter, Carol (Jeff) Katz; son, Gary; and two grandchildren. Mount Sinai

Thelma Cohen died Aug. 25 at 84. She is survived by her husband, Howard; sons, Steven and Gary; three grandchildren; and three great-grandchildren. Groman

Rose Cooper died Aug. 12 at 87. She is survived by her nephew, Kenneth (Ruth). Malinow and Silverman

Bernice Danburg died Sept. 3 at 92. She is survived by her daughter, Sandra; and son Elliot. Malinow and Silverman

Lillian Eisenberg died Aug. 26 at 92. She is survived by her daughter Melissa (Dan) Stoller. Hillside

Eva Finegood died Aug. 26 at 84. She is survived by her son, Ken; daughters, Joanne and Donna; five grandchildren; and two great grandchildren. Groman

Lucille Gest died Sept. 3 at 84. She is survived by her daughters, Barbara (Norman) Fishman and Laura (John) Winder; and grandchildren, Ari and Emma. Mount Sinai

Henry “Gary” Green died Sept. 5 at 60. He is survived by his son, Jason (Nora); and daughter, Stacey (K.C.) Johnson. Mount Sinai

Esther Hahn died Aug. 23 at 90. She is survived by her daughter, Joyce (Marvin) Smith; son, Martin (Ann) Adelson; three grandchildren; and three great-grandchildren. Mount Sinai

Ernest Herman died Aug. 15 at 99. He is survived by his wife, Margit; sons, Thomas (Barbara) and Pini (Sarah); and five grandchildren. Chevra Kadisha

Edna Horn died Aug. 25 at 90. She is survived by her son, Sanford. Groman

Samuel Horwitz died Sept. 4 at 87. He is survived by his sons, Ira (Sharon) and Stuart (Nancy); four grandchildren; and sister, Helen Hirsch. Mount Sinai

Jean Shirley Kane died Sept. 1 at 78. She is survived by her daughters, Melinda (Jay) Rose, Marsha (Hal) Cohen and Sandy (Lee) Kaplan; six grandchildren; one great-grandchild; and sister, Roz (Bruce) Doerner. Mount Sinai

Margit Knispel died Aug. 24 at 89. She is survived by her husband, Walter; and brother, Irving Fischer. Hillside

Harry Harold Kundin died Aug. 30 at 90. He is survived by his wife, Clara; sons, Bruce (Carol) and Sheldon (Lynn); five grandchildren; and nine great-grandchildren. Mount Sinai

Louis Kunin died Aug. 22 at 87. He is survived by his daughter, Susan (Brooks) Proctor; sons, Jerry (Alicia) and Stephen (Deborah); four grandchildren; and one great-grandchild. Malinow and Silverman

David Langer died Aug. 30 at 86. He is survived by his wife, Florence; daughter Andrea; son Barry; daughter in-law Janet; and grandchildren, Robert and Bethany. Groman

Sybil Levin died Sept 3 at 65. She is survived by her son, Yonnie Reese; sister, Lana Eisenberg; brother; Myron Cohen, and many nieces and nephews. Malinow and Silverman

Jean Rothschild Levinson died Aug. 30 at 91. She is survived by her husband, Calvin; sons, David (Andrea Jacobs) and Marc (Betsy); and four grandchildren. Mount Sinai

Janice Zelda Luxenberg died Aug. 28 at 79. She is survived by her husband, Max; sons, Samuel and Louis; brothers, Robert and Morton; and four grandchildren. Groman

Ada Dvora Magaril died Aug. 24 at 92. She is survived by her daughter Hanna Binke; son, Ephraim Eshed; and sisters, Shera Widzogrodsky and Zlatta Letz. Hillside

Louis Markman died Aug. 25 at 93. He is survived by his wife, Jeanette; son, Sheldon (Harriet); five grandchildren; and three great-grandchildren. Malinow and Silverman

Sol Meshul died Sept. 3 at 92. He is survived by his daughters, Myna (Uri) Herscher and Renee (Tom Klitzner); son, Cary (Roxanne Sylvester); six grandchildren; two great-grandchildren; and sister, Esther (Ken) Trigger. Mount Sinai

Rae Naftaly died Aug. 30 at 101. She is survived by her son, Stanley; daughter, Judy; grandson, Matthew (Anya); great-granddaughter, Ellie; and brother, Bernie Matthews. Mount Sinai

Amy Poll died Aug. 26 at 85. She is survived by her son, Gabriel (Melinda); daughter, Vivienne Poll-Moody; grandchildren, Adam and Allison; and sister, Adelle Weiss. Mount Sinai

Edith Polon died Aug. 27 at 80. She is survived by her husband, Martin; sons, Gordon (Lisa), Larry (Ernestina) and Burl; daughter, Saralyn (Paul) Leven; eight grandchildren; and brother, Bernard (Ellen) Fogel. Mount Sinai

Barry Price died Aug. 23 at 64. He is survived by his daughter, Jennifer (Pavel) Greenfield; son, Colin; one grandchild; mother, Rose; sister, Vicky Page; and brother, Dr. Steven. Malinow and Silverman

Henry Raiton died Aug. 21 at 85. He is survived by his wife, Len; daughter, Rhea (Gary) Lewis; son, Jack; sister, Bess (Bob) Cohen; and niece, Lucy Sample. Malinow and Silverman

Blanche Redman died Aug. 27 at 89. She is survived by her daughter, Joan (Charles) Fox; son, Bill (Maria); four grandchildren; and five great-grandchildren. Mount Sinai

William Resnick died Aug. 20 at 94. He is survived by his sons, Mark (Maura), Neil (Susan) and Craig (Lisbeth). Malinow and Silverman

Renee Richman died Sept. 3 at 81. She is survived by her husband, Norman; daughter, Sarah; son, Mitch; and grandchildren, Debra and Aaron. Mount Sinai

Julia Lottie Ross died Aug. 24 at 91. She is survived by her daughter, Pia (Allen) Jacoby; and brother, Mel. Hillside

Murray Ross died Aug. 28 at 88. He is survived by his son, Lloyd (Paula); daughters, Sheri (Michael) Machat and Diane (David) Townsend; and 11 grandchildren.

Aron Schapiro died Aug. 22 at 85. He is survived by his companions, Ludmila and Tony Kagan. Hillside

Ruth Schwartz died Aug. 26 at 88. She is survived by her daughters, Phyllis (Michael) Ross and Natalie (Ken) Kravitz; son, Keith Scott; sister, Veria Weinberg, and five grandchildren. Malinow and Silverman

Lillian Seide died Aug. 29 at 94. She is survived by her daughters, Ellen (Samuel) Rose, Carol (Jack) Stevens and Joyce Kamin; seven grandchildren; and two great-grandchildren. Malinow and Silverman

Manuel Steinberg died Sept. 4 at 85. He is survived by his wife, Molly; daughters, Beryl (Alan) Saltman, Judith (Ken) Bricker and Carol; grandchildren, Chase and Ashley Bricker; and brother, Harvey. Mount Sinai

Harry Weinberg died Sept. 3 at 83. He is survived by his daughters Robin (Yale) Goodman and Janet Padilla; son, Mitchell; four grandchildren; sisters, Cora Lucacher and Blanche Metelitz; niece, Joanne Boyle; nephews, Jeffrey Metelitz and Robert Lucacher; and friend, Beverly.

Stuart Weinger died Aug. 18 at 79. He is survived by his wife, Shirley; daughter, Lisa Vining; and son, Peter. Malinow and Silverman

Edward Weiss died Aug. 25 at 90. He is survived by his sons, Hank and Andy; daughter, Nancy; six grandchildren; sister-in-law, Nancy (Victor) Moss; sister-in-law, Jean Pickus; and caregiver, Edith Rodriguez. Mount Sinai

Joanne Weiss died Aug. 24 at 83. She is survived by her sons, Hank and Andy; daughter, Nancy; six grandchildren; sister sister, Nancy (Victor) Moss; sister-in-law, Jean Pickus; and caregiver, Edith Rodriguez.

Rose Wolfe died Aug. 23 at 82. She is survived by her daughters, Linda (Edward) Docks, Sheila Delgado and Lori; son, Jerry (Luda); eight grandchildren; and six great-grandchildren. Mount Sinai

George Young died Aug. 30 at 82. He is survived by his wife, Eunice; daughter, Leslie (Julie Metz); son, Mike (Marianne); and two grandchildren. Malinow and Silverman

Obituaries Read More »

More Jewish teens attacked in Paris, Adelson gives $30 million to Birthright

Leave a Comment / Worldwide /

Jewish Teens Beaten in Paris Attack

Three Jewish teenagers were attacked in the same Paris district where another Jewish teen was beaten severely in June.

The victims, who were wearing kippot, were temporarily hospitalized for minor injuries on Saturday in what some officials are describing as another anti-Semitic attack in the 19th District.

Badly bruised and with some fractures, the three were shocked and worried about their safety, said Raphael Haddad, president of the French Jewish Student Union, who spoke to the victims on Sunday.

“Their attackers were also from the neighborhood,” said Haddad in a telephone interview, “so they are worried about what will happen if they see them again.”

The three reported the incident to Paris police on Saturday after going to the hospital. The attack took place at about 6:30 p.m. in the low-income, heavily Jewish and Muslim northeastern Paris neighborhood, where 17-year-old Rudy Haddad was beaten on June 21 by a group of young people.

Two of Haddad’s assailants were charged with “attempted murder and group violence aggravated by their anti-Semitic character.”

Richard Prasquier, president of the Jewish umbrella organization, CRIF, told Jewish Radio RCJ on Sunday that he was “certain” the three were targeted because they were identified as Jews.

“There isn’t a shadow of a doubt” concerning the “anti-Semitic character” of the crime, said Prasquier. “Let it be made clear — the boys who were walking by had a kippah.”

A Paris police spokeswoman said an investigation was launched to determine whether the incident was anti-Semitic, adding that the attackers reportedly did not speak to their victims.

The victims’ names were not made public by the French press, but the Jerusalem Post identified them as Bnei Akiva youth group counselors Kevin Bitan and David Buaziz, both 18, and Dan Nebet, 17.

Foundation to Give Birthright $30 Million

The Adelson Family Foundation has pledged another $30 million to the Birthright Israel Foundation.

Sheldon Adelson, the casino mogul who is chairman of the Las Vegas Sands Corp., and his wife, Dr. Miriam Adelson, have now contributed nearly $100 million in gifts over the past two years to the foundation that supplies private funds to Birthright.

The latest pledge consists of a $20 million contribution for 2009 and $10 million for 2010, said Michael Bohnen, president of the Adelson Foundation, in a news release Tuesday announcing the gift.

Adelson said in the release that Birthright Israel “has proven to be the best vehicle we have to strengthen the Jewish community and our people’s connection with the State of Israel. We are honored to have helped Birthright Israel establish a track record of effectiveness on an unprecedented scale, and we look forward to its continued success.”

He called the gift a challenge to other philanthropists to step up during difficult financial times.

Adelson in September 2007 was ranked third on the Forbes magazine list of wealthiest Americans, with a net worth estimated at $28 billion.

Bronfman Prize Seeks Nominations

The Charles Bronfman Prize is seeking nominees for 2009. The prize, which includes a $100,000 award, celebrates the accomplishments of individuals, 50 years old or younger, whose Jewish values have infused their efforts to better the world.

The prize, named for the Birthright Israel co-founder, was launched in 2002 by his children, Stephen Bronfman and Ellen Bronfman Hauptman. Past Bronfman Prize winners include Jay Feinberg, founder of the Gift of Life Bone Marrow Foundation, and Israeli environmentalist Dr. Alon Tal.

Deadline for nominations is Nov. 30.

For nomination forms or more information, visit www.thecharlesbronfmanprize.com.

— Staff Report

Entire Quebec Town Invited to Wedding

Jewish couple Hana Sellem and Moshe Barouk, invited hundreds of residents of Sainte-Agathe-des-Monts to their wedding Tuesday as a gesture of good will after a series of anti-Semitic attacks in the town this summer.

Sellem, 26, an immigrant from France who follows Lubavitch-Chabad teachings, is vice principal of a Jewish teacher’s college in the town.

The couple printed wedding guides in French and English explaining the ceremony. About 300 residents attended.

Briefs courtesy Jewish Telegraphic Agency.

More Jewish teens attacked in Paris, Adelson gives $30 million to Birthright Read More »

Wise moves jazz up Chabad telethon

Leave a Comment / Community, Entertainment, Television /


Telethon promo

When the 2008 Chabad “To Life” telethon kicks off at 4 p.m. Sunday on KCAL 9, it promises a new look courtesy of a show runner with an unusual background.

Daniel S. Wise, 44, is an Orthodox rabbi who for several years had his own yeshiva in Troy, N.Y. Lately he has been pursuing a career in musical theater and related arts ventures.

“I don’t like the idea of making a living from religion — it interferes with the religion,” he said during a telephone interview.

“I’m not a rabbi because I don’t work on Shavuot,” he joked.

Wise was invited to help polish the Chabad production, which first aired in 1980. The telethon will still feature plenty of the traditional celebrity guests, he said, including several hours live with Larry King. But it also will have more filmed segments, shot around the globe, which tell Chabad’s story.

There will be more prerecorded music, too.

“Underneath a lot of the speeches, we’re creating an underscore,” he said. “There will be original compositions, some based on Jewish melodies and some that are original but based on Jewish style.”

The telethon will also feature more klezmer bands and “two of the best Russian dancers in America,” Wise said.

In general, the behind-the-scenes production staff will be more specialized and experienced in specific duties than in the past.

But this won’t interfere with the joyful, spontaneous dancing that is so much of the telethon’s appeal and reason for success. Last year’s telethon netted nearly $7.2 million.

Educated from a young age in Chasidic and Lithuanian yeshivas in Brooklyn, Wise didn’t even have a television at home. Still, he freelanced comedy bits to “Saturday Night Live.”

“I had the chutzpah to find out who was the producer and call up,” he recalled. “So they put me through to Lorne Michaels’ secretary, and I said I have something and don’t worry, he knows me. I showed up at his office and the secretary said to leave it. I got a call back, and then a letter to sign and a check later. I used the name Jeffrey Daniels because at the time it was a little taboo for a yeshiva boy to write for television.”

While taking violin lessons at The Juilliard School, Wise became interested in musical theater. He has since followed two paths in that field — as a creative producer, responsible for some projects from conception to staging, and as an international presenter of successful Broadway shows.

He was involved in bringing a successful English-language production of “42nd Street” to a 2,500-seat Moscow theater in fall 2002, and he helped organize a Chinese production of “Rent.” Wise also put together an international concert tour for rock pioneer Chuck Berry, which was staged like a theatrical production. As a result of their friendship, he’s now producing Berry’s first album of new material in decades.

But Wise is especially proud of “Shlomo,” a musical based on the life of “Singing Rabbi” Shlomo Carlebach, which he co-conceived, wrote the book for and produced. It debuted in early 2007 as a National Yiddish Theatre presentation at the Jewish Community Center in Manhattan. A Broadway engagement and national tour are in the works, he says.

“We discovered his life had a theatrical arc,” Wise said. “He had a life story that was also the story of the Jewish journey from the ashes of the Holocaust to the 1980s and 1990s. And the music is electrifying and transformative.”

The Chabad “To Life” Telethon airs Sunday, Sept. 14, 4-10 p.m. on KCAL 9.

Wise moves jazz up Chabad telethon Read More »

David Light: ‘It’s a tricky balancing act’

Leave a Comment / California, Community, Cover Story, Family /

It’s Friday night at IKAR, and David Light can’t pray.

On this hot and sticky Shabbat, a few hundred people pack the Westside Jewish Community Center auditorium, davening with fierce intensity to the deep patter of drumbeats. Light sits in the second row, watching his wife, Rabbi Sharon Brous, welcome the Sabbath with a chant from Psalms.

“Lechu neranena l’Adonai, Naria letzur yisheinu (come let us sing to God, let us call out to the rock of our redemption)…” she sings.

Light scans the room, smiling and nodding in various degrees of delight to the inner circle who regularly come to pray here each Shabbat, a carefree contrast to his rabbi wife’s dignified solemnity.

By the third verse of the prayer, however, Light has disappeared. When he returns to his seat, he has his arm wrapped around his 2 year-old daughter, Sami, her blond, curly hair bobbing as she gently strokes his face. It’s an adorable post-feminist moment, but it makes davening difficult for him. Before he can say, “Amen,” the child wriggles from his grasp and runs up to the podium, where her mother is leading prayer. Light again abandons his prayer book, retrieves his daughter from the pulpit and carries her outside.

As the husband of a groundbreaking female rabbi who earlier this year was named among the most influential rabbis in the country by Newsweek, Light isn’t threatened by reverse gender roles. His wife is the primary breadwinner, and he the primary caregiver. On any given Shabbat, he is never far from a stroller or a child. And while his wife waxes poetic on social justice, he can be found kibitzing at the back of the room. But he’s also an aspiring Hollywood writer, with a sense of humor about his unusual circumstances. As he puts it, “Sharon was going to save the soul of the Jewish world, and I was bent on corrupting it.”

They weren’t always on such divergent paths. Light was admitted to the rabbinic program at the Jewish Theological Seminary alongside his wife — “the one girl in college who found my knowing all the words to the kiddush incredibly sexy,” he said — but he chose not to go when he realized he’d been more excited by the process of applying to the school than by becoming a rabbi, or even marrying one, though he said it wasn’t that she would become a rabbi that bothered him: “My real doubts were that I didn’t plan on falling in love with the woman I would marry so young.”

Because Brous and her community have created IKAR from the ground up, she had to invest her rabbinate with just about everything she had to give. Her husband, however, despite his strong Judaic background, opted to stay somewhat out of the fray. Present, but not a presence.

“My success or failure as a rebbetzin all rests on whether my kids can break free of my iron-clad grasp and run up to Sharon and yell something inappropriate into the microphone,” he said wryly.

It’s true that their two daughters, Eva, 4, and Sami, are fond of approaching their mother when she’s on the pulpit. And although Brous has fostered a kid-friendly community and welcomes the affection, she has a role that won’t allow for many such distractions. So Light is responsible for making sure they’re disciplined.

“Really truly for me, as a male, we’re lucky that what we do is viewed as additive. We don’t have as many pressures,” he said, extolling the virtue of IKAR as a place that is less rigid and formal than many synagogues. He celebrates the fact that his daughters can pray next to their mother at the podium, but said, “There’s always that moment in services when one of my kids is throwing a tantrum, and I have to eject them from the service.”

Throughout IKAR’s four-year history, Brous has rarely taken a day off.

“It was hard for Sharon when she started,” Light said of the tug between work and family. “It’s a thoroughly exhausting job, and it never ends. There’s always more to do.”

As he talks about it, he vacillates between showing pride at what she’s accomplished and regret at the challenges they face as a result of her successes. Especially when, even after selling a few pilot scripts to major networks, Light is still waiting to see his own career come to fruition on screen.

“I feel like I’m at the beginning of [my career], and Sharon is closer to realizing her goals,” he said.

He gushes over Brous’ achievements and lauds her for creating the kind of community he wants to be a part of. But still, “It’s hard in terms of self-actualization. I love what I do,” he says “but would like to be doing it on a high level.”

As do many writers, Light likes to draw on personal experience, but he has to temper that urge to protect the public side of his family’s position. “I’m drawing on my personal experience and some of the randomness and quirky things that happen in our lives. And I have to be conscious more and more that we’re no longer just a scrappy start-up, and my most inappropriate stories are not appropriate anymore. There has to be a filter.”

As his wife’s accomplishments continue to rise, Light says it has also become more and more difficult to carve out private family time. It’s harder still to nurture their marriage. There’s no “date night” yet, he said, not to mention Brous’s strict adherence to kashrut prohibits much dining out. At least for now, it’s once-a-year vacations and Shabbat afternoons.

“It’s hard — it’s a tricky balancing act. Shabbat is amazing time with family. It’s just that Sharon is also working so it’s not…” he stops himself. “Because we love IKAR, it makes the longing less desperate, I guess.”

And he says that every now and then they enjoy a “sabbatical Shabbat.”

“We wish we had more time with Sharon, and yet we know she’s doing great work, bringing more people to Judaism and making their Jewish lives more meaningful,” he said. “People find my being a comedy writer infinitely boring, but the fact that I’m married to a rabbi — that’s juicy — that has legs to it.”

All the rabbi spouse stories on one page

David Light: ‘It’s a tricky balancing act’ Read More »

Marjorie Pressman: ‘I created my own role’

Leave a Comment / California, Community, Cover Story, Family /

Like an elegant first lady, Marjorie Pressman knows how to dress for an interview.

She chooses a baby-blue cardigan set crowned with opal buttons, double-strand pearls and a dash of iridescent eye shadow. In her mid-80s, she retains a youthful glow as she sits in her living room amidst a lifetime of acquired artifacts — family portraits, Judaic art from masters Marc Chagall and Reuven Rubin and other souvenirs of a 66-year marriage (on their travels, she takes pictures; her husband sketches).

“She was not an observer, not a rabbi's accompanist,” declares her husband, Rabbi Jacob Pressman, 89, who retired from his post as senior rabbi of the Conservative Temple Beth Am on La Cienega Blvd. in 1995. “She was a power in herself. She endorsed all the things that were important to me. She could have had any career; but she suppressed herself, and always gave me the limelight.”

“He said I was the mainstay of his career,” Marjorie jokes. But the way she tells it, throughout his synagogue reign, she never had to want for attention — she had her own light.

Marjorie Pressman came of age in the heyday of the “traditional” rebbetzin — the 1950s mold of women raising children, maintaining a kosher home and (quietly) supporting their husbands from the background. Even so, she established herself as a synagogue matriarch widely recognized as her husband's full partner.

When they first arrived in Los Angeles in 1946, the couple worked together to help shape Los Angeles' small, emergent Jewish community. They helped found the Brandeis-Bardin Institute, the University of Judaism (now American Jewish University), West Coast Camp Ramah, Los Angeles Hebrew High School and the Maple Center. Some people found her irreverent, domineering, even revolutionary, but that didn't stop her.

“Nothing fazed me. I just said we could do it, and we did it,” Marjorie Pressman said about the ambitious programming they brought to synagogue life. “I've always been a very social person. I would have done a lot of the things I did even if I hadn't been married to a rabbi. I always felt liberated, because my husband gave me a long leash — I did whatever I wanted.”

The Pressmans met in high school in Philadelphia, where they both grew up in Conservative homes. Pressman admits she followed her husband to the University of Pennsylvania, where she studied journalism, though she never pursued it. After college, her husband enrolled at the Jewish Theological Seminary (JTS) in New York, and they were married within the year.

After Jacob was ordained in 1946, he was offered a position as assistant rabbi at Sinai Temple. It was there that Marjorie realized she “could do things as the wife of the rabbi,” so she started with the sisterhood. Through the Women's League for Conservative Judaism, she extended the Torah Fund, a scholarship program for rabbinical students at JTS to benefit students at the University of Judaism.

“I knew that I had certain leadership skills, and I knew how to speak. People would come to me and ask me to do things,” Pressman said.

Pressman's real opportunity to lead came when her husband was invited to re-invigorate a fledgling synagogue called Olympic Jewish Temple and Center. It had 200 families at the time, and under the Pressmans, that number grew to 1,300 and the name changed to Temple Beth Am. There, Pressman expanded programming to include art shows, speaking events for authors and celebrity concerts with the likes of Theodore Bikel, Michael Feinstein and Alan King. She used those events to attract people to the synagogue, and when she had them hooked, she started to fundraise.

“I know that there were some rabbis' wives who thumbed their noses at me because I was doing fundraising,” she said. “Rabbis' wives who worked thought you had to be a teacher — that was your role.”

Pressman had different ambitions. In 1972, she spearheaded an event called Israel Expo West, a six-day Israel culture fair, that put Israel at the forefront of the temple's priority list. She engaged some of the temple's biggest donors and lured some from other synagogues. On the eve of Israel's 25th anniversary, Beth Am opened its doors to 50,000 people for six days of programming, the product of a thousand-member committee, with ties to every local organization affiliated with Israel. The event raised enough money to create the first emergency room at Tele Shomer Hospital in Israel, now the Chaim Sheba Medical Center, and is clearly Pressman's greatest source of pride.

With a sly smile, she recalls how she also ruffled more than a few feathers with fashion statements. There was the time she drew gasps when she first colored her hair, or when she wore the synagogue's first-ever pants suit to Rosh Hashanah services.

“I was very nervous, but I did it as a statement,” she said. “I didn't have a role model; I created my own role. I did what I wanted to do, not what people expected me to do.”

Even though she was constantly scrutinized and judged, Pressman said she values her friendships with congregants above all. She wasn't afraid to let people in and see the interior of her life. This attitude is considered unconventional today, when many public figures crave privacy.

“If I couldn't be friends with congregants, I wouldn't have any social life,” Pressman said. “People are sometimes reluctant to socialize with the rabbi, but I enjoy being with people so much that I never feel imposed upon.”

Yet she defends others in her role who do things differently: “When I used to go out and speak to sisterhoods, invariably, some man would come up to me and say, 'We wish our rebbetzin would do the same things you do,' and I would stop them, and I would say, 'Look, you hired your rabbi; you didn't hire his wife.'”

Pressman believes a rabbi/rebbetzin team is an asset, though she does not think it's crucial for a healthy synagogue. Her husband might disagree:

“I have said publicly that we are interchangeable parts. She was a tremendous influence and power in the building of the synagogue — a rabbi's wife par excellence — and I have said, if I have achieved anything in life, it's because she was my partner.,” Rabbi Pressman said. “Any other girls I might have married wouldn't have made it. If I wouldn't have ever met her….” his voice trails off.

“You wouldn't be a rabbi,” his wife said, finishing his sentence.

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