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Jewish Journal

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July 7, 2010

Letters to the Edtior: Flotilla, Musical Instruments on Shabbat, Mass Transit

Leave a Comment / Letters to the Editor, Opinion /

Friend to Friend on Flotilla

I read with some discomfort David Suissa’s article titled “In Praise of Disunity” (June 18). This article was a reply to Rabbi Sharon Brous’ earlier article titled “A Narrowing of Heart and Mind: The American Jewish Response to the Flotilla” (June 11).

My discomfort with David’s article is that he misses the point. No one is trying [to suggest] (and Rabbi Brous was not suggesting) that all Jews be single-minded on every issue affecting Israel. What she was lamenting was the knee-jerk reaction of many American Jews to defend the actions of the Israeli government without so much as a thoughtful reflection on the positions taken by that government.

Neither David nor Sharon nor I would ever tolerate the delegitimization of Israel as the Hamas/Hezbollah/Iranian supporters are attempting to do. But it is equally unfathomable to adopt a policy of “my Israel, right or wrong.”

The Israeli military handling of the boarding of the Mavi Marmara was poorly planned, poorly executed and poorly explained to the rest of the world. I was in Israel at the time of the flotilla incident and there were Israeli voices in the popular press calling for the resignation of the defense minister and others involved in this operation.

Moreover, my friend David Suissa misses the greater implications of Rabbi Brous’ sentiments. Her dream “of a democratic, pluralistic and diverse nation, one in which the Jewish past is honored and its future built, a country in which Jewish culture and language flourish and the spirit receives sustenance, and one that honors the dignity and equality of all its inhabitants” is slipping through our fingers with little mention by all lovers of Zion. The failure of the majority to protect the rights of the minority and to treat that minority with equality and dignity (one of the pillars of democracy) is a threat to the very existence of the Jewish state. The delegitimization of Reform, Conservative and Reconstructionist Jews; of homosexuals; of Israeli Arabs and others is as great a problem facing Israeli society as the attempted delegitimization of the state by its hostile Arab neighbors, and this is an issue that we have the power to fix, if Jewish leadership can find the political will.

Finally, David fails to understand that while he enjoys a “nuance-free demonstration, ” such “rah-rah demonstrations” are chasing away more young liberal American Jews from the cause of Israel than they attract in one-day, chest-pounding adherence to the rally. If he is not concerned about Israel’s rejection by young American Jews, I am, and I think a lot more effort ought to be put into the Rabbi Brous approach to Israel than the David Suissa approach.

Stanley P. Gold
via e-mail

David Suissa responds:

Mr. Gold, a champion of religious tolerance, shows the kind of intolerance I railed against. My column celebrated the diversity in the ways that Jews help Israel, including ways that were quite different than mine, like that of my friend Rabbi Sharon Brous.

Mr. Gold, however, prefers to delegitimize approaches he disagrees with. It’s not enough, for example, that he doesn’t believe in “nuance-free” solidarity rallies to support Israel. He must also give them no value whatsoever — not even as occasional morale boosters or complements to more conciliatory and critical approaches.

Israel has many needs, and just like there are many kinds of Jews, there are many ways of helping Israel. Declaring that “my way is better than your way” and “your way isn’t worth much” may make us feel good, but it won’t help Israel. Looking for the good in each other, building on what we have in common and seeing the value in our diversity will go a lot further.


In Harmony With Orthodoxy’s Rules?

As someone who greatly admires and applauds Dennis Prager and everything he stands for, I present my critique of Dennis’ last column (“Musical Instruments on Shabbat?” July 2), which argued why Orthodoxy should lift the ban on musical instruments on Shabbat, with great friendship and admiration.

No one is knocking Dennis’ 15 years in yeshiva and his erudition on all matters both secular and religious. At the same time, Mr. Prager knows better than most that to advocate for the lifting of a rabbinic injunction that has been in place for centuries cannot and should not be done through a casual newspaper column or by populist vote. Over time, Jewish law can and does change, but under very limited rules and circumstances. This occurs in the beit midrash (study hall) through rabbinic consensus of Judaism’s great halachic decisors.

To be sure, there are challenges facing the rabbinic leadership of Orthodoxy today, both in Israel and in the Diaspora. But those challenges don’t negate the halachic process, a process that Dennis lauds and admires at the beginning of his column as the reason why we’ve been around as a people for so long. He would do well to recall the age-old maxim, “More than the Jews have kept the Sabbath, the Sabbath has kept the Jews.” And the “Sabbath” includes all those ancient and seemingly arcane rules such as muktzeh, eruv and, yes, musical instruments. It is the holistic acceptance of rabbinic law that keeps the Orthodox community intact and committed; once you pick apart one law, the whole system begins to unravel.

But as I said, deep down, Dennis already knows this. If I may direct my comments to you directly, my friend: If you’d really like to debate the issue, then you and I should sit in the beit midrash together, as serious Jewish scholars have been doing for centuries, go over the primary and secondary halachic texts, and fight the friendly “milhamtah shel Torah,” the battle over the Torah. Your article called upon Orthodoxy’s leadership to display “courage” in being open to changing rabbinic law. It also takes courage to critically analyze the halachic texts and system from within with rabbinic scholars and be willing to accept the outcome unconditionally. I invite you to study with me b’hevrutah (one on one), and let’s see who convinces whom.

Rabbi N. Daniel Korobkin
Los Angeles

PR Won’t Solve This Problem

Rob Eshman makes some good points about the characteristic rush to find new PR strategies for Israel to deal with each new outburst of international venom (“Six Steps to Better Israel PR,” June 18).

For example, shortsighted ideas like trying to turn Israel into a popular brand name cannot succeed, because Israel is not simply a commodity but a cause that has been viciously maligned and whose merits need to be affirmed anew in the court of public opinion. No one will change their visceral disgust for someone they have been falsely led to believe is a murderer because they are shown that he is handsome, personally charming or intelligent.

However, Eshman superimposes his own political thinking when he says that “a final status agreement with the Palestinians … [is] critical for Israel’s long-term well-being.” While all would welcome a genuine Palestinian peace partner, the fact remains that Mahmoud Abbas’ Fatah-controlled Palestinian Authority is not willing to make peace with Israel. Israel needs to make this fact widely understood — not prioritize a false PR message over national security by pursuing further concessions and negotiations with a non-peaceful Palestinian partner.

Morton A. Klein
national president
Zionist Organization of America


Find a Solution — Civilly

David Pine is certainly correct when he complains about the lack of civility displayed when he spoke at the recent gathering (“Seeking a Bridge to Peaceful Two-State Solution,” June 18). We need to remind ourselves that even those who have different solutions to the conflict are no less passionate about the need for Israel to survive.

It is difficult, however, to take Americans for Peace Now seriously after Arafat and the Palestinians rejected the Clinton/Barak offers of 2000/2001. Also, one just has to watch their TV programs (see Palestinian Media Watch), which, in Arabic, clearly point to a one-state solution. And so do their school textbooks, showing a Palestinian state from the Jordan to the Mediterranean.

Despite that, Americans for Peace Now still perseveres [toward] a two-state solution, which at this point is really a three-state solution and, should that not work out, we can always hope that Hamas will metamorphose into the kind of society run by the Palestinian Authority that, by its actions, wants there to be a one-state solution. 

So, as he points out in his article, it’s still Israel’s fault?

Jack Salem
Los Angeles

David Pine, Americans for Peace Now director, condemns the “political orthodoxy” of very many Los Angeles Jews (ìSeeking a Bridge to Peaceful Two-State Solution,î June 18). Inserting the term “political orthodoxy” into the debate [implies] that there is something sinister and destructive in those that stubbornly support Israel.

He is absolutely certain that the two-state solution is Israel`s only hope for survival. He may be right. He may be wrong. But when Americans for Peace Now in the United States set themselves up as knowing what is best for the state of Israel, and takes on the government of Israel and its leaders by name, they are exceeding their moral, humane and Jewish authority. Only the citizens of Israel have the right to determine their future. Just as the hecklers at the rally were out of line, Americans for Peace Now preaching to the world the course of action Israel should take is out of line.

Hershey Gold
Los Angeles


On Board With Mass Transit

Thanks to Ellen Isaacs, Eli Lipmen and Jody Litvak for their excellent opinion piece on reasons to get on board with mass transit (“It’s Time to Get on Board With Transit,” June 25). They make the essential point that, while BP surely deserves much criticism for the Gulf oil tragedy, the cornerstone blame lies with we individual Americans because of our addiction to oil, way too much oil.

In addition to mass transit, there is an additional route that many of us can take to wean ourselves off of oil. Moderately priced plug-in electric vehicles are coming to market by the end of the year. In the future, such vehicles can be powered by 100 percent clean, renewable electricity from the sun and the wind. Solar photovoltaic panels on one’s house or property can supply sufficient electrical energy to power both a home and a car. When one buys electric, ample personal rewards will include no more trips to the gas station and a feeling of knowing one has done the right thing.

Ben Zuckerman
Los Angeles

Powerful Voice Speaks Out

The article by Jose Maria Aznar (“If Israel Goes Down, We All Go Down,” June 25) should be published in every newspaper in the United States and around the world. It may do no good, as the world is so anti-Zionist (anti-Semitic). It does the Jewish heart good to hear at least one human being, with, hopefully, a powerful voice, speak in rational terms about Israel. Too bad our president does not feel the same way.

Harvey M. Piccus
Tarzana

Kosher Vs. Crow Flies Out the Window

Sorry, Rob, your conclusion that Yehuda Avner got a lesson on when to eat kosher and when to eat crow doesn’t fly very well.

In his 2008 keynote address at the International Chabad Shluchim banquet, Avner shared the amusing anecdote of the time he attended a White House dinner as part of an Israeli delegation to the White House. At dinnertime, he alone was ceremoniously served a disproportionate serving of lettuce, topped by cottage cheese, while the others, in his words, feasted on their pheasants.

When a surprised President Gerald Ford turned to Prime Minister Yitzchak Rabin for an explanation, the latter thought better than discussing†why some Jews observe†the laws of kashrut while others negate them (perhaps fearing a political fallout back home if the†story was picked up by the Israeli†press).†Thinking quickly,†Rabin replied that it was Avner’s birthday and this was a special dish in his honor. Ford jumped up to toast Avner, and the entire assemblage followed with the singing of ìhappy birthday, Yehuda!î

Seems like Yehuda Avner is a pretty principled guy after all, and†he’s put the word of G-d ahead of the first family’s food†on more than one occasion, without any qualms or reservations. He makes me proud!

Y. Sapo
via e-mail


The Order of Public Opinion

In his June 18 column (The Supreme Court?), Raphael Sonenshein makes some comments that call out for rebuttal. Sonenshein writes: “In the Citizens United case … the court expanded on the concept that corporation are, like persons, entitled to free speech protection.”

He goes on to say: “The Supreme Court majority seems to believe that the threat to the free speech of private entities is a bigger problem in American political campaigns that the threat of an outsize roll of private interests.”

Even a cursory review of what the Court talks about in its decision shows that Mr. Sonenshein is wrong about the decision.

In the majority decision, the Court writes: “The First Amendment provides that Congress shall make no law … abridging the freedom of speech.” Note that the Constitution does not distinguish between the free speech rights of corporations and those of individuals.

The Court’s decision in the Citizens United case is summed up by this section of the majority decision:

Speech is an essential mechanism of democracy, for it is the means to hold officials accountable to the people. In a republic where the people are sovereign, the ability of the citizenry to make informed choices among candidates for office is essential. The right of citizens to inquire, to hear, to speak, and to use information to reach consensus is a precondition to enlightened self-government and a necessary means to protect it. The First Amendment has its fullest and most urgent application to speech uttered during a campaign for political office. Discussion of public issues and debate on the qualifications of candidates are integral to the operation of the system of government established by our Constitution For these reasons, political speech must prevail against laws that would suppress it, whether by design or inadvertence. Laws that burden political speech are subject to strict scrutiny, which requires the Government to prove that the restriction furthers a compelling interest and is narrowly tailored to achieve that interest.î (Citations omitted.)

This is the basis of the Supreme Court’s decision in Citizens United. As is his wont, Sonenshein has engaged in a straw-man argument, where he attributes something to his opponent that the opponent has not said and may not even believe and then attacked that comment.

Sonenshein makes another comment in his column that should be noted: “The Supreme Court may now feel free to overturn state laws.”

If there is any intellectual consistency to Mr. Sonenshein’s writing, we must conclude that he disagrees with Roe v. Wade, which overturned the abortion laws of all 50 states.

It is not that difficult to find the text of a Supreme Court decision. Perhaps Mr. Sonenshein should do that before he next writes about legal matters.

Susan Jordan
Hollywood

Abrahamís Vision Bears Fruit

Your article on Abrahamís Vision needs an addendum. Our granddaughter Avital Aboody, a native of Sherman Oaks, was a participant from UC Berkeley in 2006. It had a†major impact on her and she graduated from Berkeley in Peace and Conflict Resolution. She recently completed a year fellowship in Israel with a group called Breaking the Silence, which is funded by the New Israel Fund (NIF). This group coordinated trips to Hebron for Israelis and foreign dignitaries, including the former prime minister of the Netherlands. She is now in Bosnia-Herzegovina as a staff member of this yearís Abrahamís Vision. After this she will come to L.A. for a few weeks and then move to Brooklyn, N.Y., to become involved with Avodah, a Jewish organization, where she will be involved in community organizing. She is one of the success stories from Abrahamís Vision.

Lester Paley
Sherman Oaks

Searching for Lost Cousin

I am looking for a long-lost cousin in the L.A. area. If you know this person, please tell them to contact me: Sandy Lyon, born March 31, probably around 1960. Daughter is Beth, born Aug. 27, 1970; son is Michael, born April 9, 1968. Tell any of them to e-mail me at {encode=”syb1023@aol.com” title=”syb1023@aol.com”} or call (913) 660-0542. I live in Jerusalem, Israel. Thank you.

Sybil Kaplan
via e-mail

Jewish Geography

Hello, my name is Howard Rockman. I was born and raised in the Wilkes-Barre, Pa., area back in 1955, now living in the New York City area. I am back in Wilkes-Barre at least one week a month. Your article about Layos Lenovitz, now known as Lou Lenart (ìWorld War II, Israel Independence Pilot Honored,î July 2), caught my eye, and when I read it, I was surprised to read about his Wilkes-Barre connection.

I remember a Max Lenovitz (changed his name to the more common spelling of Lenowitz, the more ìAmericanî spelling); my dad and I used to walk with Max every Shabbat to shul as Max was the gabbai (caretaker) of the synagogue for many years.

I remember Max finally retired to Florida many years back, and I ran into him there in the late 1990s. He was an elderly man back then; I presumed he passed away some time back.

Apparently, since you interviewed Lou Lenart, you have contact with him. Would you ask him if he was related to Max Lenovitz aka Lenowitz? Many thanks for an enjoyable article, and for putting Wilkes-Barre on the map.

Howard Rockman
via e-mail

THE JEWISH JOURNAL welcomes letters from all readers. Letters should be no more than 200 words and must include a valid name, address and phone number. Letters sent via e-mail must not contain attachments. We reserve the right to edit all letters. Mail: The Jewish Journal, Letters, 3580 Wilshire Blvd., Suite 1510, Los Angeles, CA 90010; e-mail: letters@jewishjournal.com; or fax:(213) 368-1684.

 

Letters to the Edtior: Flotilla, Musical Instruments on Shabbat, Mass Transit Read More »

Tel Aviv/L.A. Film Confab Broadens Musical Horizons

Leave a Comment / Entertainment, Film, Worldwide /

As Doug Frank, president of music operations for Warner Bros. Pictures, stood up to address a small audience in Tel Aviv’s Cinematheque late last month at the 12th annual Master Class in Film and Television, he began with a question:

“What color are you?”

The atmosphere was casual and the answers varied. Pink. Green. Dark purple (chosen by someone who admitted to being out way too late the night before surveying the famous Tel Aviv party scene).

The point, Frank continued, was to show that the question could be answered in a word or two. Communication about music — especially when it comes to making movies and creating scores — should be simple.

His next directive was clear: Describe the music you want for your film to your composer and sound designer. From the far corner, Los Angeles-based sound designer Paul Hacker and composer Eric Jasper waved to their fellow Israeli and American participants.

Undaunted by the challenging task and early hour, an American producer named Henry Lowenfels volunteered first. Lowenfels needed music that would reflect the sentiments in his low-fi, independent comedy called “Visioneers,” about people who get beaten down by the world and eventually explode — not with blood and guts, but like a volcano. Within seconds, Jasper was playing a lovely melody on the piano in just the right tempo, as Hacker intermittently added in booming explosions from his laptop. The crowd tittered. This, everyone agreed, had the right mix of humor and pathos.

The point, Frank interjected, is that music is a critical emotional component of any film — whether it’s a small documentary or a Hollywood blockbuster. But in order to achieve the right musical score, you don’t need to speak in technical terms about orchestral palettes or major chords. Instead, filmmakers, writers and producers should describe images and feelings. The composers and sound designers will then translate them into accompanying melodies.

Sponsored by The Jewish Federation of Greater Los Angeles’ Tel Aviv-Los Angeles Partnership and designed to create mutually beneficial relationships between entertainment industry professionals in the two cities, the music component was new this year at the master classes. Past years’ programs have included television and film executives Darren Star, Nina Tassler, Gail Berman, Nina Jacobson and Richard Gladstein.

“David Renzer believes that music is an integral part of that process, so here we are,”  Frank said. Over the course of the week Renzer, chairman and CEO of Universal Music Publishing Group, lectured about the role of music within the Hollywood system, as well as the future of the music industry and how to find a common creative language.

The participation of Steve Schnur, president of Electronic Arts Music Group, also added an enlightening layer for many participants — even for experienced professionals like Hacker. “Music for video games is a fairly new part of the industry, and he [Schnur] brought a really interesting and fresh perspective to the whole process, because he has worked as a music supervisor on feature films in the studio system but now he’s the president of music for Electronic Arts,” Hacker explained. “He’s crossing genres, and he was able to give career advice to any musician who wants to promote themselves.”

That advice included not thinking of yourself as a one-dimensional composer. “Nobody should consider themselves a video game composer,” Schnur said. “The greatest composers have done film, games and TV.”

As a prime example, he cited Michael Giacchino, who composed the music for the “Medal of Honor” video game but went on to work in television and recently won an Oscar for the movie “Up.”

“I think most of the people attending were gamers and wanted to get into the space. A lot of them came up to me afterward and said, ‘My God, you did a complete 180 of my ideas,’ ” Schnur added. “This gives them the realization that there are more opportunities as creative people out there for them outside of film and TV. They can apply their talents to film, TV, video games and even social media.”

Tel Aviv/L.A. Film Confab Broadens Musical Horizons Read More »

Shorter, Snappier ‘Jewtopia’ Returns to L.A. Stage

Leave a Comment / Entertainment, Theater /

Everything was at stake for Bryan Fogel before “Jewtopia,” the comedy he wrote and starred in with Sam Wolfson, opened at the Coast Playhouse in May 2003 and became a runaway hit.

The then-28-year-old actor racked up charges on his credit cards for the $80,000 production about two guys on the Jewish singles scene. If the effort bombed, Fogel promised himself and his concerned Jewish parents, he was going to quit show business.

“At the time, ‘Jewtopia’ was about trying to get an agent or a manager, because no one was having me,” he said while preparing to direct a new version of the show, opening July 15 at the Greenway Court Theatre. “It was an all-or-nothing, no-guts-no-glory kind of moment of trying to catch a break. But I couldn’t have begun to imagine that it would turn into what transpired.”

The eight-week run stretched into 17 months, becoming the longest-running original comedy in Los Angeles theater history. An off-Broadway production recouped its $625,000 investment within 20 weeks, prompting a story in Crain’s New York Business, and sold out many of its 1,100 shows in a two-and-a-half year run. Warner published a coffee-table book, “Jewtopia,” inspired by the play; more than 40 productions ensued around North America; and a movie adaptation is in the works, with Fogel attached to direct. Joan Rivers and other celebrities attended performances — as did Salmon Rushdie, who shmoozed with the playwrights over dinner after the show.

Seven years after its auspicious beginnings, Fogel is bringing “Jewtopia” back to Los Angeles to raise support for the film and to hone his own directing skills, as he has never officially directed the play. He is also welcoming the break from other Hollywood endeavors, especially “the development world, which is enough to make anyone want to kill themselves,” he quipped. “In the theater, the playwright really is king.” (Wolfson, who is not involved with the Greenway endeavor, has a new show, “Play Dates,” opening at The Elephant Theatre on July 10.)

The new Los Angeles “Jewtopia” production is “radically different” from the original, Fogel said: The script, published by Samuel French last year, is 40 minutes shorter, the result of tweaking over several thousand drafts. “We wanted to make it quicker, faster, funnier,” Fogel said. “A lot of moments in the old show were sweet or philosophical, especially at the end when the characters spoke about God and faith. But any time we’d see any kind of seriousness, we realized this isn’t the show for that.”

The play still opens as childhood friends Adam Lipschitz and Chris O’Connell bump into each other at an Inter-Temple Rockin’ Young Singles Mixer: “I love Jewish girls,” the Irish Catholic Chris proclaims. “Why?” Adam incredulously replies.

Chris explains that he wants to marry a Jew so he “never has to make another decision”; Lipschitz says he’s attending the event only to satisfy his mother, who forwards him the phone numbers of dozens of “nice Jewish girls” daily. And so the two men strike a deal: Chris will teach the socially awkward Adam how to pick up women, and Adam will show Chris how to come off as an MOT so he can land his dream girl. Broad, and at times raunchy, comedy ensues, including riffs on stereotypes such as cheesy Purim carnivals, inept rabbis, nightmare dates, and Jewish women and their mothers.

“Jewtopia” received criticism early on for what some perceived as unpleasant images of the Tribe, especially Jewish women; the new version still “skewers everyone,” Fogel said. “I believe the success of the comedy is that it’s an equal-opportunity satire,” he added. “Jewish men, for instance, come off as needy, health-obsessed, whining, complaining and unable to make decisions on their own.”

Even so, Fogel acknowledged some of the early jokes did go too far: The writers nixed a scene in which one of Lipschitz’s Jewish dates, a performance artist, urinates on him, and another in which Adam’s mom attempts to elicit guilt by citing the Holocaust.

“But everything in the show comes from a place of love,” Fogel insisted. Even the stereotypes. Like the fictional Adam, Fogel talks to his own mother at least seven times a day and begins each morning with an antacid and a puff on his asthma inhaler. His direction aims to play up the fun: “It will be very campy, very ‘Saturday Night Live,’ ” he said.

While seven or eight viewers used to walk out of early productions, Fogel believes audiences at the Greenway will stay put. “At this point, people know they’re coming to a comedy — a ridiculous comedy — not ‘A Shayna Mai-del,’ ” he said, referring to Barbara Lebow’s 1985 Holocaust drama.

And he attributes the show’s success — with audiences that have been about 65 percent Jewish and the rest non-Jewish — to its universal themes.

“We all know parents who nudge and children who rebel,” he said. “People recognize their own families, and themselves.”

“Jewtopia” is playing at the Greenway Court Theatre, 544 N. Fairfax Ave., Los Angeles. Previews are running now through July 11; the play officially opens July 15 and runs at least until Sept. 19. For tickets and information, visit www.jewtopiaplay.com or call (800) 595-4849.

Shorter, Snappier ‘Jewtopia’ Returns to L.A. Stage Read More »

The Circuit: Celebrity Poker, Rabbinic/Cantorial Ordinations

Leave a Comment / California, Circuit, Community /

The Ziegler School of Rabbinic Studies ordained its 12th class of rabbis on May 17 at Sinai Temple. Front row, from left: Elizabeth Jill Honeyrose Heydemann; Yael Elisheva Saidoff; Rabbi Bradley Shavit Artson, Ziegler dean; Reb Mimi Feigelson, rabbinic studies lecturer; Aryeh Cohen; Deborah Ruth Hilary Silver and Eve Bethany Posen.Back row, from left: Rabbi Cheryl Peretz, Ziegler associate dean; Abraham Samuel Friedman; Amitai Adler; Benjamin Seth Goldstein; Alon Chaim Ferency and Rabbi Aaron Alexander, Ziegler associate dean.

The Academy for Jewish Religion, California (AJR, CA) held its 2010 rabbinic and cantorial ordination and chaplaincy graduation at Stephen S. Wise Temple on May 31, ordaining six rabbis, four cantors and three chaplains. Front row, from left: Cantor Rebekah Mirsky, Rabbi Linda Seidman, Rabbi Roberta “Birdie” Becker and Chaplain Laura Young. Middle row, from left: Cantor Edward Robin; Cantor Pamela Simmons; Cantor Nathan Lam, dean of the AJR, CA Cantorial School; Rabbi Mel Gottlieb, AJR, CA president; Chaplain Amy Altshuld and Rabbi Lori Schneide. Back row, from left: Cantor Jonathan Friedmann, Rabbi Rita Hertzberg, Rabbi Randall Brown, Rabbi Janice Mehring and Chaplain Robert Lifson.

Celebrities and poker fans turned out at the Avalon Hollywood on May 10 in support of homeless youth during The Bicycle Casino’s Hold ’Em for the Homeless Celebrity Poker Tournament, which benefited the Opstand Foundation’s Malibu House of Hope (malibuhouseofhope.org). Recording artist Evan Taubenfeld placed fourth at the Final Table, and the night’s big winner was Malibu House of Hope supporter Doug Colliuo, earning the grand prize of a seat at the 2011 World Poker Tour Celebrity Invitational, valued at over $25,000 and donated by Commerce Casino.

From left: Comedy writer Michael Rotman, “Mad Men” actors Rich Sommer and Michael Gladis and “Inglourious Basterds” actor Samm Levine.

Evan Taubenfeld wins big.

The Circuit: Celebrity Poker, Rabbinic/Cantorial Ordinations Read More »

Sanderson Unveils His New Model for Federation

Leave a Comment / Community /

Six months after he took office promising to transform The Jewish Federation of Greater Los Angeles, Federation President Jay Sanderson is implementing changes he said will dramatically increase Federation’s efficacy in caring for those in need and building Jewish connection.

“When I took the job, one of the things that I knew was that we needed to tell our story more effectively, and what we’ve learned in the past six months is that we need a more effective story to tell,” Sanderson said.

“The model of the Federation as an umbrella is gone,” he said. “The community doesn’t need an umbrella. What the community needs is a hub, a center, and you can only be a center if you are appealing to everybody, which means you have to work with everybody.”

Last month, Sanderson presented to The Federation board a plan that would alter both how Federation raises money and how it invests the money it raises. The board is expected to vote on the restructuring later this month and meanwhile has expressed support for Sanderson’s direction.

Sanderson said he and Federation chairman Richard Sandler spent the last several months meeting with community leaders and members to identify what those outside and inside the organization believe Federation’s role can be.

Sanderson and Sandler concluded Federation should focus its resources and leverage on three priorities: caring for Jews in need, ensuring the Jewish future and engaging the wider community.

By strategizing around these three areas, Sanderson believes Federation can coordinate community efforts for greater impact and at the same time broaden Federation’s base of donors.

Engaging the community, for instance — through volunteerism, social justice advocacy and serving the wider Los Angeles and world community — is known to appeal particularly to the younger generation, and Sanderson said refocusing Federation on those efforts can bring people in.

At the same time, a major priority always has been helping Jews in need — in Los Angeles, Israel and around the world — through programs that address and fight poverty, serve the elderly and provide more resources for people with special needs.

Sanderson said he is particularly excited about the focus on ensuring the Jewish future, which will encompass all formal and informal education, create a deeper relationship with synagogues, nurture Israel-Diaspora relations and coordinate leadership development.

“One of the most pressing needs is the accessibility and affordability of Jewish life, and nobody is addressing this, no organization or individual,” he said. “Every conversation eventually comes to that. And we believe as a Federation that is something we should be focused on.”

Sanderson is also convening an Israel Advisory and Oversight Committee.

“They will work with me and Richard Sandler on formulating our philanthropic strategy in Israel, evaluating Israel’s needs and our work there in accordance with our strategic priorities,” Sanderson said. “The goal is to greatly enhance our deep commitment in Israel.”

To crystallize and achieve communal goals, Sanderson has already begun to convene different organizations with overlapping agendas to brainstorm about how the community can best use its resources.

“Two weeks ago, three agencies came in and said, ‘We want to partner with you.’ But all of them meant the same thing. They wanted us to give them money,” Sanderson said.

“In the past we’ve written a check and walked away, or been way too involved in some places. We need to end up in a place where people we fund see us as partners,” he said.

Rather than having organizations come before a Federation committee to sell a program, Federation will convene roundtables of people interested in common issues to devise broader strategies, he said.

“We’re one of the most serious investors in Birthright in the country, and we want to make sure the alumni’s Jewish life doesn’t end with their Birthright experience,” Sanderson said. “So we’re going to bring together all the organizations, traditional and nontraditional, to figure out how we can collaborate and partner. Instead of funding this or that program, we’re going to say ‘How can we partner in a meaningful way so we can create a communitywide effort to deal with this issue.’ ”

Instead of giving many small grants, Sanderson would like to see greater sums go to fewer organizations.

“In the past we’ve given money to hundreds of organizations, and it will definitely be fewer going forward,” Sanderson said. “We want to do more meaningful things in specific areas, and you can’t do meaningful work when you give everyone $10,000. We’ve made a lot of investments that have been positive, but they may not have moved the dial.”

He said that organizations will no longer be able to count on history as a guide for allocations.

Sanderson Unveils His New Model for Federation Read More »

Bill Aims to Expose Railroad’s Nazi Ties

Leave a Comment / Community /

France’s railroad system will have to fully disclose its role in transporting Jews to Nazi concentration camps during World War II if it wants a share of a lucrative contract to build California’s 800-mile bullet train line.

Under provisions of the state legislature’s Holocaust Survivor Responsibility Act, companies submitting bids for the California project must disclose “whether they had a direct role in Holocaust transportation” and have subsequently provided remedial action or restitution to victims of wartime deportations.

The measure, Assembly Bill 619, passed in a unanimous bipartisan vote on June 29 by the assembly’s Housing and Transportation Committee.

Its language does not single out any company by name, but the bill’s chief sponsor, Woodland Hills Democratic Assemblyman Bob Blumenfield, left no doubt that the main target is the French national railway, Societe Nationale des Chemins de Fer Francais, known as SNCF.

The bill’s wording includes a vivid description of the inhumane conditions under which Jews and others were transported to concentration camps. Also included are charges that SNCF profited by participating in the deportations, and “has never admitted its actions, disclosed its records or been held accountable to victims.”

Blumenfield is optimistic that the bill will be approved by the full Assembly and state Senate, be signed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and go into effect by the beginning of next year.

The financial stakes are high in construction of the bullet-train system, which is expected to zip passengers from Los Angeles to San Francisco or Sacramento at speeds of up to 220 miles per hour.

“This is a $43 billion project, with the actual cost probably much higher,” Blumenfield said. Construction is expected to start next year.

SNCF has considerable experience in operating a high-speed train system and is expected to seek a role as one of the three or four main contractors on the project, with likely earnings in the billions of dollars.

Even if SNCF does not acknowledge its part in wartime deportations, the company would not be automatically disqualified in bidding for the contract.

The California High-Speed Railroad Authority would take any testimony, or its lack, into account in its decision, and Blumenfield said he hoped that SNCF would be persuaded in the meanwhile to “make appropriate amends” for its wartime actions.

So far, SNCF spokesmen have expressed support for the bill, hoping to clarify the company’s record, according to news reports.

Denis Doute, head of SNCF’s North American operations, told the Blumenfield committee that the company was controlled by the Nazis during the German occupation of France.

He added that French railway workers and their families faced death if they refused to follow German orders.

David Martinon, the French consul general in Los Angeles, told The Journal that his government takes the accusations of wartime collaboration “very seriously” and was ready to fully disclose all information and open its archives to investigators and the press.

The bill is not entirely without critics, among them are two Republican assemblymen.

Bill Berryhill (Ceres) said California had no business penalizing companies for actions taken under different leadership in an earlier era.

“It’s crazy, just as it would be crazy to judge me on slavery when I had nothing to do with it,” Berryhill told the Sacramento Bee.

A second assemblyman, Roger Niello (Fair Oaks) warned the assembly that it was embarking on a slippery moral slope.

For instance, it raises the question of whether American railroad companies should be punished for transporting U.S. citizens of Japanese descent to World War II internment camps, he said.

But Mitchell Kamin, president and CEO of Bet Tzedek Legal Services, which works closely with survivors, said California should not enrich companies that helped destroy victims of the Holocaust and have done nothing about it.

That the ripple effect of the Holocaust would impact the deliberations of a California legislative committee 65 years after the end of the war did not surprise Holocaust scholar Michael Berenbaum of the American Jewish University.

“You always have to bear in mind that the Holocaust and its after-effects are unique,” he said. “In a world of moral relativism, the Holocaust represents the negative absolute and stands for total evil.”

Before the vote approving the bill, committee members heard testimony from two Holocaust survivors, Bernard Caron, 83, who lost his family at Auschwitz, and Chasten Bowen, 86, a U.S. bomber pilot shot down over France and shipped to Buchenwald.

Both men testified that SNCF was paid to transport prisoners to concentration camps and that French workers loaded them into filthy, crowded boxcars.

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Netanyahu, Obama and the Truth

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I’ve been getting a lot of e-mail, and you probably have been, too, hysterically accusing the Obama administration of deliberately and dangerously undermining Israel’s security. It comes from friends, family and people I barely know, and from around the globe. The original source is usually missing, identifying only those sending the messages under their own names without having any clue as to the accuracy, much less meaning, of what they’re sending.

Here’s how many begin: “I don’t know if this is completely true”; “I don’t care if it is not quite accurate, but it’s what I believe”; “I heard from a consultant to the United States who meets once a month with the president in the White House. He is in the know”; “I have just received this from my friend in Israel who moves in high circles in Israel”; “I just pass them on. I do not write them. Could there be some truth to this?”

One of the latest revealed that President Obama personally dispatched the CIA to Dubai to film the assassination of a Hamas leader so he could wage a PR campaign “to discredit Israel.”

What these mailings lack in accuracy they more than compensate for with hyperbole, ignorance, fear and loathing for the president of the United States.

At the risk of disappointing the legion of Obama haters, the U.S.-Israel security relationship is doing very well and getting better. The two military and intelligence establishments have been working closely and productively despite recent blips on the political and diplomatic front.

Even the political and personal relationship between Obama and Prime Minister Netanyahu is getting better, according to Martin Indyk, the former U.S. ambassador to Israel, with the two leaders “develop[ing] a constructive working relationship sensitive to the legitimate concerns of the other.”

Anthony Cordesman, a respected defense analyst with the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, D.C., and a colleague, Aram Nerguizian, published a report on the Arab-Israeli military balance last week that finds “Israeli political claims that the Obama administration has somehow distanced itself from a concern with Israel’s security have not been reflected in arms transfers and security cooperation.”

Israel’s qualitative military edge (QME) is decisive and improving, they conclude.

Israel benefits from a steady decline in “Syria’s conventional military capabilities,” the weakness of Lebanese forces, “Egyptian and Jordanian adherence to their peace treaties,” and the disappearance of any Iraqi threat. The improved quality of Palestinian security forces is “reducing the threat of terrorism on the West Bank,” the authors said.

“Israel retains a major advantage in long-range missiles, long-range air strike capabilities, nuclear weapons and missile/land-based air defenses,” they noted, as well as in armor and other areas.

They attribute Israel’s overall superiority to the training and motivation of its forces, its leadership, the quality of its weapons, tactics, maintenance and readiness.

The authors say much of that is because “Israel has access to the latest U.S. weapons and technologies and can develop advanced weapons systems of its own.”

Congress recently approved the administration’s request for $205 million for Israel’s Iron Dome short-range anti-missile batteries in addition to $200 million for joint missile-defense systems, such as the medium-range David’s Sling and the long-range Arrow. All that is in addition to $3 billion in grant military aid, about a quarter of which can be spent in Israel on defense procurement, an arrangement no other country enjoys.

Rep. Steve Rothman (D-N.J.), a member of the House appropriations subcommittees responsible for funding all aid to Israel, said the U.S.-Israeli military and intelligence alliance is “the strongest … in recent history.” Israel’s QME “eroded under previous administrations” but “has been restored and improved.”

The military-to-military relationship has long been mutually beneficial. Israel has consistently shared with the United States the lessons learned — and equipment captured — in confronting Soviet-trained-and-equipped Arab armies, as well as sharing Israeli innovations such as reactive tank armor, first-generation drone aircraft, enhancements to F-15 and F-16 aircraft and more.

One friction point, however, is the administration’s unexpected support for Arab demands that a report on the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty (NPT) include a call for Israel to sign the treaty. The administration clumsily tried to have it both ways, signing the report and then declaring it “deplores the decision to single out Israel” and endorsing the Israeli position that any discussion on a nuclear-free Middle East could come only after a comprehensive Israeli-Arab peace. The New York Times noted this issue “symbolizes why Israel remains insecure about the intentions of the Obama administration.”

The NPT episode has been rich fodder for Internet rumormongers eager to find evidence that Obama is ready to sell out Israel. But overall, it’s hard to deny that the U.S.-Israel strategic relationship is stronger than ever under President Obama — hardly the action of a president who wants to destroy the Jewish state.

Hatred of Obama and the rightist ideology that equates all criticism of Israeli policy with hatred of Israel itself — not “facts” most Israeli experts say are bunk — are what’s driving the drivel littering your e-mail in-box.

Douglas Bloomfield, a former staff member of AIPAC, writes about the Middle East and politics of Jewish life in America.

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Obituaries: July 9-15, 2010

Leave a Comment / Obituaries /

Harry B. Drexler died April 23 at 90. He is survived by his wife, Rena; daughter, Nina Guttman; son, David (Laura); four grandchildren; and two great-grandchildren. Mount Sinai

Lillian Evans died April 14 at 91. She is survived by her daughters, Joanne (Louise) Reisman and Merle (Mitchell) Brodie; son, Arthur (Suzanne); six grandchildren; four great-grandchildren; and sister, Rose (Leonard) Weinraub. Mount Sinai

Anne Finkle died April 20 at 98. She is survived by her sons, Ivan (Bobbie) and David (Roberta Truman); six grandchildren; and 10 great-grandchildren. Mount Sinai

Ronald E. Gray died April 24 at 74. He is survived by his wife, Gloria B.; daughter, Kathy (Bill) Archer; son, Jeff; three grandchildren; one great-grandchild; and sister, Judy (Bill) Rook. Mount Sinai

Betty Halperin died April 20 at 78. She is survived by her husband, Martin; son, Mark (Evelyn); two grandchildren; sister, Lea Gresham; and brother, Bob Spencer. Mount Sinai

Margalit “Magi” Levin died April 23 at 77. A beloved Los Angeles community and animal rights activist; She is survived by her daughter, Natania.

Beatrice Liebman died April 22 at 93. She is survived by her daughter, Barbara; son, Gary (Denae); two grandchildren; and brother, Bill (Shirley) Berg. Mount Sinai

Evelyn Joy “Lynn” Rosner died April 23 at 77. She is survived by her daughter, Robyne (Michael) Leif; son, Douglas; four grandchildren; and three great-grandchildren. Mount Sinai

Betty Newberger Schwartz died April 24 at 86. She is survived by her husband, Walter; daughter, Carol (Harris) Bernstein; and two grandchildren. Groman

Jacob “Jack” Sieroty died April 24 at 86. He is survived by his wife, Sara “Sally”; daughter, Barbara (Craig) Srednick; sons, David (Candy) and Robert (Kelly); and five grandchildren. Mount Sinai

Frieda Stabile died May 1 at 94. She is survived by her daughter, Helene Mercatoris; sons, Sanford (Susan) Levy and Edward (Sunnie) Levy; eight grandchildren; 10 great-grandchildren; sister, Dorothy Rothman; and brother, Harry Glassman. Mount Sinai

Harold A. Weinberg died April 21 at 90. He is survived by his wife, Esther; daughters, Susan (Edward) Wolin and Deborah; three grandchildren; five great-grandchildren; and nephew, Michael. Mount Sinai

Obituaries: July 9-15, 2010 Read More »

David Suissa: Shepherd on a Mission

Leave a Comment / David Suissa, Opinion /

If ever there were an Israeli who could lead Israel to peace with its Arab neighbors, it might be the Israeli diplomat I met the other day in the lobby of the Century Plaza Hotel. This is your classic Zionist. He stands tall and proud of his country, doesn’t ignore its faults, has a deep understanding of the issues from all sides and craves peace.

Of course, it helps that he’s a Muslim. Not just a Muslim, but a Bedouin Muslim.

Ishmael Khaldi’s official position is policy advisor to the Israeli foreign minister, but he’s a lot more than that. He has become a one-man hasbara machine for the Jewish state, traveling around the world to make the case for the country he loves. When he encounters anti-Israel hecklers who spout slanderous words like “apartheid state,” he has an easy answer:

“If Israel was a racist state, a Muslim like me would never have made it this far.”

This notion of going far came early for Khaldi. Until he was 8, he walked four miles to school from his tiny Bedouin village of Khawalid in the western Galilee, then the same distance to get home again. He has fond memories of the family tent, where he lived with his parents and 10 siblings. He calls the tent an “extraordinary thing,” because it was made of goat hair, which he says keeps you “warm and dry in the winters, and cool in the hot summers.”

It wasn’t just the memories of the goat-hair tents that marked him. It was also the ancient Bedouin lifestyle and the stories he heard from his grandmother, Jidda, who passed away in 2005 at the age of 96.

Khaldi recalls an early life that revolved around caring for animals, usually goats, sheep and cows. Because the condition of the land changed with the seasons, Bedouins were always on the move, looking for somewhere to nourish their flock. Their nomadic lifestyle lasted for thousands of years. Today, Khaldi says, many Bedouins have settled in more permanent dwellings in villages.

The turning point in Khaldi’s life came when he decided, at 17, to visit America. He spent three months in New York City getting by on “one miracle after another,” including one episode when he jumped onto subway tracks to get to the other side. “Bedouins always look for the shortest route,” he says.

He met religious Jews in Brooklyn and Queens who gave him room and board. He learned what it was to be a “Shabbos goy,” but he also remembers the joys of Shabbat and listening to the Torah portion of the week.

When he returned to Israel, higher education beckoned. Bedouins today do everything in their power to send their children to university, “even if I need to sell my clothes,” his father once told him. So he enrolled at the University of Haifa, where he got a degree in political science and arranged cultural tours for overseas students, mostly Americans, to his Bedouin village.

After completing his college degree, he followed his brothers’ footsteps in the national service and rose to second sergeant in the Israeli police force. He recalls his emotion when, after completing basic training, he was handed a Quran on which to swear his oath to his country, Israel.

He says that throughout history, Bedouins lived a life of tension with governing regimes, whether Ottoman, British or Arab. His own tribe developed a good relationship with the early Jewish pioneers in the 1920s, ’30s and ’40s. Bedouins and kibbutzniks always had a deep affinity for one another. His grandmother even learned a little Yiddish. So it was natural, he says, to want to enlist in the Israel Defense Forces and develop a loyalty to the Jewish state.

What I found fascinating about Khaldi is that at 38, with a graduate degree from Tel Aviv University and an important position in the Foreign Ministry, he’s still a nomad at heart. He’s always on the move, going from one country and city to another, telling Israel’s side of the story. He’s even found time to write a book about his story (“A Shepherd’s Journey”).

Israel’s story is his own, he says. No one stopped him from moving up. It was his choice to wake up at 3:30 in the morning to work to make enough money to buy a plane ticket to America. It was his choice to get an education and apply to work in public service. Israel is far from perfect, he says, but it gave him the freedom and opportunity to get where he is today.

Maybe his nomadic background has been a blessing. Nomads get attached to values, not to land or ideologies. They don’t build permanent structures; they don’t get bogged down if the land doesn’t produce. They’re used to being fluid, to moving on and looking for more fertile areas. And they never abandon their flock, or each other.

What better values for a diplomat? Loyal, practical, resourceful and travels light. Oh, and one more — respectful of his elders. This one, though, has landed him in hot water.

“My father keeps asking me when I will settle down, get married and start a family,” he says.

The only good excuse I can think of is that he’ll first need to take care of another matter — making peace between Muslims and Jews.

David Suissa: Shepherd on a Mission Read More »

Who Owns Young Israel of Beverly Hills?

Leave a Comment / Community, Cover Story /

In May, on the eve of Shavuot, while most Orthodox Jews were preparing for the upcoming holiday, a few representatives from Young Israel of Beverly Hills (YIBH) were in a Santa Monica courtroom. They were finishing up the second day of a trial that, they hoped, would bring to a close a bitterly fought dispute that had been dogging their congregation for more than two years.

The case, as laid out in the complaint first filed by the National Council of Young Israel (NCIY) on Nov. 12, 2008, centered on actions taken by members of a family who had at one time been members of YIBH and had, over the course of three months in 2008, taken control of and significantly changed the direction of the synagogue.

This story, which started off as an intra-synagogue spat, has gone through numerous twists and turns. At one point, it threatened a decades-old institution with closure; it may yet force the family at its center to the brink of financial ruin. It is a cautionary tale of what can happen, even at a religious institution, when money is tight, real estate is valuable and the leaders of a community have stopped paying attention.

On Sept. 8, 2008, Lawrence (“Larry”) Mischel and Susan (“Sue”) Mischel reported to the California Secretary of State the results of an election held to choose the new officers of YIBH. Larry, a retired negative cutter with credits on films including “Pumping Iron” and “Sling Blade,” was elected chief executive officer. Sue, who owns a catering business, has worked in documentary film and secondary education and had officially been the shul’s recording secretary for more than three years, was elected secretary and chief financial officer.

Only two people other than Larry and Sue voted in the election — two of the couple’s adult sons, Samuel (“Sammy”) Mischel and Matthew Mischel.

Larry and Sue, who had started attending services at YIBH less than five years earlier, then officially changed the name of the 44-year-old nonprofit to the Jewish Resource Center (JRC). At the end of October, Larry signed a grant deed that transferred the building from YIBH to the newly named entity. Then, on Nov. 21, 2008, with the NCYI complaint and other legal actions involving YIBH and the Mischel family still awaiting resolution, Larry signed for a loan of $250,000 in the name of JRC. To secure the loan, he used JRC’s building at 8701 W. Pico Blvd. as collateral — the building that had, for the preceding four decades, been owned by and known as Young Israel of Beverly Hills.

The Mischels claim to have done all this for the good of the community. But at the time of this election, the people who thought that they were members and officers of YIBH had no idea what the Mischel family was doing.

A judgment on the dispute issued by the California Superior Court in early June decided the case firmly in YIBH’s favor. The court restored YIBH to its former status, handed the building back to the people representing the shul and held the Mischel family responsible for damage payments to the shul and repayment of the loan to the loan company. The Mischels have filed a motion to reconsider, along with a motion for a new trial, which will both be ruled on next week, on July 16. No matter which side ultimately prevails, the story has important implications about the way that synagogues – and, particularly, small synagogues — are run.

Aside from the new-looking vinyl sign that reads “Young Israel of Beverly Hills,” there’s little to suggest that there’s a synagogue behind the blank, rust-colored stucco walls of the building at 8701 W. Pico. But behind its gender-specific entrances is a space so typical of small Orthodox shuls in America that even the smell feels familiar. People who go to synagogues like this one often sit in the same seat for years. From the burgundy velvet drape covering the ark at the front of the room, to the well-thumbed volumes on the bookshelves at the back, to the tissue box mounted on the fixed mechitzah that divides men from women, every piece looks like it has been intensely and lovingly used for decades.

The first official record of the congregation that would become YIBH dates back to December 1963 — in its articles of incorporation, it was called Adath Yisroel — but the actual beginning came a few years earlier.

In 1961, the neighborhood known as Pico-Robertson was home to a few Chasidic synagogues, according to YIBH founding member Herbert Davidson, when “a couple dozen people” started holding Modern Orthodox services on Saturday mornings in one another’s homes.

After a few more changes in location, the congregation bought the building at 8701 W. Pico in 1968 with the help of the NCYI, which, according to Davidson, loaned the shul “a few thousand dollars.” By May 1967, Adath Israel had officially changed its name to Young Israel of Beverly Hills.

Esther Sinofsky grew up going to the shul. “When we moved here, this area was not exactly considered the main Jewish area,” Sinofsky said. “The big thing was when the Joseph brothers, who were members of the shul at one time, when they opened a falafel stand that was kosher. That was back in the late ’60s. That was a big thing.”

Today, the same stretch of Pico is lined with kosher restaurants, kosher supermarkets and small synagogues to suit every taste and tradition. But in the 1960s, the Orthodox options in walking distance — Beth Jacob and YIBH — were both mainstream and Ashkenazic. “All the other shuls that you see out there right now,” Sinofsky said, “at one time, we had a representative of almost everybody here [at YIBH]. We were a microcosm of everything that is currently around us.”

The roots of Young Israel go back to Manhattan’s Lower East Side, where in 1912, Rabbi Israel Friedlander and Rabbi Mordecai Kaplan (who would later found the Reconstructionist movement) launched an effort to attract young, English-speaking Jews to Orthodox synagogues, which were at the time dominated by Yiddish speakers. Nearly a century later, the 146 Young Israel synagogues operating under the umbrella of the New York-based NCYI claim more than 25,000 members across North America and are a formidable presence within the Modern Orthodox community.

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