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Jewish Journal

Connect. Inform. Inspire.

August 4, 2010

What’s New for the Kids to Read?

Leave a Comment / Books, Entertainment /

The newest books for Jewish children are unlikely to appear on school summer reading lists. Included here are some of the latest offerings for children that are characterized by positive Jewish themes and can easily be packed into that camp or vacation suitcase. For some of the consistently best Jewish children’s picture books, visit the Web site for Kar-Ben Publishing (karben.com) and load up on the lightweight paperback versions for your trip.

The most unique picture book storyline this season may be found in “Feivel’s Flying Horses” (Kar-Ben, $7.95), by Heidi Smith Hyde, with pictures by Johanna Van Der Sterre. It is a beautifully illustrated account of Feivel, an immigrant woodcarver who had to leave behind his wife and children in the Old Country to make his way to the good life in America. No longer able to make a living carving three-dimensional figures on Torah arks, he uses his woodcarving skills to carve fabulously ornate horses for the Coney Island carousel until he earns enough money to bring his family to join him. An author’s note describes the life of Marcus Charles Illions — an observant Jew from Lithuania who used to carve his name in the bodies of his horses — and the lives of other well-known Jewish woodcarvers, who became nationally known for creating a new art form that delighted generations of children.

Daniel Pinkwater, National Public Radio commentator and author of dozens of children’s books, has teamed up with his illustrator wife, Jill, for an irreverent picture book that ingeniously combines three languages (English, Spanish and Yiddish) into an offbeat narrative of a “brave and clever” Yiddish chicken. In “Beautiful Yetta, the Yiddish Chicken,” (Feiwel & Friends, $16.99) Yetta escapes from her crate just as Mr. Flegleman, the organic chicken rancher, is unloading his chickens at Phil’s Poultry World in Brooklyn, “with a tear in his eye.” “Where am I? Vu bin ikh?” Yetta exclaims. She is a frightened outsider in a strange new place with no friends until she encounters a little green parrot named Eduardo who is about to be pounced upon by a sneaky cat. “Gay ahVEK, du fahrSHTUNkehneh kahtz!” (“Go away, you stinky cat!”) she yells, and saves the day, to the delight of Eduardo’s Spanish-speaking bird family. Part immigrant story, part language lesson and consistently fun, the Pinkwaters’ newest tale reminds children that if you are confident in who you are and where you come from, friends will never be far away.

Older children who are fans of comics and graphic novels will be delighted to see that Steve Sheinkin, author of the series “The Adventures of Rabbi Harvey,” has just come out with a third installment, “Rabbi Harvey vs. the Wisdom Kid” (Jewish Lights, $16.99). Subtitled “A Graphic Novel of Dueling Jewish Folktales in the Wild West,” this title continues the adventures of comic book hero Rabbi Harvey of Elk Spring, Colo., who has to rely on his talmudic knowledge and assorted Judaic teachings to overcome a variety of humorous villains, such as sweet-faced “Bad Bubbe” Bloom, and her interloper son, Rabbi Ruben, “The Wisdom Kid.” Clearly the town’s not big enough for two rabbis, and that includes the village of Helms Falls, whose inhabitants (think: fools of Chelm) are interviewing candidates for town sheriff. Sheinkin includes an informative afterword explaining the folktale and talmudic sources for each of the stories in the text, along with a detailed bibliography for additional reading. The unusual flat, elongated drawings take a bit of getting used to for adults, but they are unlikely to bother kids who will enjoy Rabbi Harvey’s twist on midrashic logic and lore.

Popular young adult novelist Sarah Darer Littman, author of the excellent Sydney Taylor Award-winner “Confessions of a Closet Catholic,” has another sure winner in her latest offering, “Life, After” (Scholastic, $17.99), in which she tackles myriad themes, including immigration, 9/11, depression and school bullying. Fifteen-year-old Dani and her family escape a crumbling life in Argentina years after her beloved aunt was killed in the 1994 terrorist attack on the Jewish Community Center there. Life in a new country is difficult, especially while dealing with a different language, a depressed father and an American high school environment where people are not particularly friendly. Plus, does she still have an Argentinean boyfriend or has he moved on? Her life before was so much simpler. Littman catches the voice of teen readers with her spot-on dialogue and realistic situations as her characters learn how to heal, forgive and open their hearts as they celebrate their new lives, after.

For those seeking a bit of artistic creativity this summer, the wonderful craft and how-to book by Israeli artist Lorna Sakalovsky may fit the bill. Known for her whimsical ceramic figurines and intricate chess sets, “Grandma Lorna” has gathered up more than two dozen “activities,” as she calls them, that have been joyously shared with her grandchildren throughout the years. Previously published in Israel, her book now shares her original ideas with anyone who loves playing games, drawing, cooking or enjoying creative tasks with children. “Grandma Lorna’s Hugs, Hints and Happiness: For You and Your Grandchildren” (Lambda Publishers, $29.95) includes colorful, sturdy, photo-illustrated pages with instructions for making potato men, mouse masks, cucumber crocodiles, scrambled egg pictures and more, plus games such as “Fresh Fruit Frenzy” or the “Dots and Squares Game.” All activities look easy to do, even “spoon people theater,” made from plasticine (molded onto spoons) that can be purchased at craft stores. Grandma Lorna’s infectious enthusiasm is explained in the opening pages: “This is your precious time to bond with the grandchildren, just loving each other. The grandchildren will remember these moments when they are themselves grandparents and recall the joy they felt being with you.” This book is useful for any family, particularly scout and camp groups, not just grandparents, and certainly worth the investment.

Lisa Silverman is the director of the Sinai Temple Blumenthal Library in Los Angeles and the children’s editor of Jewish Book World magazine.

What’s New for the Kids to Read? Read More »

‘Hebrew Hammer’ Dudi Sela Gets Hero’s Welcome on L.A. Tennis Court

Leave a Comment / Sports /

Israeli tennis star Dudi Sela might as well have been competing in Tel Aviv and not Los Angeles, given the many fans waving State of Israel flags at the Farmers Classic, held July 26 through Aug. 1 at the Los Angeles Tennis Center on the UCLA campus.

Buoyed by the support, Sela delighted fans with lobs, drop shots, volleys and aces to defeat Belgian Xavier Malisse 6-1, 4-6, 6-3 in his opening match. 

“Seeing all the Israeli flags and having so many rooting for me definitely helped,” the 25-year-old Sela said afterward. “I like it when people are yelling and cheering; it makes me happy on the court.”

Sela followed up his victory with a close battle in the second round — only a few loose points made the difference before Sela lost to fourth-seeded Feliciano Lopez of Spain 7-6 (7), 6-4. “Even though I lost, I was happy with the way I played. A few points in the tiebreaker might have changed the match, but that’s tennis. I was happy to receive support in Los Angeles, and that is usually the case when I play in the United States,” he said.

Often referred to by teammates and fans as “The Hebrew Hammer” because of his persistence, Sela started playing tennis at age 7;  by the time he was 18, he was ranked 12th among the top junior players in the world. Sela’s highest ranking on the pro men’s tennis circuit so far was 29th, in 2009.

He has been a hero in Israel since 2007 when, as an underdog, he defeated Chileans Fernando Francisco Gonzalez and Nicolas Massu in two five-hour Davis Cup matches to lead the Israelis to a berth in the World Group in 2008.

“That match against Gonzalez is the highlight of my career. I wasn’t expected to win — but playing in front of my country —  I played as perfect as possible, and everything went our way,” he said.

Sela went on to perform more tennis miracles for his nation last year, despite unusual challenges. Because of political protesters demonstrating against Israel in Malmo, Sweden, the Swedes were forced to play the Davis Cup matches without spectators. Sela responded with two five-set wins to lead his nation to the quarter-finals with a 3-2 victory after trailing 2-1.

“I resisted the temptation to be angry about politics interfering with tennis. I chose to remain focused and give our team another reason to win that day. As was the case versus Chile,  I felt that I gave my best effort, as did my teammates, when we won the final two matches. I think if our team would have been caught up with the emotion, we would not have won the matches.”

Then, in the quarterfinals later in 2009 in Tel Aviv, Sela led the underdog Israelis to a four-set victory over Russia’s Mikhail Youzhny. Israel’s 3-0 sweep of Russia at home before 10,500 fans — the largest crowd in Israel ever to watch tennis — was historic. In 2009, Israel went to the final four as semi-finalists in the Davis Cup for the first time.

“I can never forget the run we made as a team and receiving congratulatory phone calls from both the prime minister and president of Israel. Israel made world headlines for what we accomplished in tennis, and that will always be special,” Sela said.

“Without a doubt, Dudi is the leader on our team. His willingness to fight and having so many upset wins over his career just made the rest of us play better, too,” said Israeli Davis Cup team mate Jonathan Erlich, who lost in the second round of doubles at the Farmers Classic.

‘Hebrew Hammer’ Dudi Sela Gets Hero’s Welcome on L.A. Tennis Court Read More »

Preserving and Amplifying the Holocaust Survivor’s Voice

Leave a Comment / Community /

Stephen D. Smith, who will complete his first year as the Shoah Foundation Institute’s executive director later this month, gets asked the question every day: How does a non-Jewish Englishman end up running the largest collection of Holocaust survivor testimonies in the world?

The Shoah Foundation Institute was founded in 1994 by Steven Spielberg to videotape the testimony of Holocaust survivors and has recorded testimonies of more than 52,000 people from 56 countries in 32 languages.

It’s a good match for Smith, 43, who has been involved with Holocaust remembrance for two decades. He founded the United Kingdom’s first Holocaust Centre on the site of his parents’ Christian Retreat Centre in 1995. He and his brother James were the driving forces behind the establishment of the United Kingdom’s Holocaust Memorial Day in 2001. He was also one of the primary advocates for the United Nations’ adoption of a Holocaust commemoration day.

The reasons for his path can be found in Smith’s most recent book, “Never Again! Yet Again! A Personal Struggle With the Holocaust and Genocide” (Gefen Publishing House, 2009) a 200-page autobiographical answer to the questions he faces each day.

“I do not think that the Holocaust is a Jewish issue,” he said in an interview in his office at USC’s Leavey Library. “The Jewish community suffered the tragedy of the Holocaust. It will be a part of the memory, the conscience, the pain, the liturgy, the literature of the Jewish world forever, and it will never, ever, not be a profoundly painful experience.”

“And.” Smith paused before continuing. “Not but. And. It was not the making of the Jewish community. The Holocaust was created by West European civilization; you can put Christian in there if you’d like to. It was perpetrated by people who were not Jewish, and it is a responsibility of those who represent that world to say to the Jewish community, and particularly those who survived, ‘This should never have happened to you.’ ”

The son of a Methodist minister and recipient of an honorary title from Queen Elizabeth II, to hear him talk about life in the shtetlach — the tiny Jewish communities that thrived in Europe until the Holocaust — you’d think he grew up buying challah from “Shmulik the baker.” This comes, in part, from years of formal study. As a student of theology at the University of London, Smith focused on Jewish subjects. He wrote his doctoral dissertation about survivor testimony and the trajectory of memory after the Holocaust. Over the years, he has learned to speak some Yiddish and Hebrew.

But much of Smith’s facility and comfort with the Jewish tradition can be chalked up to his work with those dedicated to remembering the Holocaust, as well as the years he has spent immersed in Jewish communities around the world.

Smith’s first encounter with Jews came on a family trip to Israel when he was 13. He remembers standing at the Western Wall, feeling “awe and curiosity,” and wondering, “How come I haven’t got a clue what’s going on here?” That led him to other, bigger questions — about the roots of anti-Semitism, about the church’s involvement in the persecution of Jews, and about why the history of the Holocaust wasn’t being taught in the U.K.

Smith does not understate the role that the institute he now heads has to play. “There’s three or maybe four sites in the world that have global influence and relevance” as sites of Holocaust memory, Smith said. Yad Vashem is “where you go to remember.” Auschwitz “has become the international symbol of not only what happened to 6 million Jews, but of man’s inhumanity to man.” The U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum (USHMM) says “to the decision makers on Capitol Hill, about a mile away, ‘Think.’

“And the fourth one,” Smith said, “is the Shoah Foundation Institute, because it’s based in an academy, and it contains the voice of the survivors.” Smith wants to use the resources at USC to preserve and amplify that voice.

The institute has also begun working to increase access to the 105,000 hours of survivor testimonies. Today, 100 testimonies are available on YouTube. An even wider selection of the videotaped testimonies can be seen at over 150 sites around the world, and access to the entire archive is available at 26 sites — including Yad Vashem and USHMM.

The institute is also collecting testimonies of other genocides. In addition to continuing the effort to collect survivor and witness accounts of the Rwandan genocide, Smith has arranged for the institute to acquire an archive of 400 videotaped testimonies about the Armenian genocide that were collected by an L.A.-based Armenian filmmaker between 1967 and 2000.

For a new project that Smith calls the “virtual classroom,” Holocaust survivors will be invited “to give a short presentation, such as you would give in a classroom,” and then — in contrast to the free-form testimonies given in the 1990s — survivors will be asked a series of questions “drawn from what we know students generally ask.”

“We’re probably going to film it in 3-D,” Smith said, and once the project is complete, a survivor will be able to virtually visit classrooms around the world, and students will be able to select the questions they’d like to hear answered. They are now seeking funding.

Time is of the essence. Of the 52,000 survivors who testified for their cameras more than a decade ago, at least 19,000 have died. Smith is well aware of this. His office is lined with pictures he took of friends. All are genocide survivors.

When asked how he keeps going after so many years working on Holocaust memory, Smith answered frankly: “I’ve burnt out once. If anybody tells you it’s easy to work in this field, they’re either not doing it seriously or they’re telling you a lie.”

But Smith said he is “invigorated” by his work — and particularly his interactions with those who survived the events he has spent his career trying to understand. The survivors “have to live with that [memory] every day, and they never complain,” Smith said. “I look at the survivors, and they are such an inspiration — how can you not but continue?”

Preserving and Amplifying the Holocaust Survivor’s Voice Read More »

Top 7 Jewish Sports Stories of the Decade

Leave a Comment / Uncategorized /

Story #2 might sound like a repeat from 1965. As well all know, maybe the most well known Jewish sports story of All time, Sandy Koufax did not pitch game 1 of the World Series because of Yom Kippur. To think about what that meant to not only the Jewish youth but Jews everywhere is remarkable. Koufax’s decision said to the world my faith is as important as my fastball. That Jewish students, Jewish athletes, and Jewish workers can for a moment forget about their daily rituals and focus on God and their Judaism. It gave people courage and made them feel an undeniable sense of pride.

In September 2001, Shawn Green took Koufax’s lead and did not play on Yom Kippur. Green said he considers himself “a role model in sports for Jewish kids.” At the time the Dodgers were competing for a playoff spot (not quiet the World Series) and Green led the team with 49 home runs. While some of you may feel that this doesn’t deserve the #2 ranking, think about it this way. Michael Jordan’s amazing dunk from the free throw line was ridiculous. As it any less ridiculous because Dr. J did it first? No, amazing is amazing. And not playing baseball on Yom Kippur is just that, amazing.

Before the game was loaded with Jewish ball players there was a long break of standout players. Sure now we have Kinsler, Braun, and Youkilis but Green bridged the gap between them and Koufax, Greenberg, Stone, and Holtzman. So, story #2 of the decade goes to the message sent by Green by taking off for Yom Kippur something Kinsler, Braun, and Youkilis have yet to do.

And Let Us Say…Amen.
-Jeremy Fine
For more on Jewish Sports check out WWW.THEGREATRABBIBNO.COM

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Farmar to Keep Charities Local After Jersey Move

Leave a Comment / Community, Sports /

Jordan Farmar is ready to move on to New Jersey, but the Los Angeles native says he is not leaving his hometown behind.

After spending the first four years of his NBA career as a backup point guard with the Lakers, the former Taft High School and UCLA star is having no second thoughts about heading to the East Coast.

“It was my time to go,” Farmar said. “I had to play a different style of basketball and be able to do more things on the floor to help my career grow. It’s just a step I needed to take, and I’m really looking forward to it.”

Farmar signed a three-year, $12 million deal with the New Jersey Nets in early July.

Farmar said that after he moves into his new home on the New Jersey side of the Hudson River, he plans to continue his L.A.-based charitable efforts, including the Making Dreams Come True program at Mattel Children’s Hospital UCLA.

During the past three basketball seasons, 80 acutely ill pediatric patients and their family members have participated in the program, which includes attendance at a Lakers home game, spending time with Farmar and meeting the Lakers during warm-up.

On July 31, Farmar attended the third annual reunion luncheon for Making Dreams Come True, visiting recovering patients and delivering goodie bags to kids in treatment.

Farmar said the program’s presence will remain in Los Angeles, and the biggest change will be his uniform. He hopes to continue meeting with the kids and their families when the Nets visit Staples Center.

He also plans to continue his Hoop Farm Basketball Camp, whose proceeds benefit The Jordan Farmar Foundation. The four-day summer camp is set to begin its third year at UCLA’s Pauley Pavilion on Aug. 16.

“Some of the most fun I have all summer is hanging out at my camp with 150 knuckleheads,” he told attendees during the Making Dreams Come True luncheon.

Farmar will also appear Aug. 15 at a fundraising event in Beverly Hills that benefits Friends of Sheba Medical Center and The Jordan Farmar Foundation.

These events are a farewell of sorts for Farmar, as Nets training camp opens in late September.

After finishing an NBA-worst 12-70 in the 2009-2010 season, the Nets are entering a time of makeover. Russian billionaire Mikhail Prokhorov recently became the new owner and hired Avery Johnson, the 2005-2006 NBA Coach of the Year with the Dallas Mavericks, as New Jersey’s head coach.

Prior to coaching, Johnson spent 16 years in the NBA at the same point guard position Farmar plays. Johnson is notoriously tough on the point guards he coaches, but Farmar says this trait is what attracted him to the Nets. 

“That was one of the major reasons why I ended up signing with them, just having [Johnson] as a coach, playing for a point guard, having the opportunity to learn from someone who did really well for a long time in the NBA,” he said.

Farmar expressed gratitude for support from Jewish fans in Los Angeles. And as he prepares to leave one sizable Jewish market for another, he expects he will have the same appeal within the Jewish communities of New Jersey and New York.

“They love to support people whom they consider their own,” he said.

Farmar to Keep Charities Local After Jersey Move Read More »

$10 Million Gift to Jewish Community Foundation

Leave a Comment / Community, Philanthropy /

More than a year after his death, the late comedy writer Mickey Ross has proved a mega Jewish philanthropist. Last week, it was announced that the writer/producer of the hit sitcoms “All in the Family,” “The Jeffersons” and “Three’s Company” had bequeathed $10 million to The Jewish Community Foundation of Los Angeles, one in a series of gifts he earmarked for the Jewish community.

In addition to the lump sum, Ross committed 50 percent of his residual rights to several TV shows to the foundation, which will establish the Michael and Irene Ross Endowment Fund. The fund will have a twofold purpose: providing Southern California’s most vulnerable populations with basic needs as well as funding programs devoted to Yiddish language and culture, one of Ross’ passions.

Ross died in May 2009 at 89 from complications related to a stroke and heart attack. His wife, Irene, died in 2000. The couple had no children.

In addition to his comedic legacy in Hollywood, Ross will be remembered through his numerous philanthropic commitments. In 2008, he donated $4 million to endow an academic chair in Yiddish language and culture at UCLA, his alma mater. And, last January, Ross surprised The National Yiddish Book Center in Amherst, Mass., with a $3 million donation from his estate.

$10 Million Gift to Jewish Community Foundation Read More »

Aliyah Program Takes Off With First Group Flights Direct From L.A.

Leave a Comment / Blogs, Community /

On July 26, for the first time ever, an official from Israel’s Ministry of Interior was on hand at the El Al ticket counter at the Los Angeles International Airport to naturalize 62 Southern California Jews as Israelis and three more as permanent residents.

Carrying a computer tablet installed with official government paperwork, she went down the line designated for the families and singles making aliyah— the ascent to Israel — to get their electronic John Hancocks. Within 24 hours of their arrival at Ben Gurion International Airport, the paperwork would be processed and their new Israeli identification cards would be ready.

These new arrivals get their Israeli documents at a festive reception at the Jerusalem headquarters of Nefesh B’Nefesh (NBN), a nonprofit organization whose mission is to increase immigration among Jews from Western countries by removing logistical, financial and professional obstacles that might prevent them from moving to Israel. At NBN, the new Israelis are greeted by a host of counselors and vendors who will guide them through the more mundane aspects of realizing the Zionist dream: opening a bank account, acquiring health insurance, registering for ulpan (Hebrew language school free for new olim), and getting a phone.

Group and charter flights for olim previously departed from New York, Toronto and the United Kingdom. This first direct group journey from Los Angeles to Tel Aviv, organized by NBN with the cooperation of the Jewish Agency for Israel, made the trip more convenient for Angelenos and also created a sense of community among the group members.

SIDEBAR

Aliyah Program Takes Off With First Group Flights Direct From L.A. Read More »

From Indonesia to Israel by Way of L.A.

Leave a Comment / Blogs, Community /

Last October, when Muslim extremists threatened to burn down the only synagogue still standing in the Republic of Indonesia, Saul Abraham, 69, the synagogue’s caretaker, and his younger brother, Alfred, 66, fled the country.

“We left the same night,” Saul said, in the LAX lounge with his Los Angeles-based relatives, waiting for the flight that will carry the brothers off to what they believe is their only real haven: Israel. 

Fearing for their lives, the brothers, both retired technicians, booked the first flight to the West Coast via Singapore without any time to pack or say goodbye to friends in their native Surabaya. They were welcomed in Los Angeles by their eldest brother, Jacob (real name withheld upon request), an L.A. resident since 1976, and sister Lily, 67, an L.A. resident since 1990. Lily decided to move to Israel, too.

RELATED

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Pain, Joy Translate During Bilingual Services

Leave a Comment / Community /

At a recent Friday night service at Beth Meier (“House of Light”), a small Conservative synagogue in Studio City, a woman and her two grown daughters read, in voices that conveyed controlled fury, a lengthy list of those killed in a horrendous terrorist attack. Many of the victims’ last names were familiar ones in any Jewish community: Malamud, Tenenbaum, Perelmuter, and on and on — 85 names in all. What was distinctive about this list of people, which included some non-Jews as well, was that their first names were all Spanish: Rosa, Marta, Andrés, Luis, Fabián.

Argentine-born Mirta Lipszyc and her daughters, Ekaterina and Nadia, were paying homage to those who perished in the 1994 bombing of the most important Buenos Aires Jewish community center, AMIA (Asociación Mutual Israelita Argentina; in Latin America, “Israelita” means “Jewish”). The pain of this attack is still felt deeply among Argentine Jews, not only because so many perished, but also because the planners and perpetrators of this crime remain unpunished.

The congregants and guests at the Spanish-language service at Beth Meier that evening included Argentina’s Consul General in Los Angeles, Jorge Lapsenson and three Argentine deputy consuls. Before Lipszyc and her daughters read the names and ages of the fallen, Lapsenson, who is Jewish, spoke briefly, saying he’d come “not as the Argentine consul, not as a Jew, but as a human being.” He said his wife’s cousin died in the terrorist attack on AMIA. “We commemorate this horrific event once a year,” Lapsenson said, “but we rememberit every day. … Until there is clean and transparent justice for those responsible, none of us will live in peace.”

According to accounts in Argentine newspapers, successive Argentine governments failed to investigate the case properly. Finally, the government of Néstor Kirchner, in 2005, called the botched — and corrupt — investigations a “disgrace.” In October 2006, Buenos Aires prosecutors accused the Iranian government of having orchestrated the attack and accused Hezbollah of carrying it out. The Argentine government has tried in vain to have Iran extradite the known perpetrators. Iran denied involvement, and now, 16 years after the terrorist act, no one has yet been convicted or served any time in prison.

During the homage, Rabbi Daniel Mehlman, Beth Meier’s 51-year-old Argentine-born spiritual leader, recalled his own connection to the tragedy: The woman he knew as his first counselor at Buenos Aires’ Camp Ramah was among those killed. Speaking at the shul, Mehlman did not contain his grief, and the congregation, many of them Argentines whose lives had been touched by the attack, was also moved to tears.

With its low ceiling lined with heavy wooden beams, its stained-glass windows representing zodiac or biblical shapes in bright blues surrounding bright yellows and reds, its profusion of Magen Davids, menorahs and other starkly crafted Jewish symbols, the intimate Beth Meier sanctuary gives off an aura of Latin American magical realism mixed with Old World charm — an appropriate setting for emotionally charged Spanish-language prayers of remembrance.

Later, after the service, the crowd of about 70 moved to the shul’s social hall, where empanadas and pastries were served. This room is filled with photos of Beth Meier’s long history. It was founded in 1958 by Rabbi Meier Schimmel, who maintained that it was not named for him, but for Rabbi Meier Ba’al Ha’Ness, a Mishnah commentator who lived in the 1700s. Schimmel remained Beth Meier’s rabbi for more than 45 years and was replaced by his protégé, Aaron Benson, who later left Los Angeles. A year and a half ago, Daniel Mehlman became the rabbi and put into motion Beth Meier’s current bilingual program — trilingual, if one counts Hebrew.

Mehlman has lived in the United States for many years, and before that in Israel. He moves comfortably from Spanish to English to Hebrew. Besides a full range of English-language religious services and events — the main portion of what happens at Beth Meier — there are a number of regularly scheduled Spanish-language programs: a weekly class on Judaism, mainly for those converting; a monthly talk about Jewish concerns; and two Kabbalat Shabbat services per month, on the first and third Fridays. There are also Spanish-language holiday services. This past Rosh Hashanah, a second-night service was attended by Spanish-speakers from Los Angeles, as well as Jews from Mexicali, Mexico. A family of four flew in from Tepic, near Guadalajara.

Beth Meier is, at present, the only Southern California shul that offers a wide array of religious services in both English and Spanish.

“Right now we have about 25 to 30 people who come to the Spanish-language services and events,” Mehlman said. “They’re originally from different parts of Latin America. About half were born Jewish, while the other half converted, or are in the process of doing so.”

There are many Spanish-speaking Jews in the Valley and throughout southern California, and Mehlman said he’d like them to know that Beth Meier exists. “For first-generation [Spanish-speaking] Jews, it’s good to have the opportunity to pray, chant and learn about Judaism in their own language,” Mehlman said.

Mehlman is especially pleased that “Beth Meier’s English-speaking members, whether American-born, or from Iran, Russia, Great Britain or other European countries, have accepted the Spanish-speakers and integrated them into the Beth Meier family.”

Mehlman pointed out that Beth Meier’s founding rabbi, who died in 2005, wrote a “Brotherhood Prayer,” which was read at every Friday night service during his long tenure. In it, Schimmel prayed, “Father, I would open my heart even wider so that your love may flow through me to bless all whose lives I touch.” Schimmel was quoted as saying that one of the purposes of the prayer was to make “everyone feel at home.”

Mehlman said that he feels that the Spanish-language services and programs are in the same spirit as the brotherhood prayer, and that Schimmel would have been pleased with the changes he’s brought to the shul.

Pain, Joy Translate During Bilingual Services Read More »

GINA NAHAI: Sex, Shopping and the Second Half of Life

Leave a Comment / Gina Nahai, Opinion /

It so happened, the other night at a dinner in Bel Air, that I found myself sitting next to the author Judith Krantz. I had met her only minutes before, introduced by a mutual friend who referred to her as Judy and said nothing about who she was and what she did. I thought she was truly elegant, glamorous in a tasteful way and remarkably pretty in her advanced age. She was talking about the years she had spent living in Paris with her husband, how she loves the scent of a book, the sound of its spine cracking the first time it’s opened. I noticed she wore a bracelet similar to mine, only hers had an inscription I couldn’t make out from a distance.

At dinner, I looked again and realized the inscription was a single word — “Scruples” — and then the light bulb went on and I remembered the book and the miniseries by the same title, and recognized the “Nice Jewish Girl” who broke all kinds of barriers, including financial ones, by writing about “Sex and Shopping” to the tune of 80 million books in print.

She told me the bracelet was a gift from her late husband, on the occasion of the publication of her first book. She asked about my writing day — hectic, tortured, never long enough, four books in 22 years — and told me about her own — 9 a.m. to 6 p.m., with a 20-minute break for lunch, seven days a week, 352 days a year, 13 books in 22 years. She said she stopped writing 10 years ago and doesn’t miss it, because she had said what she needed to say. I thought, but didn’t say, that I don’t think I’ll live long enough to run out of stories, but that every book I write feels like it may be my last. She said that in the year 2000, she turned down a three-book deal because she didn’t think she’d have the patience to do the work anymore. I thought, but didn’t say, that I hesitate to make vacation plans six months away because I don’t know if I’m going to be dead or alive by then. She said she was 49 when she started to write her first book. I’m always thinking I should pack it in at 50, rein in the dreams and accept my limitations, settle for what has been.

It’s very Old World of me, I realize, to assume that life, or at least what can be achieved in it, ends in middle age. I remember when I was a teenager and traveling in Europe and the United States with friends or family, how we were always astonished to see elderly women looking well-kept and enjoying life, making long-term plans and, God help me, actually having aspirations. We came from a culture that reveres the old, prizes their wisdom and assents to their authority. But that’s mostly for men. So we spent hours wondering about the kind of mindset that would compel a 70-year-old to get her hair done twice a week like she was 17 and going to the ball, or wear pearls and high heels to go to lunch with her girlfriends, or travel except to see the grandchildren, or — most surreal of all — even think about dating. As far as we knew, based upon centuries of observation and experience, women ran out of potential (and, therefore, the right to have hopes and dreams) just about the time they neared the end of their childbearing years.

So you can imagine how, for many of us Iranian girls and women, the discovery of this new species of the female gender was a life-changing revelation. My own mother had been married at 16 and had her first child the following year. More than once in my childhood, I had heard her, then in her mid- and late 20s, talk about all the things — painting, going to university, traveling — she would have liked to do, had there been enough time, were it not too late. I had heard other women, her age or even younger, lament similar losses. I knew 26-year-olds whom no one would marry because they were past childbearing age and 21-year-olds whose parents referred to as “aged.”

Suddenly, here in Los Angeles, my mother was taking painting and language classes, driving a convertible, helping her sister set up and run a business. Other women of her generation had started to work, or left their bad husbands, or were dating at age 30 and, once in a while, even getting married. Watching them, I felt as if they had been given a second life, and that they had the valor and the strength of character to do something with it other than be the wives of rich men, or wives who wished they had rich husbands.

So then what, you ask, is the matter with me? Why did I find myself, the night of the dinner with Judith Krantz, astonished by the idea that some people actually begin when the rest of us have quit, that they make 10-year plans and live to see the decade’s end? When did I start to think and act more like the women I knew as a child than those I have since encountered in the West?

The truth is, I have no idea. Until I met Ms. Krantz and heard her story, I wasn’t even aware that there was anything unusual about my own way of thinking. Maybe I’m a pessimist by nature. Or maybe I’m not as brave as my own Jewish mother or some of her friends or that other Jewish girl. Mostly, I think, I’m still haunted by the voices of all those 20-some-year-olds for whom it was already too late.

Gina Nahai is an author and a professor of creative writing at USC. Her latest novel is “Caspian Rain” (MacAdam Cage, 2007). Her column appears monthly in The Journal.

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