fbpx

GET HOME DELIVERY! CLICK HERE »

ADVERTISE
pick up locations
HOME DELIVERY
donate

Jewish Journal

Connect. Inform. Inspire.

September 27, 2011

My Single Peeps: David B.

Leave a Comment / Culture, My Single Peeps, Singles /

David grew up in Miami — my mother was his elementary school teacher. Apparently he was always a nice kid. I’m not even sure he ever had a rebellious teenager phase. He’s a musician — and not only are his songs in the safe styling of Michael Buble, they’re also for children. “Every time I thought creatively of writing a romantic song, it came across as stupid, so I started writing kids’ music. I try to write things that say the world is a silly place and try to connect to that. From a writing standpoint, it opens you up to anything. I have a lyric in my song that says, ‘She built a ladder out of carrots that can reach up to the moon,’ and that’s probably not in a Pearl Jam song.”

He’s 35 and runs a DJ entertainment business called Groovy David Entertainment, where he performs at parties, bar mitzvahs and some malls around Los Angeles. Los Angeles magazine named him Best Kids’ DJ this year. “I love working with kids. They’re the most honest critics you’ll ever have. If a kid’s not digging you, they’ll pretty much express it right up front. It’s the same high of anyone who’s doing something creative. When you have the gratification of seeing something that was in your brain causing joy and wonder, and you can see it in their face, it’s not a fake golf clap reaction. It’s very addicting — and it’s why I keep doing it.”

He had a short marriage — six months — and is just starting to get back to dating. “I’m open to what I bump into. I’m looking for the happy accident. I think those are great. I’m trying not to have too many preconceived notions anymore.”

I ask him what he learned from his divorce.

“I’ve learned that you never know — it’s always the stuff that’s behind the scenes that’s the real stuff. The foundation thing is kind of important. My favorite couple is a friend who’s Israeli and she’s English. And if you lined them up, you’d never have thought they’d be the couple to end up together. But they’re the best. They are always ragging on each other all the time but they love each other, and they take care of their two kids, and the rest is noise. They’re so dedicated to making their family work.

“In terms of a girl, it’s cliché but you gotta both laugh — not the same sense of humor, but have a sense of humor and both be able to laugh at life. Even at the unfortunateness of it. I think we try to delude ourselves that life’s predictable — but it’s not. And if you’re going to be with someone, you need to be able to laugh at that stuff together. When your kid spills her drink all over your shirt, you have to just go with it.” 

I guess being a kids’ DJ has given David some insight, because as a father, I completely know what it’s like to have a warm bottle of milk dumped on my shirt … and as an actor I know what it’s like to show up at an audition wearing that same wet shirt. “Hi, I’m here to play the hip single guy. No, it’s not raining outside. My daughter spilled her milk on my shirt. Yes, that is a “Dora the Explorer” sticker on my elbow. Thanks for pointing that out.”

David continues, “It takes a long time to be OK with being yourself, and you still work on it no matter how old you are. Whoever you’re going to be with has to respect you for you, and you for them. And that’s it. I think the rest you can kind of figure out as you go along.”

If you’re interested in anyone you see on My Single Peeps, send an e-mail and a picture, including the person’s name in the subject line, to mysinglepeeps@jewishjournal.com, and we’ll forward it to your favorite peep.

Seth Menachem is an actor and writer living in Los Angeles with his wife and daughter. You can see more of his work on his Web site, sethmenachem.com, and meet even more single peeps at mysinglepeeps.com.

My Single Peeps: David B. Read More »

In Hungary, focus on internal issues, not Israel

Leave a Comment / News, Worldwide /

There have been no rallies, no ad campaigns, no testy community discussions here on the Palestinians’ bid for statehood.

On an issue that roused Jews elsewhere in the world, both pro and con, Hungary’s Jewish community has stayed mostly silent. The year-old Israeli Cultural Institute held a lecture on Palestinian statehood about three weeks ago, but nothing else was planned.

Adam Schonberger, the 30-year-old executive director of the Conservative youth group Marom Budapest, said the community just isn’t focused on Israel.

“I think the whole question is based on the very limited influence of Hungarian Jews,” he said. “Although there are many groups and many aims, it’s still a very limited community. They are not dealing with any kind of Jewish issue, except if the far right-wing parties are harming the interests of the Jews. That’s it.”

Janos Gado, the editor of Szombat, a monthly Jewish newsmagazine based in Budapest, says it’s not that Hungarian Jews don’t love Israel—it’s just that they’re too busy fighting among themselves.

“All of their energy is consumed by infighting,” he said.

The muted response is a function of a Jewish community in a deep struggle over its own identity and leadership, as well as a reflection of the extent to which Hungarian Jews are assimilated.

Though Hungary’s 100,000 Jews make up Europe’s fourth-largest Jewish community—after France, Britain and Germany, respectively—they are unusually splintered. Budapest alone has 20 religious communities from four denominations, according to a study released in mid-September by the London-based Institute for Jewish Policy Research.

Since the fall of communism in 1991, Hungary’s Jewish community has seen significant changes. The proliferation of younger, more grassroots-oriented Jewish groups over the last decade has challenged the community’s historical leadership structure.

Schonberger blames the community’s fragmentation for the relative silence on Palestinian statehood. A handful of Zionist groups, operating under the umbrella of the Hungarian Zionist Federation, released a statement, but it didn’t attract much attention.

That’s because, he said, it didn’t have the backing of Hungary’s main Jewish organization, the Federation of Jewish Communities in Hungary, known by its Hungarian acronym, Maszihisz.

Maszihisz President Peter Feldmajer said he met with Hungary’s prime minister and foreign minister to express the Hungarian Jewish community’s position on the Palestinian push for statehood. That position, he said, is that of the European Jewish Congress: “Any unilateral steps are bad steps, and we will be further from real peace.”

Feldmajer said ordinary Hungarian Jews aren’t that concerned with Israel.

“For the Hungarian Jewish community, it’s not in the spotlight. Most of the Jewish people have a special connection with Israel, but there’s no direct opinion on the details,” Feldmajer said. “In Hungary, I suppose it’s not good to make a rally in the streets.”

Gado says Hungarian Jews are quite assimilated, and Jews on the grassroots level aren’t drawn to Zionism.

“The word Zionism is a harsh word in our contemporary, liberal, left-wing, human rights-ist world. It’s rather a negative word, an insult,” he said. “The organized Jews, yes, they are officially committed to Israel.”

But “the average Jew,” he said, “is much more committed to left, liberal, minority, human-rights values than Zionism.”

Certain events can stir the community to take more public action, Feldmajer said. During the last Gaza war, Maszihisz officials wrote Op-Eds and helped organize a rally near Budapest’s Israeli Embassy.

“But it was a very clear thing—there were missiles from Gaza and Israel should defend herself,” Feldmajer said. “It was a clear situation and we could communicate to the Hungarian people that Israel had a right to defend.”

Gado says Israel isn’t intertwined with Jewish identity in Hungary in the same way it is in the United States.

“Hungarian Jews are just like Hungary itself, focused on themselves,” Gado said. “Israel and Palestinian membership in the U.N., it remains something very distant and not very important.”

In Hungary, focus on internal issues, not Israel Read More »

The Jewish effort at the UN: Bang or bust?

Leave a Comment / Israel, News, Palestinian Statehood Bid /

Until the main event, which didn’t come until the very end of last week, there was a strong element of theater to all the goings-on at and around the United Nations.

Participating countries at the stripped-down Durban Review Conference issued their condemnations of Israel. Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad delivered his usual diatribe at the UN General Assembly. Jewish protesters outside masqueraded as clowns to portray the United Nations as a circus, while others held a mock wedding between effigies of Ahmadinejad and Syrian President Bashar Assad. There were counter-conferences, symbolic arrests, press statements, petitions, newspaper ads and conference calls.

And there were many, many meetings.

But with the world’s attention fixated on the Palestinian and Israeli leaders, did the Jewish effort amount to anything more than a sideshow during the UN General Assembly?

“If someday the history is written, believe me we played an essential role,” said Malcolm Hoenlein, executive vice chairman of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, which aims to be the Jewish community’s voice on issues of foreign policy. “American Jews were not at all side players in this.”

The dueling General Assembly speeches by Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “eclipsed everything else,” Hoenlein acknowledged. But he and others said that Jewish groups played a critical role behind the scenes.

In meetings that began months before the General Assembly and continued this week, Jewish organizations tried to pressure, sway, cajole and beseech governments from Washington to Libreville, Gabon, to line up against the unilateral Palestinian statehood bid at the United Nations. That strategy centered on lobbying the U.S. Congress and the White House; meeting with UN representatives, foreign ministers and heads of state; and even seeking help from influential businessmen with connections overseas.

The American Jewish Committee alone held 350 to 400 separate meetings, according to the organization’s executive director, David Harris.

The primary objective of the Jewish groups was to dilute support among UN Security Council countries and General Assembly members for the Palestinians’ statehood initiative. The secondary goal was to ensure as little attention as possible was paid to the so-called Durban III conference, the event that marked the 10th anniversary of the 2001 UN anti-racism conference in South Africa that served to rally anti-Israel forces. That’s partly why there was no major Jewish rally against Durban III.

On both counts, gauging success is tricky.

Yes, Durban III was boycotted by some 15 countries, and the media largely ignored the one-day conference held Sept. 22.

But did countries skip Durban III because of lobbying by Jewish groups, or did they decide it wasn’t in their interests to be part of a farcical process where notorious human rights violators such as Zimbabwe could herald their records fighting racism? Did media outlets fail to give much attention to Durban III because the Jews had discredited it, or because it didn’t merit much ink or airtime compared to the other big stories of the week?

On Palestinian statehood, measuring achievement is even more difficult because it remains to be seen how much opposition Palestinian statehood will encounter at the United Nations. Moreover, can meetings by Jewish nongovernmental organizations make a difference when it comes to the vote on Palestine, or will countries ultimately vote according to their national interests?

“In diplomacy, it’s not one meeting, one presentation one time by an AJC that turns the ship,” Harris said. “It’s many meetings by a variety of players—the U.S. government clearly in the lead, perhaps the Israeli government, perhaps the local Jewish community, perhaps others on the local scene—joined by AJC that somehow put the pieces of the puzzle together.”

Even at this stage—it’s only been a few days since the Palestinian Authority formally submitted its petition for statehood to the UN Security Council—already there has been some measurable success, Harris and others said.

While a few weeks ago it seemed that the United States would be forced to use its veto at the Security Council to quash a Palestinian statehood resolution, now it’s far from clear the Palestinians will be able to muster the nine votes needed to prompt a U.S. veto. America no longer seems to be the lone ‘no’ vote on the Security Council.

“The very fact that it’s even in play is a major achievement by U.S. diplomacy, supported by Israeli diplomacy and Jewish NGO diplomacy,” Harris said.

In the General Assembly, where a resolution endorsing Palestinian statehood is practically assured passage but would not carry the force of international law, Jewish groups and their allies continue to press the international body’s so-called “moral minority”—democratic countries—to oppose the unilateral Palestinian bid. With the General Assembly still in session, those meetings were slated to be held right up until the start of Rosh Hashanah, which begins on the night of Sept. 28.

“In terms of the Palestinian statehood issue, we’re really not going to know the actual result for a while,” said Daniel Mariaschin, executive vice president of B’nai B’rith International, one of the Jewish organizations that lobbies at the United Nations. “We don’t know how it will go through the Council. In terms of counting votes, we’re not able to do that right now.”

Despite that uncertainty, and the difficulty of establishing what exactly motivates countries to vote one way or another, Jewish organizational leaders said the Jewish community already has achieved some measures of success.

“I do think that there was something very positive about this entire exercise,” Mariaschin said. “Not since the effort to repeal the ‘Zionism is racism’ resolution have I seen the kind of coordinated effort by a number of Jewish organizations to work on one issue.”

Beyond that, Mariaschin said, all the demonstrations, counter-conferences and public displays by Jews in New York served a purpose, even if what the world was focused on were the speeches inside the UN building.

“A lot of people feel frustrated that they can’t actually do something,” Mariaschin said. “Knowing that organizations did something helps the morale in the community.

“I don’t think you can measure these events by their attendance. I think you have to measure these events by their content and their intent.”

The Jewish effort at the UN: Bang or bust? Read More »

You’re also right

Leave a Comment / News, Opinion /

There is a well-known story about a rabbi who was called upon to settle a dispute between two of his followers.  The first man poured out his complaints to the rabbi, and when he finished, the rabbi said, “You’re right.”  Then it was the second one’s turn.  When he finished, the rabbi said, “You’re also right.”  The rabbi’s wife, who had been listening to the conversation, said incredulously to her husband, “What do you mean, ‘You’re also right’? They can’t both be right!”  The rabbi thought for a few moments, and then replied, “You know, my dear, you’re also right.”

If an alien were to land in our general vicinity, his response to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict would probably be like that of the rabbi in the story: You’re both right.

The Palestinian people are right when they expect and demand independence.  The Palestinian father is right to long for a life in which he can sleep safe at home without fearing a midnight pounding on his door.  The Palestinian woman is right to want to go from place to place without having to go through security checkpoints or risk arrest.

The Jewish people were also right when they returned to their homeland after a 2,000 year exile, establishing their own national home.  Jews are right to fear hatred and persecution, right to believe that only by relying on their own resources, can they prevent the nightmare of another Holocaust.  Jews are right to state that they entitled to all they have achieved through their own efforts.  The Jewish people are correct when they point out that the world has totally unreasonable expectations of them, expectations that are never imposed on any other people.  And they are also right to fear that if they give away some of their land today, then tomorrow the Palestinians might demand it all.

Friends and neighbors may say, “Why do you, the grandson of a refugee from Germany, offspring of kibbutz founders, army officer, and member of a religious community in the Galilee, feel the need to justify the position of our enemies?”  I reply, “I don’t have to justify anything, but I do have to understand.”  It is not hard to find untruths, gross exaggerations and significant holes in the Palestinian version of the conflict.  But even the most extreme among us cannot deny that Palestinians lack freedom, live in very difficult conditions, declare themselves to be a people and are hungry for independence.

In the 90s I believed, along with many others, that we could find a way to live side-by-side.  We had the feeling that it was beginning to happen, that it would come to pass soon.  I remember that I was even somewhat concerned, during my MA studies in Boston, that peace would break out before I could return to Israel.  What would we only give to be able to have such concerns nowadays! 

The speeches of Binyamin Netanyahu and Mahmoud Abbas at the UN General Assembly might have been the last nails in the coffin of the dream of living side-by-side – if not actually in peace, then at least living without war.  But this does not seem possible any time in the foreseeable future.  Both speeches focused on why I am right/fearful/angry/threatened and why the other side is threatening/thieving/untrustworthy.  From their own perspectives, they were both right.  And with “right” like that, who needs “wrong”?

You’re also right Read More »

CONTROVERSY: L.A. Times gets called out for calling ‘Ben Hur’ a ‘Palestinian’

Leave a Comment / Entertainment, Hollywood /

“Ben Hur was a Jew!” declared a staggering press release from the Simon Wiesenthal Center Museum of Tolerance in response to an L.A. Times article about the 50th anniversary DVD release of the film “Ben Hur,” in which they referred to the lead Jewish character as a “Palestinian nobleman.”

“As anyone who has seen the movie or read the book knows, this is the story of a Jew, Judah Ben Hur,” said Rabbi Abraham Cooper, associate dean of the Wiesenthal Center. “There was no Palestine, nor Palestinians back then. The term ‘Palestina’ was the name imposed by Rome after they crushed the Jewish revolt more than 100 years after the death of Jesus.”

Other outfits, such as conservative blogger Andrew Breitbart’s Big Hollywood have echoed the outrage, angrily calling the LA Times a “reliably anti-Israel newspaper.”

The 1959 epic “Ben-Hur,” starring Charlton Heston as the Judean nobleman, Judah Ben-Hur, is based on Lew Wallace’s novel about a wealthy Jerusalemite enslaved by the Romans who later encounters Jesus Christ. The film, directed by William Wyler, won 11 Oscars that year, including best film, director, actor and supporting actor and is now being released in a special 50th anniversary edition DVD and Blu-Ray.

But some Jewish organizations are not celebrating.

The online media watchdog, Camera, which monitors anti-Israel news coverage, accused the LA Times of trying to “remake” Ben-Hur as a Palestinian. According to their Snapshots blog, this characterization is a departure from the way the Times has portrayed Ben Hur in the past.

Noting, as the Wiesenthal Center did, that there was no “Palestine” until 100 years after the death of Christ, Camera acknowledged the Times’ earlier coverage as being more accurate: “In earlier coverage, the Los Angeles Times had correctly described Ben-Hur’s Jewish/Judean identity. For instance, a March 15, 2001 article referred to ‘the rich, honorable Jewish man Judah Ben-Hur’; a June 17, 1994 article correctly described him as ‘the Judean’; and a Sept. 14, 1990 article referred to him as ‘prince of Judea.’

But even a seemingly simple misattribution begets extreme politicization. With last week’s Palestinian appeal to the UN to unilaterally declare a Palestinian state, heightened sensitivities have prompted defensive reactions from Jews.

“Perhaps the paper’s 2011 remake of Ben-Hur, the Judean, into Ben-Hur, the “Palestinian,” is testament to the success of ongoing efforts to misleading the masses into believing that a sovereign Palestinian entity did in fact exist before 1948,” read the post on Camera’s Snapshots blog.

As of Tuesday afternoon, the Times had not issued a correction to the article, though several online commenters had chimed in with their disapproval.

One commenter, listed as NotJStreet wrote: “Man! The J word really makes you guys choke up doesn’t it?”

Another, posted by SRiley wryly remarked, “Ben-Hur was Palestinian? So does that make Pocahontas an American instead of Powahatan?”

Big Hollywood blogger Robert Avrech did not withhold any of his vehemence for the Times, accusing the paper of denying both Jewish and literary history. In a militant tone, Avrech portrayed the Times as a kind of co-conspirator in what he calls “Palestinian history replacement ideology.”

The Times’ ill-informed claim that Ben Hur was a Palestinian may be off-base and factually false, but perhaps it was an innocent mistake. If it was intentional, it was wrong. But, even more frightening than intentionality is the possibility that it was not; this would mean the ubiquitous efforts made to delegitimize the Jewish state are having a very powerful and very real affect.

CONTROVERSY: L.A. Times gets called out for calling ‘Ben Hur’ a ‘Palestinian’ Read More »

Yom Kippur without fasting: How kids can atone, too

Leave a Comment / Food, Holidays, Leisure, News /

For most adults, the central experience of Yom Kippur is fasting. By abstaining from food and drink, we exercise control over our bodies and do not give in to our most basic impulses. This makes it pretty easy to feel the “affliction” that the Torah mandates.

But parents sometimes find it difficult to include children in the holiday observances, since anyone under the age of 13 is not required to fast.

Here are some ways you can help your children have a meaningful Yom Kippur by teaching them disciplined, controlled behavior as well as the meanings behind the rituals.

Fasting for those under 13

Children can develop a sense of what fasting symbolizes if they are involved in their parents’ or older siblings’ fasting experience. The seudah mafseket (pre-fast meal), as well as the break-fast meal, should be a special gathering for the whole family — fasters and non-fasters together.

During Yom Kippur, you can share your feelings about fasting with your children. If you’re not feeling well, your kids might surprise you with how sympathetic they are and how helpful they can be. Children nearing the age of 13 can fast a few hours to prepare for their forthcoming adult responsibilities.

You can have your children eat on Yom Kippur together with elderly or sick people who are also not fasting. This way, meals are likely to be eaten in a holiday spirit, complete with blessings before and after. Those who are not fasting should make kiddush over grape juice or wine to sanctify the day and add a special line in Birkat Hamazon.

Alternatives to fasting

While fasting from food and drink may be the most well-known of the Yom Kippur rituals, there are several other opportunities for individuals of all ages to “afflict their souls” on this day. It is appropriate for children who are not fasting to still refrain from bathing and using creams or lotions.

Also, children can participate in the custom to abstain from wearing leather shoes, and it can be particularly meaningful to them if you explain why.

Rabbi Moses Isserles pointed out how this practice enforces compassion for all living creatures: “How can a person put on shoes, a piece of clothing for which it is necessary to kill a living thing, on Yom Kippur, which is a day of grace and compassion, when it is written, ‘His tender mercies are over all His works’?” (Psalms 145:9).

Use the days and weeks leading up to Yom Kippur to take your child shopping for a modest pair of shoes for the occasion: canvas sneakers, plastic sandals or something simple from a local thrift store.

‘Jewish Lent’

On Yom Kippur, you can also encourage children to give up some basic comforts, such as a favorite toy, a special hair accessory, a particular game or even an outdoor activity. The important thing is that your child, with the assistance and support of an adult, takes time to choose a specific way to abstain. Feel free to call this act “fasting from” — for instance, “fasting from soccer” or “fasting from Liza the bunny.”

If appropriate, you can discuss this deprivation at your seudah mafseket (“What will be challenging for you about 25 hours without soccer?”), and then again at your break-fast, when the deprivation is all over (“What thoughts came to mind when you thought about how much you missed Liza?”).

During services

Depending on your community, you may or may not have age-appropriate services for children. If your children are sitting through services mainly geared toward adults, it can be helpful to have a conversation to help them connect to the meaning of the day.

For example, you might discuss how Yom Kippur is a day for personal and communal atonement. This word, which might be unfamiliar to children, can be broken up into three words: “at,” “one” and “-ment.” Ask your kids: What does it mean for a person to be “at one” with himself or herself? What would it take for our community to be at one with ourselves? What about with others?

However you choose to connect your children to the rituals of this holy day, keep in mind that though they may not yet be mature enough to express it. Children are spiritual beings. Giving them an opportunity to sit and listen to the sounds of the service, and explaining to them the adult experiences of the day, can provide children with a chance to reflect and connect.

Indeed, just by taking a few simple steps to translate for your children the complicated symbolism and meaning behind your rituals, you have the power to enhance your own personal connection to the holiday.

Sarah Chandler is the director of Jewish Family Learning & Life at West End Synagogue, A Reconstructionist Congregation in New York.

Yom Kippur without fasting: How kids can atone, too Read More »

Acting rabbi brings rebirth to 1920s shul

Leave a Comment / California, Community, Holidays, Special Sections /

For more than 35 years, Temple Beth Israel of Highland Park and Eagle Rock existed without a rabbi. No longer.

This month, Susan Goldberg became the acting rabbi of what is believed to be the city’s second-oldest shul still operating out of its original location.

For Temple Beth Israel (TBI), the addition signals the latest step in a rebirth that has seen membership triple in the past few years. For Goldberg, 37, it is the latest chapter in a unique story.

“I’m an unlikely rabbi,” she said.

This is not to say that her family doesn’t have strong Jewish roots. Her great-grandfather may have been the first kosher butcher in Los Angeles, she said.

But for the Goldberg clan, Jewish identity was always political, not theological. Her father, longtime community lawyer Art Goldberg, was a leader of the Free Speech Movement at Berkeley in the ’60s. Her mother, Ruth Beaglehole, established the Center for Nonviolent Education and Parenting, now known as Echo Parenting and Education. And her aunt, Jackie Goldberg, served as LAUSD school board president, an L.A. city councilwoman and state assemblywoman.

“Their Jewishness came from their work in the world trying to make the world a better place,” Goldberg said. “That’s what it meant to be Jewish. That was the core of our identity.”

No one would have guessed that Goldberg would turn to a religious life when she enrolled in a dance conservatory and later embarked on a decade-long professional career that took her around the globe. It was during this time, however, that she visited numerous synagogues, took some classes and discovered another side of Judaism.

“There’s a lot of real beauty and depth in the tradition that hasn’t always been cared for and shared,” she said. “I think part of what happened is there was a watering down of the tradition in my parents’ generation.”

After settling in Eagle Rock, she enrolled in rabbinical school at the transdenominational Academy for Jewish Religion, California, and visited TBI with her family. When the person leading Friday night services went on vacation, they asked her to fill in.

The rest is history. While Goldberg continued her rabbinic studies — she is in her fifth and final year — she also started to lead some Friday night and family services,  High Holy Days services and more. Last year, she completed an internship at the congregation, too.

Still, the hiring of Goldberg was a big deal at TBI. Founded in the 1920s, the small independent synagogue with roots in the Conservative movement hadn’t had a rabbi on a regular basis since the last one died in the 1970s. For decades it relied on visiting rabbis to conduct High Holy Days services and knowledgeable lay leaders, along with a cantor, for Saturday morning services.

“Walking into a service was like walking back into about 1955,” said Bill Fishman, TBI’s president. “It was a very heartfelt, authentic Conservative Judaism kind of caught in amber.”

An aging shul known for its independence and warmth, there were times that TBI struggled to scrape up a minyan.

More recently, demographic changes in the area have introduced younger — and often intermarried — families to the neighborhood. TBI, whose members like to call it “Temple Beth Haimish” — haimish is Yiddish for homey or unpretentious — has made a point to welcome them. Membership has skyrocketed from 40 member families to 120 over just a few years, Fishman said.

Despite trepidation among some members about whether a rabbi was needed, Ed Leibowitz, who organizes family services, said the time had come and Goldberg was exactly the right person for the job.

“There really wasn’t that spiritual direction as far as introducing a new generation into the faith and connecting the older generation to the new one,” Leibowitz said. “Susan’s really been spectacular in that.”

Fishman agreed.

“She’s got this background of bringing people together,” he said.

An acting rabbi for now, Goldberg will be ordained in May. That’s when the next big question comes up.

“Can we pull enough money to have a rabbinic presence?” Fishman asked. “The answer is: We don’t know. We’re doing what we can to raise money however we can.”

While the synagogue was able to raise enough funds to hire Goldberg for this year on a part-time basis, the congregation remains small, and dues are low.

But that’s a worry for another day. For now, everything is just about perfect for Goldberg.

“The things happening at the temple now are so exciting,” she said. “There’s this beautiful return to get things going at this temple, and it’s been beautiful to be part of it.”

Acting rabbi brings rebirth to 1920s shul Read More »

Clinton: Israeli settlement move counter-productive

Leave a Comment / Is Featured?, News, United States /

Israel’s decision to build 1,100 settlement homes on West Bank land is counter-productive to reviving peace talks with the Palestinians, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said on Tuesday.

The decision appears to make it even less likely that the two sides will answer a call on Friday by the European Union, Russia, the United Nations and the United States, collectively know as the Quartet, to resume peace talks within a month.

“We believe that this morning’s announcement by the government of Israel approving the construction of (1,100) housing units in East Jerusalem is counter-productive to our efforts to resume direct negotiations between the parties,” Clinton told reporters at a news conference.

“As you know, we have long urged both sides to avoid any kind of action which could undermine trust, including, and perhaps most particularly, in Jerusalem, any action that could be viewed as provocative by either side,” she added.

Clinton: Israeli settlement move counter-productive Read More »

If you seat them, they will come

Leave a Comment / Holidays, Judaism, Special Sections /

Twice a year, many synagogues find themselves dealing with a wonderful but very practical problem: how to handle the huge numbers of people who show up for the High Holy Days and don’t fit in the sanctuary.

For some, the answer involves reserved seating or alternative services held elsewhere. Others leave their temple en masse for a larger temporary home where everyone can celebrate Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur together.

At congregations like Stephen S. Wise Temple in Bel Air, which counts 3,000 households as members, it’s a matter of simple mathematics. Its sanctuary can hold 1,200 people, and that’s not nearly enough for those who wish to pray during the holiest days on the Jewish calendar.

To deal with the issue, the Reform congregation offers services at four different locations: the sanctuary, another hall on campus, the Skirball Cultural Center and the Bel Air Presbyterian Church. For congregants, the question is where to go.

“It’s on a first-come, first-served basis,” said Ariana West, director of communications. “You get your tickets early, you get the chance to go wherever you want to go first.”

Seats themselves, though, are not reserved, and the services are basically the same in substance, although one is designated a family service, she said. Clergy rotate among the venues.

“No matter what location you’re at, you get to hear from each of our rabbis,” West said.

Valley Beth Shalom in Encino has chosen an alternative strategy. Instead of simultaneous services at multiple venues, it offers multiple services at its own site throughout the day.

“It means a lot to us to have the community together at the High Holidays,” said Bart Pachino, executive director. “Thankfully, we can facilitate a large number of people at our campus.”

The main sanctuary and an attached social hall can seat 1,300 people, and a second social hall can accommodate another 1,000. Still, two seatings in the main sanctuary are necessary to meet the needs of this 1,600-family Conservative shul, which offers family and Sephardic services as well.

Making that happen isn’t easy, especially because seats for all services are assigned.

“People get to keep their seats or improve seats as the years go by,” Pachino said. “You get a ticket with a specific seat number, so, from that standpoint, it’s like going to a concert or a ball game.”

Placement is not based on how much a member contributes to the temple, financially or otherwise, he said, but the seating committee does try to work with people’s preferences.

“We spend the last 60 days obviously having our members pay their dues and work through the seating issues with volunteers who work for hundreds of hours during this time frame,” Pachino said.

Sinai Temple in Westwood uses a mix of alternative services and reserved seating to deal with spillover crowds during the High Holy Days. The 1,950-family Conservative congregation has five on-site venues to accommodate everyone.

Traditional services take place in its 2,000-seat sanctuary, as well as in another 865-seat room that was called into duty a few years ago due to demand, according to Howard Lesner, executive director.

These seats, which are determined at the time someone becomes a member, all are reserved. The cost depends on the seat’s location — whether it is in the back, middle or front of the room. Lesner declined to provide further financial details.

For all the other members attending High Holy Days services — and there may be another couple of thousand at any time — there are three alternative open services. There is a Torah-in-the-round that features music, a family minyan that is more lay led with no music, and another with musician Craig Taubman and a band.

“People can pick and choose among the unreserved venues for what kind of service they want,” Lesner said. “It works because it gives people choice.”

The downside, of course, is that you never know for sure how many people may show up for each one. Consider the Torah-in-the-round service, which has been increasingly popular.

“Literally 100 people last year couldn’t get into the room because of seating,” Lesner said. This year it has been moved to a different venue to fit everyone.

For some temples worried about squishing and squeezing congregants during Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, Ohr HaTorah has a solution: move. This independent congregation based in West Los Angeles relocates its entire congregation to a larger space, in this case the Wilshire Ebell Theatre.

“It’s our second home,” said Meirav Finley, executive director. “There’s a very festive, great, communal feeling.”

The 250-family congregation is unable to fit everyone into its current building for the High Holy Days, so the 1,270-seat theater is perfect, she said, even though there are some noticeable differences.

“It is a huge room, and there is a huge stage,” Finley said.

There are practical issues, too.

“For example, the cantors face the congregation, so they face the audience. Here in our shul, the cantors face the ark,” Finley said.

Temple Akiba in Culver City spends the holidays at Veterans Memorial Auditorium, which has 1,400 seats, far outnumbering the 400 in the synagogue’s sanctuary. The 330-household Reform temple brings a portable, folding ark as well as its Torahs. A set designer decorates the stage, draping the front and providing flowers.

“You know you’re not in the synagogue, but you know you’re there for a service,” said Carol Sales, temple administrator.

To maintain control over the environment, Temple Akiba rents out other rooms in the facility as well. That way it’s quiet, Sales said, and there won’t be a repeat of a past Yom Kippur where there was food from another event and fasting congregants could smell it during services.

This is not to say, however, that Temple Akiba’s sanctuary sits empty during the High Holy Days. Quite the opposite — it is filled by Congregation N’Vay Shalom. Based in Hancock Park, that transdenominational synagogue of 30 families does not have its own building.

“We do bar and bat mitzvahs in people’s homes or in the big social halls of private clubs or hotels, so we’re very used to being the old-fashioned traveling community. We feel very comfortable creating spiritual space wherever we go,” Cantor Eva Robbins said.

However, she added, gathering at Temple Akiba for the High Holy Days is special.

“It is a wonderful feeling to be in an established sanctuary with a beautiful ark. It sort of raises the level of just feeling much more grand.”

Congregation Kol Ami, a Reform congregation in West Hollywood, also holds High Holy Day services at another religious institution, but in this case, it’s a church. With a sanctuary that can accommodate about 220 people, far fewer than the 750 or 800 who might show up for Kol Nidre, it had to do something.

“We couldn’t even do triple services and fit everybody in,” Rabbi Denise L. Eger said.

So the temple reached a deal to gather at Immanuel Presbyterian Church, which shares Kol Ami’s progressive values and has proven to be an affordable partner. As for the church’s Gothic architecture and large image of Jesus, it’s gotten easier to deal with over the years, Eger said.

“God has a heart of many rooms, and that heart and soul is what we try to focus on, especially in these days of repentance,” she said, then paused.

“But we did need a space for all the people.”

If you seat them, they will come Read More »