” title=”Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life here”>Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life here. Still, as mentioned last week, I think that Poll: Romney likely to lose votes over Mormon faith Read More »
For each new morning with its light,
For rest and shelter of the night,
For health and food,
For love and friends,
For everything Thy goodness sends
Thanksgiving
By Ralph Waldo Emerson
It’s been a difficult year for many of my patients. Some have had catastrophic health challenges. Many businesses are still struggling. Some marriages are fraying. Many of us are very unsure of what comes next.
When things look irredeemably hopeless, when I have nothing but bad news to give, when I really wish someone else was the doctor for one day, that’s when I am reminded what an extraordinary job I have. I am privileged to be a part of people’s lives at their scariest, most personal, darkest times. I hear their anxieties, their confessions, and their secrets. I do my best to help, and to assemble a team of specialists to do the many things I can’t do. But ultimately all help fails.
And the one thing my patients teach me again and again when things are at their worst is gratitude. I hear about the love of family, the comfort of happy memories, the joy of looking back without regrets. In the most desperate situations when I would expect panic or grief, I hear gratitude.
Tomorrow is the day to remember all of our abundant blessings. We all have so much to be grateful for. This year I’m especially grateful to my patients for allowing me to make a living doing what I love, and for reminding me constantly of the importance of gratitude.
As is my annual tradition, I hereby lift all my patients’ dietary restrictions for one day. I wish you happy feasting in homes filled with cheer and joy! Happy Thanksgiving!
Important legal mumbo jumbo:
Anything you read on the web should be used to supplement, not replace, your doctor’s advice. Anything that I write is no exception. I’m a doctor, but I’m not your doctor.
Reflections on Gratitude Read More »
Recently I met with a young couple whose wedding I will soon perform. They are both observant and the man was born a Jew. The woman was converted as a young child since her mother was not Jewish, though her father was. She and her siblings were converted as children by a very Chashuv Rav (learned Rabbi) about 20 years ago. When I looked at the letter from the Rav about her conversion it said in Hebrew: “So and so is from a family in which her father is Jewish and her mother is not, the family is connected to the Jewish community and though not observant at all does make Kiddush and Havdalah. And so I am relying on the pisak (legal decision) of Rav Moshe Feinstein that gerut (conversion) is a zecut (a merit) and I am converting her as a minor.
Sitting across from the couple I said to her, thank God you were converted 20 years ago, if you wanted to convert today it would take you years and the process would not be a pleasant one. Indeed today even children are not converted into homes that are not observant and in which the mother is not Jewish. There is much talk about how much conversion in general, and the conversion of children specifically, has changed in the last few years in the Orthodox community and this experience shined a spotlight on it.
As a rabbi in an Orthodox shul which has few barriers to entry I meet many people who have taken for granted for their whole lives that they are Jewish, only to discover that they are not halchically (according to Jewish law), in an Orthodox shul, considered a Jew. The pain they undergo at having the carpet of their identity pulled out from under them is severe.
When such things happen, for instance when this past Simchat Torah I had to tell a dedicated person in my shul that though they had assumed all their life they were Jewish, though they were becoming observant, though they felt part and parcel of the community, they could not have an alyah (be called to the torah) like the rest of the men in the room, it caused me great pain and them even greater pain. A violation of one of the most numerous warnings in the Torah, viahavtem et hager, you shall love the ger (the stranger, the convert) and not cause them pain. (I know I should have called them up anyway since kavod habriot, human dignity, pushes aside all rabbinic commandments, but I did not).
In my synagogue I have several families with non-halachically Jewish children who have chosen to grow in their observance and send their children to orthodox day school, but are not completely Shomer Shabbat, though all are on a journey to it. Not a fast journey, those are almost never a good idea, a slow and organic journey, which is what I encourage. We would save much pain for the child and family if we went back to the standard practice of 20 years ago and converted these children into non-observant families. When such a child reaches 12 or 13 and is still not converted (as with one family’s children I know whom though the children and father are fully observant the Beit Din (rabbinical court) will not convert them as the mother smokes on Shabbat) it is going to be incredibly painful. No bar mitzvah like their other friends in day school, no being counted in the minyan, etc. The pain we will cause them will be a violation of halacha much deeper and wider than any that could result from Rav Moshe’s type of ger katan (child conversion) into a non-observant home.
Let us hold the banner of Torah high and not let the fearful Batey Din (rabbinical courts) of today distort the Torah’s values. Let us love the ger and not cause them pain. I know what you are thinking…..that kind of love and menchlichtkeit and not causing pain only applies after one has converted….wrong, according to many opinions it applies before. From the first time they express the interest in being a Jew. Let us stop giving into the amorphous fear and start truly loving the ger now!
The conversion of minors –by Rabbi Hyim Shafner Read More »
Members of the Chabad-Lubavitch Orthodox movement may be known for their traditional black and white clothing, but they’ve brought a splash of color to Pacific Palisades with the new Chabad Jewish Community Center there and its Palisades Jewish Early Childhood Center.
With one building wrapped in a bright, multicolored abstract mural by artist Ed Massey, the facility on Sunset Boulevard at Los Liones Drive represents the end of years of searching for a permanent school location, during which the organization at times butted heads with neighbors and the Getty Villa.
“We can finally call this our home,” said Rabbi Zushe Cunin, CEO of Chabad of Pacific Palisades. “It’s the story of ‘Gam Zu Le’Tovah’ — this, too, is for the best.”
Resting on 2.5 acres within shouting distance of the Pacific Ocean, the new campus once was owned by the J. Paul Getty Trust and used as offices until 2008, after which it sat vacant. It was acquired for $5.6 million by a Chabad supporter who wishes to remain anonymous, and it was turned over — along with the mortgage — to the organization in July. A school for children between the ages of 2 and 5 opened last month.
The property includes a 7,000-square- foot main building and two other structures that combine to offer 6,000 square feet of additional space. Eventually, Chabad will move everything but its shul from its present location, which is also on Sunset Boulevard.
Some of the property’s top attributes are its natural ones, according to Cunin. There is a path leading up a steep hill that cuts through the woods and past a long, man-made creek and waterfall. There is also access to hiking.
“This is really a gift of nature to our students,” said Barbara Leibovic, director of the early childhood center.
Not only will it be incorporated into the school’s curriculum through hikes and gardening, but also nature has literally found a way into the classrooms, where tree branches are suspended from the ceiling.
The school currently has 20 students. Administrators hope to boost that number to 30 children by the end of the year and then, eventually, 60.
“We have a tremendous future here,” Leibovic said. “We have a lot of space, so we can grow.”
It’s been a long journey since the preschool had to move in 2007. At the time, the Santa Monica Conservancy voted to end the lease in Temescal Gateway Park, ruling that public park area should no longer be walled off to private enterprises.
That began a time of uncertainty. The preschool became home-based while numerous replacements were sought and rejected, including a site near the Getty Villa’s service road — a road to which it ultimately was denied access and a location that concerned neighbors. So they began looking again.
“It was obvious that that was not our future home,” Cunin said. “It became the Lone Ranger against I don’t know how many law firms. It’s not our mission to fight legal battles. Our mission is we look to create light in the world.”
Which brings him to the 120-foot-long piece of art adorning the main building’s exterior. Cunin believes such a whimsical and colorful facade is a first for Chabad, but he said it is perfectly in keeping with its principles.
“The idea of Chabad is absolutely about color. It’s about bringing color into your life,” he said.
The goal, he said, is to beautify the world, both for the preschool students and the community at large.
Massey, an L.A.-based artist whose “Summer of Color” project transformed area lifeguard towers into works of public art in 2010, said he was approached to create the piece by Cunin, whom he has known for a few years. He made it off-site, using highly saturated pigmented inks on a stretched tarp.
“I immediately thought to deal head-on with preconceived ideas and perceptions of school buildings, Jewish education and Chabad, and present a visual and conceptual dichotomy — and to do so while adding a new community asset to the broader Palisades,” he said.
The result is a psychedelic slew of interconnected designs flowing across the building. Electric yellow mingles with hot pink, blue and more.
“In my view, the design integrates a bright color palette, vitality, connectivity, freshness, energy, optimism and motion,” Massey said. “How great if the building design and colorful hues make kids and parents look forward to going to school and starting their days, while jazzing up commuters, passers-by, surfers, beach-goers, and nearby neighborhoods and commercial areas.”
Janet Turner, chair of the Pacific Palisades Community Council, said the new home for Chabad’s early childhood center seems to have worked out for all parties.
“We are so happy for Chabad. We’re so happy that they have found a location that is extremely good for them and extremely good for the community at the same time.”
She said it is a safe environment for the children and one where residents don’t need to worry about the noise. As for the exterior artwork, Turner said there hasn’t been a big outcry by locals for or against it.
“The mural is very creative,” she said. “Whether it’s legal, we don’t know yet. The council is not worried about it.” (Cunin said he was advised the art is legal because it is mounted, not permanent.)
A Getty spokesman had warm words, too: “We welcome the early childhood center to the neighborhood.”
Cunin said he sees the acquisition’s importance going far beyond preschoolers or passers-by. He envisions it as a hub of Jewish life, a home for after-school enrichment programs, parenting workshops, “Mommy and Me” classes, social programs for seniors, and Friendship Circle, a program that offers friendship and support for children with special needs and their families.
“The miracle is that this is such an asset that’s needed in the Jewish community,” he said.
New Chabad center brightens up Palisades Read More »
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called on Wednesday for stronger sanctions on Iran than those imposed this week by the United States, Britain and Canada to try to curb its nuclear ambitions.
“Iran is developing nuclear weapons. If anyone had any doubts, the IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency) report certainly dispelled them,” Netanyahu told parliament, referring to the U.N. body’s findings on November 8 that suggested Iran had worked on designing a nuclear bomb.
“It is important to impose sanctions, tough sanctions, on this regime – even tougher than those that have been imposed over the past few days,” he said, without elaborating on measures he believes should be taken.
On Monday, the United States, Britain and Canada announced new sanctions on Iran’s energy and financial sectors, steps analysts said may raise pressure on Tehran but were unlikely to halt its nuclear program.
The United States named Iran as an area of “primary money laundering concern,” a step designed to dissuade non-U.S. banks from dealing with it; blacklisted 11 entities suspected of aiding its nuclear programs; and expanded sanctions to target companies that aid its oil and petrochemical industries.
The United States stopped short, however, of targeting Iran’s central bank, a step that could have cut it off from the global financial system, sent oil prices skyrocketing and jeopardized U.S. and European economic recovery.
In a coordinated action, Britain ordered all British financial institutions to stop doing business with their Iranian counterparts, including the Iranian central bank
Canada said it would ban the export of all goods used in Iran’s petrochemical, oil and gas industry and “block virtually all transactions with Iran,” including with its central bank, with an exception for Iranian-Canadians to send money home.
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton telephoned Netanyahu on Monday to brief him on the new sanctions. Like the United States, Israel has said all options, including a military one, are on the table in trying to stop Iran from obtaining nuclear arms.
In a statement issued after his conversation with Clinton, Netanyahu’s office quoted him as saying: “Such sanctions make clear to the Iranians the price (they will pay) will be high if they continue to their nuclear program.”
Iran says its nuclear program is peaceful and is aimed at generating electricity. Israel, widely believed to be the Middle East’s only atomic power, has said a nuclear-armed Iran would pose a danger to its existence.
Last week, Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak called for “lethal sanctions” against Iran, including steps to halt imports of Iranian oil and exports of refined petroleum to the Islamist Republic.
But he said such moves would require the cooperation of the United States, Europe, India, China and Russia, and he did not believe such a coalition could be formed.
Writing by Jeffrey Heller; Editing by Alison Williams
Bibi calls for tougher sanctions on Iran Read More »
United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon called on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to hand over tax monies collected for the Palestinian Authority.
Ban in a phone call Tuesday also told Netanyahu to stop building in Jewish settlements.
Israel transfers to the Palestinian Authority about $100 million in tax payments collected on the Palestinians’ behalf each month.
“The secretary-general appealed to Prime Minister Netanyahu to immediately resume the transfer of Palestinian tax and customs revenues, in line with Israel’s legal obligations,” Ban’s spokesman, Martin Nesirky, told the French news agency AFP. “He also expressed his deep concern about Israel’s announcement of further settlement expansions, including in east Jerusalem, which undermine current peace efforts and violate international law.”
Netanyahu and his inner Cabinet of eight ministers in a meeting Sunday decided to continue the suspension that began early this month, shortly after the Palestinians were admitted as a full member of UNESCO, the U.N.‘s scientific and cultural agency. The suspension will continue, according to Haaretz, due to new movement between Hamas and Fatah to form a unity government.
The defense establishment, including Minister of Defense Ehud Barak, has called for the payments to be reinstated. Israeli security services reportedly have argued that withholding the funds, which go in part to pay Palestinian police officers, could hamper security arrangements in the West Bank.
U.N.’s Ban tells Netanyahu to release PA funds Read More »
El Al Airlines said it is laying off 200 workers after a steep increase in fuel costs hit its bottom line.
Top executives also agreed to pay cuts, Reuters reported, after the airline announced a 51 percent drop in its third-quarter net profit.
Jet fuel prices rose by 47 percent, raising the airline’s jet fuel expenditure from $160 million to $205 million in the third quarter, the Israeli business daily Globes reported.
El Al, struck by soaring fuel prices, to lay off 200 Read More »
The United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon said it will investigate the cause of an explosion at a Hezbollah arms depot in southern Lebanon.
The explosion occurred overnight Tuesday in an area of southern Lebanon where Hezbollah is prohibited from having weapons under the terms of an agreement that ended the 2006 Second Lebanon War.
UNIFIL controls the area under the terms of U.N. Resolution 1701.
Lebanese security forces were prevented from entering the site of the explosion, the Daily Star reported.
Explosion at Hezbollah site under investigation Read More »
An offensive billboard that the Anti-Defamation League said reinforces anti-Semitic stereotypes was removed.
The Anti-Defamation League, which had criticized the New York ad campaign of Wodka vodka, welcomed the company’s apology and the removal of the billboards from locations throughout New York.
The ads feature two dogs, one wearing a Santa cap and one wearing a yarmulke with the message “Christmas Quality, Hanukah Pricing.”
“We welcome the response of Wódka vodka, and are glad that they were sensitive to our concerns and the concerns of the many New Yorkers who were offended by this advertisement,” said Ron Meier, ADL New York Regional Director. “The company acted quickly and appropriately in recognizing that the billboard was offensive to many and should be removed.”
The company announced via its Twitter feed that it had decided to pull the ads. The company tweeted: “Although rarely serious, we apologize to anyone we may have offended through our holiday campaign and are removing our billboard immediately.”
ADL initially called the billboards “crude and offensive.”
On Wodka’s website, other ads include a sheep wearing a sombrero with the message “Escort quality, Hooker pricing.”
Wodka vodka ads, called anti-Semitic, removed Read More »
” title=”the Forward.”>the Forward.
“Apparently ‘nerdy Jewish dudes’ are a hot genre in porn” and the 5’8” Deen fits the bill along with “a certain appendage that is, shall we say, bigger than average.”
The X-rated James Deen Read More »
