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Jewish Journal

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January 3, 2014

Divine partnership: Parashat Bo (Exodus 10:1-13:16)

Leave a Comment / Judaism, Torah /

“Come to Pharaoh … that you may know I am HaShem” (Exodus 10:1-10:2). 

The story in this week’s portion is as recognizable as any in the entire Torah. Discussed at the Passover seder, it begins with Moses and the eighth plague of locusts, continues through the plague of darkness and culminates with the Pesach, the death of the firstborn and the release of the Hebrews from Egypt. While the arc of the story is powerful and awe-inspiring, there is also a simple teaching found in its first words, which can enhance our lives in every moment.

In Genesis, God tells Abram (he had not yet received the “h” in his name) to “lech lecha,” to go “for/into/to yourself.” These words are the instruction to look within and find our truest path. They are extremely different and yet deeply similar to God’s instructions to Moses at the start of this week’s portion.

Abram was at the beginning of his journey when God instructs him to “go,” to look within and travel without to know himself and bring a new awareness and consciousness to the world: monotheism. Abram’s following of this direction becomes the starting point for a different theology than had ever existed before, leading him to become the ancestor of the entire monotheistic world.

It would make sense for God to tell Moses to “go” to Pharaoh to warn of the forthcoming locusts. Like his ancestor Abraham, Moses is being directed by God where to head. But the language of the Torah is specific, and God, rather than saying “go,” tells Moses to “come.” “Come to Pharaoh” seems like an odd choice of words, but the implication of that one simple word, bo, is an important guideline for us all.

The implication is that Moses will “come with God.” They are in partnership and come together as they approach the ruler of Egypt. While Abram “walked before God” (Genesis 17:1) after being told to “go,” Moses begins a different relationship with the Almighty: that of a partner. This is the relationship that has been passed to all of us today and becomes a theme not only in this portion, but in every aspect of life.

The partnership between God and us is exemplified throughout the rest of this portion and continues throughout the Torah. The firstborn are killed by God, but the Hebrews need to put the blood on their doorposts and are commanded to remember that evening each year. And we are given a great reminder of our relationship with God in the last verses of this portion, where we are commanded to wear tefillin, a “sign upon your arm and an ornament between your eyes, for with a strong hand HaShem removed us from Egypt” (Exodus 13:16). Tefillin become the wedding ring between us and God, a daily reminder of the Divine partnership.

Ultimately, this partnership will be sealed in contract form at Mount Sinai, where God gives us the Ten Commandments — the ultimate partnership agreement. It will be the ketubah, the eternal agreement between God and us, that begins with Moses being told to come with God to Pharaoh.

“I will betroth you to Me forever; I will betroth you to Me with righteousness, with justice, with kindness and with mercy: and I will betroth you to Me with fidelity, and you will know God” (Hosea 2:21).

These words are recited both upon the wearing of the tefillin, and at most weddings. They are the constant reminder of a special partnership in the same way a wedding ring reminds us of our beloved. They are the essence of what we are instructed to do in this portion: to enter into a true partnership with the Divine.

Abram goes on a journey to achieve self-awareness through God’s directions and tests. Moses comes with God on a journey together, and enjoins each of us to remember that partnership through the rites and rituals that are given to us in the Torah. Whether it is the seder, the wearing of tefillin or the practice of any of our other rites, we are constantly striving to remember this partnership, its obligations and its benefits. God created the garden, but we are the gardeners.

May we all come to be in a conscious and joyous partnership with life, and to honor our Divine partner in every moment. 

Rabbi Michael Barclay is the spiritual leader of The New Shul (NewShul.net), and author of the forthcoming book “Sacred Relationships” (Liturgical Press, February 2013). He can be reached at RabbiBarclay@aol.com. This teaching is in honor of the partnership of Diana and Daniel, and of all weddings in our time.

Divine partnership: Parashat Bo (Exodus 10:1-13:16) Read More »

What makes Rabbi Rick Jacobs tick?

Leave a Comment / Blogs, Danielle Berrin, Opinion /

In December, 5,000 Jews from around the country gathered in San Diego for the Union for Reform Judaism’s (URJ) Biennial conference. Overseeing it all was longtime pulpit rabbi-turned-URJ president, Rabbi Rick Jacobs. In these excerpts from an interview with the Journal, he talks about audacious hospitality, giving up his family’s business to pursue the rabbinate and why the Reform movement should have the same goals as Chabad.

In your 16-page address to the Biennial, you talked about a lot of positive things happening within the movement. What’s keeping you up at night? 

Rabbi Rick Jacobs: I’m a person much happier being asked what gets me up in the morning. But you can’t have your eyes open and see what’s going on in Jewish life if you don’t have deep concern — I do. But I like to channel worry into constructive, productive action. People sit around and worry, “Why don’t young people care about being Jewish?” I don’t want to spend five minutes thinking about that. I interact every day with people who do care, and I think our job is to discover and teach how we could all care more. 

Isn’t that avoiding reality a little bit?

RJ: Reality is the place where you start. At my first congregation, people would come up to me during the epidemic of homelessness on the streets of New York City and say, “What are you doing for the homeless?” I said, “You meant to ask, what are we doing for the homeless?” I said, “What are we doing? Zero. What could we do? Let’s put our thoughts together.” And we actually opened a homeless shelter — four nights a week, the homeless slept in our synagogue, in our social hall, for 30 years. 

Your concept of “audacious hospitality” is a theory of inclusion some have referred to as “big-tent Judaism.” But if the tent is open to anybody and everybody, what obligations or responsibilities does the tradition require in order to be “in”?

RJ: I would not say that the tent is infinite. There are things we don’t stand for. Once, when I was leading a bar mitzvah service, a very traditional group of people walked in wearing black fedoras — Orthodox Jews walking into a Reform synagogue — and one of the guys said to me, “Would it be OK if we just ask the women to sit on this side and the men on that side?” And I said, “I actually can’t do that.” I can give you a hundred examples of where we will not compromise who we are.

Do you think the URJ is leading today as it did in the past? 

RJ: We’ve been the backbone of social justice in America. One of my predecessors, Rabbi Maurice Eisendrath, carried a Torah scroll with Martin Luther King Jr. during the civil rights movement. Barack Obama spoke to our Biennial in D.C. two years ago and said, “I would not be the president of the United States were it not for the Religious Action Center that helped to blaze a trail. …” So we’ve been leading. And that’s not just talking about our role within Judaism — that’s our role in the community and in the world. When people say, “I want the Reform movement to stay focused on religion and not do all the political stuff,” I say, “You want to pull out social justice from Judaism? You can, but you basically don’t have Judaism left.” 

You come from a family with a long established business background. It was a different choice for you to go into the rabbinate. What called you? 

RJ: I grew up working for my parents’ furniture business, and their hopes, believe me, were that I would go into the business. I carry around my grandfather’s card in my pocket. When he was getting started in the furniture business, he developed a web of relationships that was so full of trust, integrity and warmth that when my mother’s sister’s husband died and she had to drive across country with kids, my grandfather gave my aunt one of these cards and said, “If you get into any kind of trouble, you go into any furniture store and you just show them this card and they will take care of you.” And my grandfather was not a boastful man; he actually knew that his good name — [Theodore Baumritter, a founder of the home furnishing company Ethan Allen Inc.] — was the thing that was most important. I carry that [card] around to remind me. I just couldn’t see myself being in the business world. I wanted to be a serious student of Judaism. 

What about Judaism so inspired you? 

RJ: Rabbi David Hartman was my mentor and teacher for 30 years. He’s the reason I became a rabbi. When I [spent] my junior year abroad at Hebrew University, he had just made aliyah, and he was teaching a class on Maimonides, Halevi and Spinoza. And I walked into this seminar, and here’s this Orthodox guy, running around the classroom — he is gesticulating; he is hysterically funny; he’s profound; he challenges everything I thought and assumed — and I’m just drawn in. When I told him I was going to become a Reform rabbi, I assumed he was going to be really angry, like, “Why did I waste my time with you?” But he was so proud. 

How did your family respond when you chose this path?

RJ: At first they were a little bit surprised; I was also a trained modern dancer. So my dad, who is a very funny man, said, “Rick, I just have to tell you something about these two possible career choices — the rabbinate and dance: You’ve got two losers here. You’re gonna be poor, and you’re gonna be frustrated. But it’s your life.” 

You have had the opportunity to venture deep into the core of your passions, and by contrast, some people see Reform Jews as wanting Judaism “lite.” Do you think a religious practice should be easy, accessible and accommodating, or rigorous and challenging? 

RJ: There has to be discipline to anything that’s artistic or spiritual. I’ve got this whole way of looking at Judaism whereby, basically, Orthodox Judaism is ballet and Reform Judaism is modern dance. And people think modern dancers don’t have technique, that they don’t work and sweat and really push. People think it’s just “whatever I feel, whenever I feel like doing it.” But I don’t think that’s Reform Judaism; I think that’s just people who haven’t experienced what it really is about. I have the exact same job as [Rabbi Yehuda Krinsky, head of Chabad] — to take people wherever they are. You could be on the farthest shore — they’re going to bring you in.

You could argue, however, that while Chabad is very good at outreach, few people who attend their Shabbat dinners actually embrace Orthodox Judaism.

RJ: They’re not only thinking that their success is measured in people who become Orthodox. They want to ignite Jewish connection and responsibility. [The URJ] is working not just in congregations, but in the ecosystem called The Jewish People. Like Chabad, we want to have a bigger agenda: to shape a world of compassion, justice, joy and wholeness. And we do that by nurturing really serious religious communities. 

One criticism I’ve heard about you is that you rarely express vulnerability. So I wonder, what makes you feel truly vulnerable as a leader and as a human being? 

RJ: I was in Eastern Chad [with American Jewish World Service] visiting with Darfuri survivors, and you could barely keep from sobbing, it was so painful. And I was walking around [this camp], and all of a sudden, this kid got my hand. And he was not letting go. And the head of the refugee camp told me the kid’s story. So I said to the guy, “You know, we have a house in the suburbs … he could share a room [with my kids].” And the guy said, “Rabbi, that’s a lovely thought, but a very wrong-headed idea. Your job is to go home without him and make sure that he and all of his peers are going to be remembered.” Honestly, the feel of that kid’s hand was [with me] for years. If you’re not vulnerable in the world, and you don’t open your heart and feel the pain and say, “Is there anything I can do to help that pain?” then you’re not alive.

What makes Rabbi Rick Jacobs tick? Read More »

Survivor: Karl Wozniak

Leave a Comment / Culture, Is Featured?, Mobile, Mobile-Homepage, News, Survivor /

One dark November evening in 1938, as 14-year-old Karl Wozniak and his younger brother, Max, left their Cologne apartment for a walk, they saw a fire burning in nearby Horst Wessel Park. They headed toward the flames and spied a group of Nazis standing around the fire. They stayed in the shadows, saying little, and soon returned home.

The next day, while walking to his job, Karl saw windows smashed at Jewish-owned businesses. In the shoe shop where he worked, Karl began picking up the shattered glass and machines turned upside down. “Why are you helping Jews clean up?” a Hitler youth screamed at him, thinking that Karl, with his blond hair, wasn’t Jewish. 

Later that day Karl learned that on the previous night, which became known as Kristallnacht, the Nazis had burned Sifrei Torah and books from the Roonstrasse Synagogue in the fire he’d witnessed. “I started to hate [the Nazis] more and more and more,” he recalled. 

Karl was born on June 26, 1924, in Cologne, Germany, to Yitzhak Leib and Malka Mendel Larish Wozniak, who had emigrated from Poland to Germany during the first world war. Karl was the fourth of five children. 

Both parents were tailors. The family was observant, attending services on Friday evenings and Saturday mornings at the Roonstrasse Synagogue, where Karl and Max sang in the choir.

Karl attended Jewish school, but, as a soccer player, he also had Christian friends. Things changed in 1933, however, when the Nazis came to power and Karl’s friends joined the Hitler Youth. 

In early 1938, the Jewish schools were closed. Around the same time, Karl’s father and older brothers, Elias and Leon, were relocated to Bedzin, Poland, and housed in a refugee center. 

Several weeks after Kristallnacht, Karl, Max and a friend went to the movies. With no ticket seller in sight, they entered the already darkened theater and sat down. “Furlough on Word of Honor,” a propagandistic World War I film, was playing. When the lights went on for intermission, Karl said, “We got the shock of our lives.” The theater was filled with Hitler Youth who began screaming, “Juden, Juden.” The three boys fled. 

In June 1939, Karl, his mother and Max traveled to Poland to reunite with the family. Once there, Elias was sent to Lodz, Karl’s parents and Max were sent to Lomza, and Karl and Leon were sent to Lida to work on a farm. 

On Sept. 1, 1939, while still in bed, Karl heard bombs falling and rushed outside. A German plane was flying so low he could see the pilot. Germany had invaded Poland.

About two months later, Karl’s father fetched him and Leon, and, along with Karl’s mother and Max, fled to Bialystock, in Soviet-occupied Poland. Elias soon joined them. (Karl’s older sister, Nelle, had been working in another city. They never learned her fate.) 

Karl’s father volunteered to work in Russia, and on Feb. 1, 1940, the family boarded a cattle car with 24 people. They traveled east, sleeping on the cold, straw-covered floor and, 24 days later, reached Magnitogorsk, a city near the Ural Mountains. Everyone was housed in a huge hall. After two months, Karl’s family was given one room in a barracks. 

Karl, 16, was assigned to a Stakhanovite brigade, named after Alexei Stakhanov, a miner who far exceeded his daily work quota. Eight hours a day, in temperatures 45 degrees below zero, he dug out frozen earth for factory foundations. “In my life, I never did this kind of work,” Karl recalled.

In late 1940, Karl was sent to a professional factory school, where he lived in a barracks and studied plumbing. Six months later, he was working in a factory.

Sometime in 1942, Elias and Leon were to sent to Chelyabinsk, 500 kilometers away. After awhile, the family received a letter that Leon had contracted pneumonia and died. “He was only 20. It was a big shock,” Karl said. 

Karl was later assigned to do guard work in another city. Then, in late 1944, he received orders to report to a Russian army camp in Sverdlovsk.

Three months later, Karl was sent to East Prussia with his unit of about 25 men to fight on the front, which was his wish. Suddenly he became ill with a high fever and was hospitalized. Recovering several days later, he left to join his unit, only to discover they had all been killed.

Karl joined another unit. They were stationed nine kilometers outside Königsberg, Germany, which the Russians were preparing to capture, and charged with keeping a long line of fires burning so Russian planes could spot German ground forces. They worked in the rain, with Germans shooting at them. 

Finally, after the Russian military had pounded Königsberg with bombs and Katyusha rockets, the soldiers were ordered to attack. They raced toward the city while the Germans shot at them with automatic rifles. “I saw the bullets whistling by. It was really dangerous,” Karl said, remembering stepping over thousands of dead bodies.
In Königsberg, with the nighttime sky lit up in flames, the soldiers continued fighting, Karl said, “street to street, house to house, room to room.” 

At one point, Karl was ordered to cross a bridge and deliver a letter to headquarters requesting reinforcements. As he was running across the bridge, the soldier accompanying him disappeared. Karl, however, returned safely. 

The Battle of Königsberg ended on April 9, 1945. The Russian general entrusted Karl with ensuring that the 4,000 German soldiers they had captured were not harmed. “If I would have known what the Nazis did to the Jews, I don’t know what I would have done to them,” he said.

After some time, the Russian soldiers began the trek home, walking 45 to 50 kilometers a day, with heavy backpacks. Eventually they reached Kiev, where, on Jan. 29, 1946, Karl was among thousands of people watching as six large trucks, each carrying two Nazis with nooses around their necks, pulled forward, leaving the 12 men hanging. 

In Kiev, Karl worked for a different general. Around June 1947, however, he joined his family, who had relocated to Walbrzych, in southwestern Poland. There he attended ORT, studying chauffeur mechanics.

In early January 1949, Karl left for Israel. He went straight into the Palmach, then part of the Israel Defense Forces, who were preparing to capture the West Bank but were stopped by the United Nations. 

After two short stints as a guard, Karl was ordered to join the Sanchanim, or paratroopers. From June 1949 to January 1951, he made 41 jumps.

Karl moved to Tel Aviv and worked as a driver at Timna Copper Mines headquarters. In 1954, he moved to Eilat, where he transported workers to and from the mines.

In spring 1960, Karl met Hildegarde Joseph, who was originally from Burma. They married the following Dec. 21, and their daughter Anita was born in 1961. 

In September 1962, Karl and Hildegarde moved to Los Angeles. Their son Jerome was born in 1965. 

Karl worked at Feldman Lighting until 1988. The following year, he and Hildegard opened a photo shop in Westwood, retiring in 2004. 

Today, Karl, 89, enjoys walking, watching sports, stamp collecting and spending time with his family, including five grandchildren and his brother Max.

On his honeymoon in 1960, Karl visited the rebuilt Roonstrasse Synagogue in Cologne. “I had goose bumps,” he said. “Most of the people didn’t make it. It was a very, very sad feeling.”

Survivor: Karl Wozniak Read More »

Obituaries: Jan. 4-10, 2014

Leave a Comment / Obituaries /

Beverly Abrams died Dec. 8 at 85. Survived by daughters Linda (Allan) Wilson, Jane; son Jeffrey; 1 grandchild. Hillside

Minnie Bauman died Dec. 9 at 100. Survived by daughters Francine (Matthew) Figelman, Carol (Richard) Lewis; 3 grandchildren; 2 great-grandchildren. Mount Sinai

Ben Berger died Dec. 11 at 93. Survived by wife Rae; daughters Jayne (Peter) Behman, Elise (Harvey) Canter, Beth (Steve) Roberts; son Steve (Natalie), Alex (Caren) Polland; 10 grandchildren; 6 great-grandchildren. Groman Eden

Dennis Blake died Dec. 6 at 61. Survived by stepsons Robert Rusler, Gary Jones; father Eddie; sister Shortie; nephew Jason Miller. Hillside

Philip Blumstein died Dec. 5 at 88. Survived by sister Shirley Ross; brother Bernard Cohen; 5 nephews. Groman Eden 

Melvin Brown died Dec. 10 at 91. Survived by daughters Debra Stomel, Pam; 3 grandchildren; 4 great-grandchildren. Mount Sinai

Paul Chiswick died Dec. 4 at 66. Survived by sisters Linda, Nancy. Mount Sinai

Charlotte Dinovitz died Dec. 3 at 97. Survived by daughter Janet (Rick) Weiser; son Larry; 6 grandchildren; 9 great-grandchildren; brothers Alvin Schlom, Irving Schlom. Hillside 

Magda Drucker died Dec. 6 at 93. Survived by daughter Paula. Groman Eden 

Marsha Evans died Dec. 5 at 62. Survived by sons Elliott, Michael; stepmother Lillian Barasch; father-in-law Barry (Harriet); sister Cindy (Larry) Shilkoff; brothers Billy, Daniel, Sheldon Barasch; sister-in-law Joan (Michael) Fay; brother-in-law Neil. Hillside

Bradley Fazekas died Dec. 11 at 51. Survived by partner David Harris; father Arnold; stepmother Marcia; sister Tami (Bert) Adams; brothers Craig, Steven. Hillside

Gerald Freed died Dec. 6 at 91. Survived by wife Doris; daughter Susan (Harold) Cohen; son Philip (Anita); 4 grandchildren. Mount Sinai

Nellie Geldin died Dec. 5 at 98. Survived by daughters Myrna Dubin, Lorraine (Harris) Zeidler, Susan; 7 grandchildren; 8 great-grandchildren. Mount Sinai

Faye Gelfan died Dec. 12 at 95. Survived by 5 grandchildren; 3 great-grandchildren; 1 nephew. Mount Sinai

William Glikbarg died Dec. 4 at 89. Survived by wife Charlene; daughter Susan (Don) Hanson; sons Michael, Steven (Juliet); 4 grandchildren; 1 great-grandchild; brother Allan. 

Irving Gold died Dec. 6 at 93. Survived by wife Nan; daughter Shirley (Bob) Newman; son Barry (Judy); 4 grandchildren; 3 great-grandchildren. Hillside

Lillian Goldberg died Nov. 30 at 90. Survived by daughter Janice (Yoram) Shein; sons David, Jack; 6 grandchildren; 6 great-grandchildren. Groman Eden

Leric Goodman died Dec. 10 at 70. Survived by sons Joshua, Scott, Zachary; 2 grandchildren; sister Sandra; brothers Allan, Charles. Hillside

Beverly Greenberg died Dec. 11 at 70. Survived by daughter Tracy (Robert Ritchie); son Mark. Mount Sinai
Samuel Greenberg died Dec. 1 at 94. Survived by daughter Charlotte; son Michael (Eileen); 2 grandchildren; brothers Burt, Max. Los Osos Valley Memorial Park

Elyse Hammer died Dec. 3 at 34. Survived by mother Lynn; father Bob; sister Sheryl (Michael) Fishman. Mount Sinai

Harry Herbst died Dec. 12 at 81. Survived by son Mark (Marina Bekovich); 4 grandchildren; sister Ruth. Groman Eden

George Herscu died Dec. 12 at 85. Survived by daughter Michelle Levine; sons Jeffrey, Robert (Marri); 1 grandchild; ex-wife Sheila. Hillside

Marshall Howard died Dec. 10 at 67. Survived by wife Mindell Smulowitz; daughter Stacie Linka; son Brandon; 3 grandchildren; mother Sybil Worth Howard. Mount Sinai

Louis Huczneker died Dec. 3 at 63. Survived by wife Susana; daughters Denise (Dan) Holt, Daniela; son David (Vivi); 3 grandchildren. Chevra Kadisha 

Claire Hyman died Dec. 10 at 83. Survived by daughter Laura Buckley; son Jonathan; 3 grandchildren; brother Norman (Leah) Solat; cousins. Groman Eden

Reuben Israel died Dec. 9 at 94. Survived by daughter Sue Miller; brother-in-law Murray (Diane) Kaplan. Groman Eden 

Patricia Lachman died Dec. 4 at 81. Survived by husband Marvin; daughter Jaime Michaels; son Jeffrey (Marla) Michaels; 2 grandchildren. Mount Sinai

Naser Lahijani died Dec. 2 at 68. Survived by daughters Nazanin (Alex) Cohen, Eve; 2 grandchildren; mother Saltanat; sisters Mahboubeh Bina, Malihe Bouzaglou; brothers Nader, Said. Chevra Kadisha

Bernard Levin died Dec. 3 at 86. Survived by wife Sandra; daughters Amy (Lance) Friedman, Jennifer Wells; sons Dan (Stacy), Joel (Christi), Sam (Suzi); 11 grandchildren. Mount Sinai

Steven Luber died Dec. 6 at 49. Survived by mother Isolda; father Donald; sisters Julia, Miriam; brother Dante. Mount Sinai

Irene Lutz died Dec. 12 at 97. Survived by daughters Jackie Lutz Oreckinto, Adrienne; 3 grandchildren; 3 great-grandchildren. Mount Sinai

Carlo Malatesta died Dec. 8 at 89. Survived by wife Beatrice; son Ian (Karen); 2 grandchildren. Mount Sinai

Jerome Mariam died Dec. 1 at 71. Survived by brother Joe; cousins Becky Mosello, Tony. Mount Sinai

Rachel Menasce died Dec. 12 at 95. Survived by daughter Mireille (Michel) Bertagna; son Joseph (Michelle), Roger (Elizabeth); 6 grandchildren; 5 great-grandchildren; sister Yvette Fedida; brother Max Saul. Hillside

Esther Mendelsohn died Dec. 8 at 89. Survived by daughter Linda Strawn; son Michael (Dorian); 2 grandchildren; sister Bella Mondshein. Hillside

Reuben Mikelman died Dec. 5 at 92. Survived by wife Lilian; daughter Marlene Canter; son Steven (Ricky); 4 grandchildren; 1 great-grandchild. Chevra Kadisha 

Saul Montrose died Dec. 12 at 100. Survived by daughter Melinda (Samuel) Jackson; sons Gary (Lynette), Mark; 5 grandchildren; 1 great-grandchild. Hillside

Jack Moscowitz died Dec. 10 at 80. Survived by wife Freda; sons Marc (Theresa), Steven (Maria); 1 grandchild; sister Eileen Meskin; niece Suzy (Stephen) Bookbinder. Mount Sinai

Joan Norman died Dec. 3 at 64. Survived by sister Joni Nirenberg; brothers Greg (Dan) Nierenberg, James Nierenberg, Richard (Valerie) Nierenberg, Ronald (Leah). Mount Sinai

Claire Ollstein died Dec. 8 at 89. Survived by daughter Lauren Ollstein-Meyer; son Marty. Hillside

Lillian Parker died Dec. 5 at 90. Survived by son Joel (Fran); 4 grandchildren. Mount Sinai

Maxine Pinkus died Dec. 10 at 87. Survived by daughters Eileen Darby, Mary (William) Shannon; son Michael (Patricia); sister-in-law Patty. Hillside

David Rabuchin died Dec. 6 at 88. Survived by sons Brad (Jennifer), Mark, Steve (Janice); 4 grandchildren; sister Shirley Margolis. Mount Sinai

Lyudmila Rademan died Dec. 12 at 97. Survived by daughter Larisa (Boris) Leshchinsky; 2 grandchildren; 3 great-grandchildren. Groman Eden

Allan Ridnor died Dec. 7 at 82. Survived by wife Elaine; sons Dennis (Jeanne), Douglas (Laura), Steven (Linda); 6 grandchildren; 2 great-grandchildren; sister Doris Stark. Mount Sinai

Leopold Rosenfeld died Dec. 12 at 65. Survived by sons Benjamin, Jordan (Stephanie); mother Dora; sister Elizabeth Cohen. Hillside

Anne Ross died Dec. 11 at 85. Survived by daughter Leslie (Bud) Crane; sons David, Marty (Renee); 6 grandchildren; 4 great-grandchildren; brother Thomas Melton. Hillside

Chester Salm died Dec. 3 at 80. Survived by sons Edward, Lorin; companion Michele Rolih. Mount Sinai

Howard Salomon died Dec. 2 at 60. Survived by son Richard; brother Steven; ex-wife Janice. Hillside

Jack Scapa died Dec. 3 at 93. Survived by sons Jack (Pamie), Jeffrey (Barbara), Robert (Holly); 5 grandchildren. Hillside

Robert Shafton died Dec. 8 at 82. Survived by wife Sally; daughters Jill (Barry) Levenfeld, Randy (Drew Liberman); son Jeffrey (Lee); 7 grandchildren. Hillside

Annette Sheeler died Dec. 12 at 74. Survived by husband Phillip; daughters Lindsey Fennel, Wendy (Steven) Grossman, Donna Myers, Carly Steelberg; son Paul Myers; 5 grandchildren; sister Susan Rose. Mount Sinai

Charles Shuken died Dec. 8 at 76. Survived by wife Colleen; daughter Caryn (Barry Paul); sister Victoria Shuken-Weisenberg. Neptune Society

Dee Miller Siegel died Nov. 30 at 73. Survived by husband Alan Siegel; daughter Sharon; son Scott; 2 grandchildren. 

Leonard Spector died Dec. 10 at 92. Survived by wife Della; daughters Wendy (Robert Steinmetz) Spector Steinmetz, Suzanne; son Mark (Nancy); 6 grandchildren. Mount Sinai

Anita Spiegel died Dec. 2 at 98. Survived by daughter Judith; son Alan; 3 grandchildren. Mount Sinai

Leonard Stoll died Dec. 7 at 92. Survived by wife Jean; sons Daniel, David, Seymour, Warren; 20 grandchildren; 24 great-grandchildren. Chevra Kadisha 

Sophie Weinerman died Dec. 6 at 95. Survived by sons Bruce (Loretta) Warner, Jon; 3 grandchildren; 1 great-grandchild. Mount Sinai

Betty Weiss died Dec. 12 at 99. Survived by sons Gerald (Melanie Goodpasture), Robert (Delia Anderson), Stuart (Marlene); 2 grandchildren. Mount Sinai

Ralph Wolveck died Dec. 8 at 92. Survived by wife Molly; daughter Kate (Ronald) Linder; son Randy (Gina); 7 grandchildren; 14 great-grandchildren. Mount Sinai

Obituaries: Jan. 4-10, 2014 Read More »

Letters to the Editor: Azerbaijan, ASA and the Bedouin plan

Leave a Comment / Letters to the Editor /

The Untold Story of a Brave Azerbaijani Jew

I’d like to express my gratitude for writing a detailed story about the Azerbaijani Jews in your article (“The Mysteries of Azerbaijan,” Dec. 20). 

I appreciate indication of historical facts. You should probably also know that Azerbaijani Jews bravely fought during the Nagorno-Karabakh War, and one of them — Albert Agarunov — is the best story ever told in Azerbaijan.

He was on a brave tank crew who disabled nine Armenian tanks. Upon your next visit, please visit his grave in the upper part of Baku. It’s one of the most visited sites in Azerbaijan.

Yusif Babanly, co-founder, U.S. Azeris Network

Great article by Rob Eshman on the Jews of Azerbaijan and the Red Village. Who knew? I must add a minor correction in the mention of Garry Kasparov (born Garik Weinstein). “Grandmaster” Kasparov was the World Chess Champion from 1985-2000 and was the highest-rated player in the world for 225 out of 228 months from 1986 until his retirement in 2005. He is considered by many to be the strongest chess player in history.

Ben Nethercot, Topanga

ASA Decision Creates Deep, Complex Rift

What is the editor’s point in publishing a pro/con piece on something as bigoted as the American Studies Association (ASA) decision to boycott professors of Israeli universities (“Should U.S. Academics Boycott Israeli Universities?” Dec. 20)? Is it freedom of speech, intellectual openness or something else? Had the Jewish Journal been publishing in Germany in 1936  when the Nuremberg Laws were enacted, barring Jewish professors from employment in German universities, would the Journal have published a pro and con on the merits of such a law for the sake of intellectual openness? Hopefully, it would have recognized venomous bigotry and called it so. By attempting to intellectualize the outrageously bigoted ASA resolution, the editors do nothing but grant it legitimacy.  Further, you choose as the voice against the resolution someone who agrees totally with the pro’s thesis of “Israel’s destructive occupation,” no matter what argument follows. What’s the point? Thus, one can’t help but wonder if its inclusion is a reflection of the Journal’s own sympathy with the substance of the resolution.

Benjamin Fass, Los Angeles

Parsing the Bedouin Future

While there is much to be criticized in Israeli policy toward the Bedouin, Deborah Brous’ romanticized vision of a long-term future for Bedouin “living off the grid” is not a viable alternative (“Stop Prawer-Begin Plan for Bedouin Resettlement,” Dec. 13). While some leaders might express this preference, I am skeptical that a future of illiteracy for their children, polygamy and honor killings is a future most would want, given the alternative. I doubt it is a lifestyle she would find acceptable if Israel tolerated it for any other part of its population. The same goes for lack of a stable water supply, electricity or sewage. No government in the world could provide proper infrastructure to isolated villages of 30 families.

I spend a fair amount of time in Beersheba and surrounding areas. Virtually all of the Arab population in Beersheba is of Bedouin descent. I have met with a highly educated Bedouin woman working to bring basic standards of equality for women to the Bedouin community, urban and rural. I have worked with the bicultural Jewish/Arab school, Hajar, in Beersheba. I have seen the large number of Bedouin women in traditional dress at Ben-Gurion University and the Open University developing skills to join the mainstream workplace. I have been in the malls of Beersheba while these women and their families enjoy the benefits of life “on the grid.” I have also worked with the Ayalim group, involved in both establishing their villages in the Negev and volunteering to teach agricultural skills and literacy to their Bedouin neighbors.

To propose a long-term lifestyle guaranteeing poverty, illiteracy and not even a semblance of equality among men and women is not a reasonable alternative future to more enlightened Israeli government policies providing life “on the grid.”

Lawrence Weinman, Los Angeles/Jerusalem

Devorah Brous responds:

Mr. Weinman’s vision is no less romantic than mine — a flourishing Negev. However, we disagree that extricating Bedouin from their lands — their only viable asset — is justifiable simply because their ideals don’t match Mr. Weinman’s. Lambasting Bedouin for their cultural practices, removing them from their lands and then tossing the bone of charitable tutoring by young Zionists is well intentioned, yet absurd in the face of wholesale demolitions of unrecognized villages. Make no mistake, the issue at hand is Israel’s discriminatory Negev development and afforestation that is evacuating 40,000 citizens from their homes against their will, not Bedouin honor killings or their polygamy. How, once they are crammed into ghettos, living next to vibrant, fully resourced Jewish-only neighborhoods, can there be a spirit of coexistence among Negev Jews and Bedouin?

Investments in the Negev will not thrive unless all the region’s inhabitants have sustainable access to all civil rights Israel affords its citizens. If we continue to play a paternalistic zero-sum game with Bedouin resettlement where Jews hold all the cards, it will surely prove a lose-lose for all sides.

Letters to the Editor: Azerbaijan, ASA and the Bedouin plan Read More »

Calendar: January 4–10

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SAT | JAN 4

ILIZA SHLESINGER

She’s the first female and youngest comedian to win NBC’s “Last Comic Standing.” She’s had a half-hour special on “Comedy Central Presents,” she’s worked with “Pauly Shore & Friends” on Showtime, Chelsea Handler on E!, Joel McHale on “The Soup” and NBC’s “Last Call with Carson Daly.” Whether she’s discussing our responsibility to polar bears or what missing teeth can reveal, she discusses it with biting expertise. 18 and older. Sat. 8 p.m. $15 (two-item minimum). Hollywood Improv, 8162 Melrose Ave., Hollywood. (323) 651-2583. ” target=”_blank”>geffenplayhouse.com. 

WED | JAN 8

DARA FRIEDMAN 

In Dara Friedman’s “PLAY, Parts 1 & 2,” 17 couples — some fictionally paired and some in real-life relationships with one another — develop and play out improvised scenes of intimacy. Filmed during Friedman’s residency with the Hammer, “PLAY” features the actors in poetic, intense and humorous situations that grow from improvisational games. Friedman will participate in a Q-and-A following the screening. Wed. 7:30 p.m. Free. Billy Wilder Theater at the Hammer Museum, 10899 Wilshire Blvd., Los Angeles. (310) 443-7000. THU | JAN 9

“THE ROLE OF THE FORGOTTEN MOURNER”

Rabbi Daniel Greyber returns to Southern California to discuss his most recent book, “Faith Unravels: A Rabbi’s Struggle With Grief and God.” What are the rules for dealing with the loss of a friend, mentor or colleague? Greyber, the former executive director of Camp Ramah in California, speaks to the pain experienced by the forgotten mourners by sharing personal stories of faith lost and regained anew. Kosher lunch served. RSVP required to park in building. Thu. Noon. $18 (nonmembers), $10 (Sinai Temple, Camp Ramah members). Sinai Temple, 10400 Wilshire Blvd., Los Angeles. (310) 481-3243. ” target=”_blank”>skirball.org. 

FRI | JAN 10

N’SHAMA WOMEN’S RETREAT

What better way to start off the New Year than with a renewal of the soul in nature’s beauty? Valley Beth Shalom and Temple Aliyah host a women’s weekend to celebrate Shabbat Shira. Join Rabbi Nina Bieber Feinstein and Cindy Paley Aboody at the Brandeis-Bardin Institute for two days of spiritual prayer, song and learning, dancing, drumming, hikes, a margarita bar and more. You are woman — make some time to roar (and relax). Through Jan. 11. Fri. $225 (double occupancy). Brandeis-Bardin Campus, 1101 Peppertree Lane, Simi Valley. (818) 222-0192. ” target=”_blank”>templealiyah.org. 

SHABBAT SHIRA — THE SHABBAT OF SONG

Temple Emanuel celebrates 75 years of music and prayer with the help of Los Angeles’ premier Jewish choir, the Los Angeles Zimriyah Chorale, conducted by Nick Strimple. Fri. 6:30 p.m. Free (service only), $18 (dinner, adult), $12 (dinner, child). Temple Emanuel of Beverly Hills, 300 N. Clark Drive, Beverly Hills. (310) 843-9588. ” target=”_blank”>templejudea.com.

Calendar: January 4–10 Read More »

Moving and Shaking: ADL and Shalom Institute galas plus Bruce Whizin honored

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Approximately 900 people turned out for the Anti-Defamation League’s (ADL) Centennial Gala on Dec. 10, which was held at the Beverly Hilton hotel. 

“The event raised nearly $1.4 million to support ADL efforts to combat anti-Semitism and bigotry of all kinds,” said a statement by the ADL, which was founded in 1913. 

It also honored several community members, including Barbara and Thomas Leanse and George David Kieffer — “for their excellence in their professional fields and community leadership,” the ADL statement said.

Speakers included Los Angles World Airports Police Chief Patrick Gannon, who was part of the official response team to the recent deadly shooting at LAX; UCLA student Sunny Singh, a participant in ADL’s campus leaders mission; Detective Chris Keeling of the L.A. County Sheriff’s Department; and high school teacher Katherine Friedman, who has taught ADL’s Holocaust education curriculum to her students.

Additionally, UC Irvine School of Law dean Erwin Chemerinsky attended, presenting the Jurisprudence Award to Kieffer, a partner at Manatt, Phelps & Phillips and member of the Board of Regents of the University of California. Meanwhile, the Leanses received the Humanitarian Award, in recognition of their philanthropic efforts.

“It is incumbent on all of us to help when we can,” said Thomas Leanse, senior executive vice president, chief legal officer and secretary of the Macerich Co., a real-estate company based in Santa Monica. Barbara Leanse is staff director of Cedars-Sinai’s volunteer services.

Other attendees included ADL National Director Abraham Foxman. The event was emceed by actor Mark Feuerstein and included musical entertainment from the Gay Men’s Chorus of Los Angeles.

The Shalom Institute’s 2013 gala, which took place on Dec. 5, honored Camp JCA Shalom alumni Jennifer Rheuban, Barri Worth Girvan and Jacob Knobel. More than 300 people turned out for the event, which was held at the Peterson Automotive Museum, in the Miracle Mile.

Camp JCA Shalom, a sleep-away camp in Malibu, is Shalom Institute’s “biggest and most known program,” according to shalominstitute.com.

The event shed light on the honorees’ various accomplishments. Rheuban, an institute board member, created Adult Color Wars, which raises money for camp scholarships; Worth Girvan is the director of government affairs and community engagement programs for The Jewish Federation of Greater Los Angeles and is a former staff member in the L.A. mayor’s office; and Knobel, a software engineer and entrepreneur, has supported Shalom Institute’s technological infrastructure. 

Rheuban received the Trailblazers Award. Worth Girvan and Knobel both received the Emerging Young Leaders Award.

Camp Ramah in California celebrated board member Bruce Whizin on Nov. 17 at Sinai Temple.

“Everybody in this room deserves to be up here,” said Whizin, a philanthropist in the Jewish community who has supported Camp Ramah for many years.

The Westwood fundraiser for the Conservative movement’s summer camp in Ojai drew more than 360 attendees, including clergy who once worked or camped there. Among them were Rabbis Ed Feinstein (Valley Beth Shalom), Sharon Brous (IKAR) and David Wolpe (Sinai Temple). The Jewish Federation of Greater Los Angeles president Jay Sanderson also attended the event.

Ramah-California Executive Director Rabbi Joe Menashe called the event a “multigenerational celebration of Camp Ramah.”

Moving and Shaking acknowledges accomplishments by members of the local Jewish community, including people who start new jobs, leave jobs, win awards and more, as well as local events that featured leaders from the Jewish and Israeli communities. Got a tip? E-mail it to ryant@jewishjournal.com.

Moving and Shaking: ADL and Shalom Institute galas plus Bruce Whizin honored Read More »

Seeking a Jewish ‘Reality’ for the YouTube generation

Leave a Comment / Entertainment, Hollywood, Is Featured?, Mobile, Mobile-Homepage, News /

While the suits of the Jewish-American foundation circuit were banging their heads on their office desks, grappling for ways to engage an increasingly secular, drifting Diaspora youth, 28-year-old Jessie Kahnweiler, a loud Atlanta native with a Shirley Temple “Jewfro,” walked onto the scene in a pickle hat and made a crack about her pimps ’n’ hoes-themed bat mitzvah.

The suits caught on soon enough. Late in 2011, Kahnweiler, who had recently moved to Los Angeles and was working odd jobs in the film industry, scored a $40,000 grant from the Six Points Fellowship. The arts fellowship, according to its director, Josh Feldman, is an offshoot of the Foundation for Jewish Culture, built on “the realization that culture is … a major portal for meeting these young Jewish adults who are no longer going to synagogue.”

Kahnweiler was the New York fellowship’s first L.A. gamble, its first filmmaker and arguably now its most famous export. Her 11-part series, “Dude, Where’s My Chutzpah?” — filmed using the Six Points grant money plus a few thousand dollars from crowd-funding Web site Jewcer — has amassed around 300,000 views collectively on YouTube.

This makes her grant-givers giddy. “Ninety percent of those were watched on mobile devices,” Feldman said. He believes this “confirms that young Jewish adults are looking for content and ways to engage in Jewish life. And when a project is made that actually speaks to them and their generation, they will watch it the way they view content — which often is on their phone.” 

The “Chutzpah” series followed Kahnweiler on a bouncy, messy spiritual journey from her bubbe’s funeral to an L.A. synagogue to a Holocaust survivor’s porch patio to the Holy Land and back, as she attempted to conquer the question: What does my Judaism mean to me? Until the 20-something could find a way to “live Jewish” for at least a year, according to the storyline, she would be cut off from the grand Jewish fortune that her bubbe had left behind.

If that sounds a little on the dorky side, she kind of thought so, too.

“I really half-assed my pitch,” Kahnweiler said of applying to the fellowship. “I was like, ‘I’m never going to get this. I’m the worst Jew.’ It was sort of like, OK, let me make something about being Jewish, so I’ll cover bagels, I’ll cover temples in L.A. — it wasn’t from a personal place at all.”

And when, much to her shock, she was crowned a Six Points fellow, Kahnweiler said, “It was just dread. Like, ‘Oh, great. What the hell am I going to do?’ ”

But after some nudging from Feldman to take the creative process more slowly and allow herself a research phase, Kahnweiler’s fictional journey toward Jewishness began butting into her own reality.

Just months after her on-screen bubbe died, Kahnweiler said, her real-life grandmother passed away as well. And although the latter wasn’t the cranky old tradition-monger portrayed in the film (“I swear she died so she could get me alone in a room with a Jewish doctor,” Kahnweiler says on-screen), her own bubbe’s death did, in a way, help bring out her inner chutzpah.

“My grandma would always smile at me in this way whenever I would be loud and crazy,” Kahnweiler said in a phone interview. “I feel her smile all the time — and it’s especially when I’m making noise and making a ruckus. That’s what my grandma would be proud of.”



In Jessie Kahnweiler’s most recent, and most controversial short, “Meet My Rapist,” the filmmaker, while at a local farmers market, runs into the man who raped her while she was studying abroad in Vietnam eight years earlier. So she takes the rapist on a tour of her current life, including to a family dinner and a job interview. 

For the spiritual climax of the “Chutzpah” series, Kahnweiler hits Israel like an untamed Yankee in a spotted blue sundress, a kiddie backpack and an oversized hair bow. She skips through the tear gas at the West Bank separation wall, hitting on Israeli soldiers and Palestinian activists alike, and wheels a watermelon around Jerusalem’s Old City in a baby carriage. In one scene, Kahnweiler dresses up like an Orthodox Jewish man in order to enter the strictly male prayer section of the Western Wall. In another, she takes shots at a Tel Aviv nightclub until dawn, then runs toward the ocean, screaming up at God: “Come on, reveal yourself! Burn my bush!”

“I meet a lot of self-hating Jews in L.A.,” she said over the phone. “They’re like, ‘Ugh, I’m Jewish.’ And it’s like, well, yeah, you are that kind of Jewish. But I’m not that kind of Jewish. I’m sexy, inquisitive, dangerous — why can’t that be Jewish? Why does my Judaism have to be allergies and overeating?”

In Israel, Kahnweiler said, she witnessed a different approach. “You meet all these people that are like, ‘I’m passionate, and I’m sexy, and I’m a risk-taker — I’m an Israeli.’ I think that was the turning point for me, when I shot in Israel, and I realized, ‘Oh — that can be Jewish.’ ”

Although “Dude, Where’s My Chutzpah?” never lands on a definitive answer for what it means to “live Jewish,” as it sets out to do, its many parts do add up to a greater sense of awareness for both Kahnweiler and her followers. And now that the series is over, the filmmaker’s openness and curiousness toward herself and strangers — her ultimate incarnation of living as a nouveau Jew — is apparent in everything she does.

Kahnweiler’s 2013 follow-up series, “White Noise,” watches her run around Los Angeles, conducting racially themed street interviews with topics such as “Why do black guys want to bang me?” and “Can a white chick be a Latino day laborer?” They sound pretty bad at first — girl knows how to troll — but the videos are surprisingly warm and nuanced, and reveal loads about our own preconceptions.

Her moments of comedic relief are never predictable but always distinctly Kahnweiler. She’ll raise her eyebrows halfway up her forehead, stretch her mouth sheepishly across her face and kind of cock her head, as if to say, “Don’t hate me ’cause I’m ignorant.”

But she embraces ignorance, and stereotypes — if only as a weapon against apathy. If the other Angelenos shuffling past the Latino day laborers and homeless guys on Skid Row are the realistic ones, Kahnweiler would rather approach the world from a clean slate of cluelessness. So she kicks it outside Home Depot for a day and asks a man named Jose what kind of job he would have if he were king of the world.

“It’s difficult to answer,” he says. “Well, I’m a difficult woman,” she replies. “Welcome.” 

Kahnweiler’s most-viewed short to date is her most recent, and her most controversial: an anecdotal piece titled “Meet My Rapist.” In the film, Kahnweiler is flirting with vendors at a farmers market when she runs into a dude (or more a beard in a hoodie) who raped her eight years ago while she was studying abroad in Vietnam. So she takes her rapist on a tour of her current life, including to a family dinner and a job interview.