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Jewish Journal

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January 22, 2015

Locals remember victims of Paris terror attacks

Leave a Comment / California /

Seventeen yahrzeit candles were displayed on the bimah at Sinai Temple on Jan. 14, where about 300 people gathered to pay homage to lives lost too soon. Each wick represented a victim of the recent attacks in Paris.

“Living in Los Angeles, it’s sometimes easy to forget that we’re part of a greater Jewish people,” Jay Sanderson, president and CEO of The Jewish Federation of Greater Los Angeles, which organized the event, said in a later interview with the Journal.

But he said the previous week’s events in France — the attack on the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo and subsequent killings at a kosher supermarket — evoked a sense of “global responsibility” in Jews around the world and that “a memorial service felt like the right response.” 

The intimate service began with opening remarks by Les Bider, Federation board chair. 

“We feel responsible for every Jew, from Los Angeles to Paris to Tel Aviv,” he said.

Immediately following the attacks, Sanderson said he and fellow community leaders started a dialogue with the Jews of Paris. In collaboration with the Jewish Agency for Israel and other Federations across the country, the L.A. Federation helped donate approximately $100,000 to Parisian Jewish institutions.

“It was assessed that the immediate need was to ensure that every Jewish institution [in Paris] was safe and secure,” Sanderson told the Journal. 

Bider’s speech was followed by the American and French national anthems, performed by Cantor Tifani Coyot of Temple Isaiah. Axel Cruau, consul general of France in Los Angeles, and David Siegel, consul general of Israel in Los Angeles, also took the stage.

The French diplomat said the best answer to terrorism is staying united and true to our values, and he saluted recent remarks made by French Prime Minister Manuel Valls.

“He spoke the truth,” Cruau said. “He said that France was at war — not at war with religion, not at war with Islam, but at war with terrorists, jihadists and radicalists of Islam.”

Siegel focused on acts of darkness and light. 

“It is a dark day when the simple act of going to work in a magazine, attending a Jewish day school or shopping at a grocery store becomes an act of courage,” he said. 

But amid this darkness, he continued, there were extraordinary heroes: the French security personnel who rescued hostages; Yohan Cohen, a young Jew who was killed while trying to grab a terrorist’s gun; and Lassana Bathily, a 24-year-old Muslim from Mali, who saved Jews by hiding them in the supermarket freezer.

Continuing the theme, Sinai’s Rabbi David Wolpe recited the 23rd Psalm. “Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for thou art with me.” After the recitation, Wolpe said, “The most important word in this beautiful psalm is ‘walk.’ … We do not stay there; we grieve, we mourn, but we don’t give up.”

He continued, “Even though we walk through the valley of the shadow of death, we will not be afraid because to be afraid is to give into the darkness.”

Sanderson led the candle-lighting ceremony, calling out the names of elected officials and community leaders to light the yahrzeit candles. One by one, individuals, including Los Angeles Supervisor Michael D. Antonovich, Assemblyman Richard Bloom, L.A. City Councilman Paul Koretz and Temple Akiba Rabbi Zach Shapiro, walked onto the stage. The room fell silent, filled only with the sound of a lighter catching flame.

After all the candles were lit, Clara-Lisa Kabbaz, school president of Le Lycee Francais de Los Angeles, read the names of the 17 victims. Rabbi Sarah Hronsky of Temple Beth Hillel, Rabbi Morley T. Feinstein of University Synagogue and Rabbi Eli Herscher of Stephen Wise Temple also took part in the service. Cantor Emeritus Joseph Gole of Sinai Temple sang “Hatikvah” and “Oseh Shalom” with the audience as his choir.

Sitting in that audience was Danielle Salusky, a congregant of Kehillat Israel in Pacific Palisades. Born and raised in Paris, she reminisced after the memorial service about her personal connection to the tragedy, which took the lives of two cartoonists she knew.

“I grew up with this magazine, Charlie Hebdo, in Paris, and I’ve known them since 1968,” she said. “I knew [Jean] Cabu and [Georges] Wolinski, the two oldest cartoonists from the magazine, and it’s terrible and it’s horrible.”

Salusky and her husband were in Paris not long ago, visiting family. 

“We came back from Paris Monday night and this happened Wednesday morning, and I wanted to go home and I wanted to be there with everybody. I’ve been crying for the whole week,” she said. 

Emotional and silent, she finally added, “So we’re here.”

Locals remember victims of Paris terror attacks Read More »

God Is Still Speaking: Haftarat Bo, Jeremiah 46:13-28

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Never place a period where God has placed a comma.

–Gracie Allen

One might be forgiven for thinking that when it comes to Haftarah, “Bo” is short for “boring.” Commentators have tended to summarize the Haftarah, connect it to the parashah, and move on. There is much to be said for this strategy; don’t push the text further then it can go.

Jeremiah’s prophecy is straightforward. Do not go to Egypt, he warns imperiled Judeans, for you will find no refuge there, because God is using Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon as a way of punishing Egypt. Eventually, Israel will be released from captivity in Babylon, and we will all live happily ever after. And of course it is easy then to connect the Haftarah to the Parashah: Egypt is punished in both, and Parashat Bo takes us into the heart of the Exodus story. Yawn.

But wait. Something is very different here.

Throughout Exodus, and but most prominently at the very beginning of Parashat Bo, Yahweh is referred to the “God of the Hebrews” by Moses himself (Exodus 10:3). Oh yes, God can harden Pharaoh’s heart, and “mete out punishments to all the gods of Egypt,” but that’s just as one god among many.

By the time we get to Jeremiah, however, we have a very different view of God’s role in the world. God controls all nations, and uses them for divine purposes. Put another way, between Chumash and Nevi’im we have gone from henotheism – worship of one God but acknowledgement of many – to monotheism.

This change powerfully argues for recovering the study of Haftarah, for it was the Prophets who first proclaimed monotheism as the Jewish creed. Amos led the campaign, contending the other gods that Judah worshipped were not merely abominable, but “false.” (Amos 2:4). Yahweh was not simply the “God of the Hebrews” but “the Creator of heaven and earth and all that is in them.” (Amos 8:6). God governs not only Israel, but also the destinies of all nations. (Amos 9:7). First Isaiah agreed, prophesying that God will not just fail to protect Israel against its foes, but will use Assyria as “the rod of God’s anger.” (Isaiah 10:5).

As this week’s Haftarah shows, Jeremiah continued this trend, and by the time of the Babylonian exile, Second Isaiah perfected it. “I am the LORD, and there is no other; besides me there is no god.” (Isaiah 45:5). Second Isaiah refers to Persian king Cyrus, who would eventually free the Israelites, as not merely a good foreign ruler but rather as God’s anointed. (Isaiah 45:1).

But what of it? Israel did not fully understand God’s Oneness, but thanks to the Nevi’im, it now does. So?

Well, why think that the process stops there? After all, if the Israelites who received Torah at Sinai did not fully understand God, why think that we do now? If God is the Eternal and Infinite One, why think that we will ever fully understand the divine? Judaism is not about timeless truth, but rather about the timeless search for ever-evolving truth.

The rabbis comprehended how knowledge of God continues to unfold:

Rab Judah said in the name of Rab, When Moses ascended on high he found the Holy One, blessed be He, engaged in affixing crowns to the letters. Said Moses, “Lord of the Universe, Who stays Thy hand?” [“Why are you taking time to affix the crowns to the letters?”]

He answered, “There will arise a man, at the end of many generations, Akiba ben Joseph by name, who will expound upon each jot and tittle heaps and heaps of laws.”

“Lord of the Universe,” said Moses; “permit me to see him.”

He replied, “Turn around.” Moses went and sat down behind eight rows [and listened to the discourses upon the law]. Not being able to follow their arguments he was ill at ease, but when they came to a certain subject and the disciples said to the master “How do you know that?” and the latter replied “It is law given to Moses at Sinai”, he was comforted.

He then returned to the Holy One, blessed be He, and said, “Lord of the Universe, You have such a man and You give the Torah by me!” He replied, “Be silent, for such is My decree.”  (Menachot 29b).

It is hard to overestimate the theological import of this Aggadah. Moses sits in the back row of Akiba’s academy – the place usually reserved for novices – and cannot comprehend the teaching, but is relieved when Akiba claims – incorrectly! — that a particular ruling derives directly from Sinai. Our understanding of God keeps developing, and God wants it that way. So even though the particular teaching did not come from Sinai, the authority of later generations to continually discover new aspects of God did.

Maimonides embraced the same concept of continual divine unfolding. He explained in chapter 32 of Book III of Guide of the Perplexed that God did not institute sacrifices because an actual divine desire for sacrifices. Far from it; the point was to eradicate idolatry little by little. Had God simply told the Israelites, however, to worship through study, prayer or meditation, they could not have understood or followed such instructions. Sacrifices were not ends in and of themselves, but rather designed to foster the Israelites” spiritual tutelage: in the same way that God did not lead the children of Israel directly to the Promised Land, He did not lead them directly to the best form of worship.

Who is to say that we are not now in a similar time of spiritual tutelage? Is it not arrogant to believe that we so completely comprehend God that our beliefs cannot withstand change? In the same way that the Prophets changed henotheism to monotheism, and God Is Still Speaking: Haftarat Bo, Jeremiah 46:13-28 Read More »

Book Review: ‘Lisette’s List’

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In her captivating historical novel, “Lisette’s List” (Random House), Susan Vreeland, the New York Times bestselling author of “Girl in Hyacinth Blue,” takes readers by the hand and guides them, with assured steps and astute historical knowledge, through the tumultuous, war-torn, years of 1937 to 1948 in Europe, depicting horrific attempts by the Nazis to purge Europe of what they deem “degenerate” art, setting fire to precious works and stealing the pieces they want for themselves.

Lisette Roux, an avid art lover, reluctantly leaves Paris to accompany her husband, André, to the village of Roussillon in Provence to take care of his ailing grandfather, Pascal.  Lisette doubts she will survive for long in a rural village, where not a single gallery is in sight, the “raucous cackle” of roosters awakens her at dawn, and cushions are rare because the “Roussillonnais do not care much about comfort of the buttocks.”

What Lisette is unaware of yet is that Pascal’s small house, where walls display seven precious paintings by Picasso, Cézanne and Pissarro, among others, will soon feel like her own art gallery of sorts, each painting evoking fond memories of a better time, when the younger Pascal mined ochre from the nearby mines, sold pigments to merchants in Paris and, in exchange for precious paintings, supplied the painters with much-needed frames to display their painting at the first Impressionist exposition in Paris.

The Nazi apparatus spreads across Europe, Paris falls, André goes to the front to fight, and Roussillon gears up for a German invasion.  Grief is sometimes overstated here and begins to feel repetitive and threatens to lose its impact when Lisette, alone and deprived of the company of her husband and precious paintings, which André wisely hides before leaving for war, is forced to fend for herself.  She learns how to plant vegetables, make cheese, bake marzipan, contend with betrayal, and depend on friends to keep alive her dwindling embers of hope for André’s return.

Lisette, in reply to Pascal to, “Do the important things first,” creates her own “List of Hungers and Vows,” which she crosses off one by one as the story progresses. Yet, despite the title and the prominent space Lisette’s list occupies, the advancing engine of the story is Lisette’s search for the paintings Pascal left in her care.  A lengthy, adventurous, and educational exploration of the scenic countryside will lead to a chance encounter with the Jewish Marc and Bella Chagall, who were forced to hide in the suburbs of Roussillon, before fleeing to America.

Vreeland’s exploration of the emotional and societal influence of art and her passionate descriptions of the countryside, with its rich scents and colors, the ochre mines and brutal mistral, but especially the vivid depiction of paintings, are the most pleasurable parts of the novel.  Paul Cézanne tells the young Pascal that “art is religion.  It is created with soul.  How you appreciate a thing is soul.”  Vreeland’s appreciation of the soul of art is fully evident in “Lisette’s List.”

Dora Levy Mossanen is a frequent reviewer for the Jewish Journal. Her latest novel is “Scent of Butterflies.” www.doralevymossanen.com

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Solving the enigma: Producing Alan Turing’s story, against all odds

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Sitting in a Beverly Hills cafe the other day, the almost preternaturally youthful Ido Ostrowsky, 35, and Nora Grossman, 31, looked more like college students than the first-time producers who, against all odds, launched the acclaimed and multiple-Oscar-nominated World War II thriller “The Imitation Game.” The film has been nominated for eight Academy Awards, including best director for Morten Tyldum, a screenwriting nod for Graham Moore, and best picture nominations for Ostrowsky and Grossman, along with their producing partner, Teddy Schwarzman.

“We’re still pinching ourselves,” Grossman said of the success of the drama, which has unexpectedly brought the duo — and their production company, Bristol Automotive — almost overnight success in Hollywood.

The film tells the fraught true story of Alan Turing (played by Benedict Cumberbatch, who has also received a best actor Oscar nomination), the brilliant, if profoundly prickly, British mathematician who broke the Nazis’ notoriously difficult Enigma communications code by creating his own decryption machine, along with his team of experts at the country estate Bletchley Park. His efforts effectively shortened the war by an estimated two years and saved up to 14 million lives, including those of millions of potential Holocaust victims. British Prime Minister Winston Churchill described Turing’s work as the greatest single contribution toward securing the Allied victory.

But some years after the war, Turing, who lived an unabashedly gay life at a time when homosexuality was illegal, was arrested on charges of gross indecency, and in lieu of jail, agreed to be chemically castrated. In the end, devastated by the havoc the hormones were wreaking upon his body, Turin, at 41, committed suicide by eating an apple laced with cyanide in 1954.  His invaluable contributions to the Allied effort remained secret and classified until the 1970s, rendering the mathematician an unsung war hero even throughout the decades following his death.

Ostrowsky and Grossman knew nothing about Turing until 2009, when both were out-of-work television assistants in search of a film project; one day that September, Ostrowsky was trawling the Internet when he chanced upon an op-ed piece in The Telegraph describing then-British Prime Minister Gordon Brown’s belated apology for his government’s treatment of Turing during the 1950s.

“What really struck both of us was, why was there a government apology so long after the fact?” Ostrowsky said. “Who was Alan Turing, and why didn’t we previously know his name?”

The aspiring producers learned more about the mathematician by reading Andrew Hodges’ 1983 biography, “Alan Turing:  The Enigma,” which was compiled from declassified documents, among other sources, and proved especially helpful, because no videotape and few photographs existed of Turing.

Ostrowsky and Grossman were riveted not only by Turing’s war efforts, but also by his complex character: The mathematician was as socially awkward as he was intellectually astute; jokes flew over his head; and he was prone to simply walking away from conversations he found uninteresting.

We found that Turing himself was a puzzle — a code to be cracked,” Ostrowsky said.  “He was a gay icon, the father of computer theory, a warrior, a martyr, a human being.”

For the Israeli-born Ostrowsky — who moved to Los Angeles with his family when he was a baby — there was another point of connection to Turing’s work: Ostrowsky’s Russian-Jewish grandparents lost relatives in Nazi concentration camps, and Ostrowsky is keenly aware that he, too, as a gay Jewish man, would have worn both the pink triangle and the yellow Jewish star during the Third Reich. Of the millions of lives Turing saved, he said, “I thought about how many of those people might have been my family members; it really hit close to home that Turing was a hero for all people, but also my people. And then he was treated in such a horrific way; it just felt like a shocking injustice. Even though he was officially pardoned after we shot our movie, it felt like he had never properly been celebrated or brought back to his rightful place in history.”

The producers were aware that a few other projects had previously tackled how the Brits cracked the Nazi code; for example, Hugh Whitemore’s 1986 Tony Award-nominated play, “Breaking the Code,” starring Derek Jacobi, which was adapted into a 1996 BBC production also starring Jacobi; and the 2001 film “Enigma,” a highly fictionalized movie that did not include Turing as a character.

Determined to create a more accurate version of events, Grossman flew to London to meet with Turing biographer Hodges and to secure the rights to his book. Despite the producer’s lack of experience, Hodges quickly agreed — perhaps, Grossman surmised, because his book had been published in the 1980s and no other filmmakers had recently come calling.

When Grossman returned to Los Angeles, she and Ostrowsky pitched the movie to all of their contacts in the entertainment industry, to no avail; their fortunes began to change when Grossman chanced to invite screenwriter Moore to her home for a party in 2010. “I was out of work, and I didn’t want people to feel badly for me, so I said I had this Alan Turing project going,” recalled Grossman, who grew up Jewish in Los Angeles and Raleigh, N.C., “Graham, whom I had known from my television days, was actually involved in another conversation, but he overheard me, interrupted me and said, ‘I love Alan Turing!’ ”

Moore then launched into a long monologue about how he had been obsessed with Turing since he was a teenage computer geek, and “he begged us to give him a shot at writing the script,” Grossman said.

The producers, however, were initially hesitant about Moore, whose most prominent credit at the time was writing for the ABC Family sitcom “10 Things I Hate About You.” “He wasn’t the obvious choice for this project,” Grossman explained. “But then we discovered he had written this novel called ‘The Sherlockian,’ which was a British period piece with a thriller component.  He pitched us his ideas for ‘The Imitation Game’ at Dominick’s on Beverly [Boulevard], and we were intrigued.”

Grossman and Ostrowsky had decided that they did not want their film to be a traditional cradle-to-grave biopic, so they were enthused when Moore delivered a screenplay that told Turing’s saga via three interweaving storylines: Turing’s chaste first love at his boarding school as a boy, his war years and his arrest on indecency charges in the early 1950s.

Moore’s script went on to make the 2011 Black List of the year’s best unproduced screenplays. Meanwhile, Grossman and Ostrowsky had managed to sell the project to Warner Bros. in October of that year, where it initially drew the interest of actor Leonardo DiCaprio. But in 2012, the studio decided not to move forward on the project, and the rights reverted back to Moore, Grossman and Ostrowsky, who were concerned about whether they would be able to secure the film’s funding elsewhere.

But then, just a month later, Grossman and Ostrowsky met with veteran producer Schwarzman of Black Bear Pictures, who happened to share their passion for telling Turing’s story and quickly signed on to finance and produce the film. After “The Imitation Game” screened at the 2014 Berlin Film Festival, The Weinstein Co. bought the movie’s domestic distribution rights for $7 million. 

Ostrowsky and Grossman were involved in every aspect of production, including scouting locations and helping to hire the Norwegian director Morten Tyldum, as well as actor Cumberbatch. “The Imitation Game” went on to complete a 46-day shoot in Britain with a modest budget of $14 million.

The movie was well-received when it opened this past November, even though some reviewers charged that the film did not depict any of Turing’s torrid love affairs, essentially rendering celibate a man who had been unabashedly sexual in life. In response, Ostrowsky noted that the movie presents Turing’s youthful relationship with a fellow cryptology fanatic named Christopher as the love of his life and the inspiration for his future work; and that Turing himself had described his years at Bletchley as a “sexual desert.”

“The Imitation Game” earned early Oscar buzz, and both Grossman and Ostrowsky were elated as the movie gleaned eight nominations early on the morning of Jan. 15.  “It was unexpected, thrilling and surreal,” Ostrowsky said. “I don’t think anyone was expecting us, as out-of-work TV assistants, to produce a film at all, not to mention one that got an Oscar nomination — or eight.”

The 87th Academy Awards will air on ABC Feb. 22.

Solving the enigma: Producing Alan Turing’s story, against all odds Read More »

Saudi King Abdullah dies, new ruler is Salman

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Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah has died, state television reported early on Friday and his brother Salman became king, it said in a statement attributed to Salman.

King Salman has called on the family's Allegiance Council to pay allegiance to Muqrin as his crown prince and heir. 

“His Highness Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud and all members of the family and the nation mourn the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz, who passed away at exactly 1 a.m. this morning,” said the statement. 

Abdullah, thought to have been born in 1923, had ruled Saudi Arabia as king since 2006, but had run the country as de facto regent for a decade before that after his predecessor King Fahd suffered a debilitating stroke. 

King Salman, thought to be 79, has been crown prince and defense minister since 2012. He was governor of Riyadh province for five decades before that. 

By immediately appointing Muqrin as his heir, subject to the approval of a family Allegiance Council, Salman has moved to avert widespread speculation about the immediate path of the royal succession in the world's top oil exporter.

Saudi King Abdullah dies, new ruler is Salman Read More »

Jewish Social Justice Activists: You are doing Mitzvot!

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Jewish Social Justice Activists: You are doing Mitzvot!

Supporting Israel, helping the Jewish poor, funding Jewish day school: there are an infinite number of Jewish concerns and needs today. How can one justify giving time to broader universalistic social justice issues?

Rabbi Abraham Isaac HaCohen Kook, the first Ashkenazic Chief Rabbi of pre-state Israel, wrote:

There are some righteous individuals who are very great and powerful, who cannot limit themselves to Keneset Yisrael (the Jewish community) alone, and they are always concerned for the good of the entire world…These tzaddikim (righteous people) cannot be nationalists in the external sense of the term because they cannot stand any hatred, or iniquity, or limitation of good and mercy, and they are good to all, as the attributes of the Holy Blessed One for He is good to all His compassion is over all of His works, (Orot HaKodesh 3:349).

There are some who will mostly give their holy energy to their family and others who will prioritize building the Jewish community and Israel with all of their might. These are wonderful and necessary endeavors. But Rav Kook, as a pluralist very attuned to the diversity and complexity of souls, teaches that there are others who cannot remain parochial but need to go out beyond the Jewish community and that these are righteous individuals.

Sadly, I have met too many Jewish social justice leaders who feel marginalized and think of themselves as “bad Jews.” The opposite is true! Those dedicating themselves to supporting the poor, sick, beaten, and alienated are model Jews! Abraham was “chosen” precisely because he was committed to “tzedakah u’mishpat” (pursuing justice).

Lurianic Kabbalah teaches that our role in this world is to find hidden sparks, liberate them from their evil shells (klipot), and elevate these holy sparks. Social justice activists who go out to support the most vulnerable are doing just this.

 

Rabbi Dr. Shmuly Yanklowitz is the Executive Director of the Valley Beit Midrash, the Founder & President of Uri L’Tzedek, the Founder and CEO of The Shamayim V’Aretz Institute and the author of seven books on Jewish ethics.  Newsweek named Rav Shmuly one of the top 50 rabbis in America.”

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Turning ‘never again’ into action: the legacy of Rabbi Harold M. Schulweis

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70 years ago this week, the Auschwitz-Birkenau death camp was liberated. From the ashes of the murdered arose the words “Never Again” – spoken as shorthand for our collective responsibility to act in the face of genocide. However, on the world stage, the words “Never Again” soon were replaced by a reality of “Yet Again”, as the horrors of the Holocaust were followed by genocide after genocide, atrocity after atrocity – from Cambodia to Rwanda, from Darfur to Congo. Since 1945, 46 genocides have claimed the lives of tens of millions.

Until 2004, I was among those who failed to act. Like many Jews who grew up in the 1950s, I internalized a deep sense of responsibility to safeguard the memory of the Shoah – so that the world would understand anti-Semitism’s dangers and prevent Jewish persecution in the future. Yet, when I heard about atrocities in faraway places like Cambodia and Rwanda, the notion that I could do something – that I should do something – never materialized in my head. My mindset shifted because of one man, Rabbi Harold Schulweis – with whom I co-founded Jewish World Watch. As he changed my perspective, Rabbi Schulweis dramatically changed my life – and saved thousands of others.

In the wake of Rabbi Schulweis’ passing last month, our emotions at Jewish World Watch have run the gamut: great sadness at the loss of a truly extraordinary human being, gratitude for our opportunity to know and love such a deeply influential Jewish leader – and more than anything, resolve to amplify his message.

Somehow I wish that we could transport the entire American Jewish community to the Congregation of Valley Beth Shalom on Rosh Hashanah in 2004, when Rabbi Schulweis asked, “Where were you when one million innocents were slaughtered in Rwanda?” Like many others sitting in the congregation, I felt a pit in my stomach as I thought of my response to his question. Then he challenged us, “What will you do today to stop the first genocide of the 21st century – the genocide in Darfur?”

In that room, at that moment, no one could look the other way as Rabbi Schulweis spoke about another people being targeted for destruction. From his moral call, we resolved that Jewish World Watch would protect those threatened by genocide and mass atrocities in all corners of the planet. We would educate our community, lobby policymakers, and provide moral support and direct assistance to survivors on the ground.

In 2004, at 80-years-old, Rabbi Schulweis founded an organization – a movement – that has become one of America’s largest and loudest anti-genocide groups. In the decade since that Rosh Hashanah, Jewish World Watch has been at the forefront of advocacy efforts that helped to bring about pressure to end the genocide in Darfur, drive the most lethal militias out of Congo, and create broad awareness among governments and global corporations about the threat of emerging genocides around the world.

We’ve raised many millions of dollars for projects to aid more than 500,000 survivors of genocide and mass atrocities – from educational programs that allow former sex slaves and rape victims in Congo to reclaim their futures; to Solar Cookers, a simple invention that has dramatically improved the safety of Darfuri refugees, allowing women and girls to avoid the frequent assaults that result from leaving their refugee camps to search for firewood.

Even as his health began to falter, Rabbi Schulweis remained deeply involved in our work, day after day. His intellect and oratory animated our marches, rallies, and seminars. His warmth and humility cemented our coalitions with people of all faiths and races. His excitement and encouragement inspired our board members to take frequent trips to Africa – and to report back to him about the people we met and the projects we were pursuing. His bold conscience insisted that we continue to dig deeper to find the godliness and goodliness in our souls.

As a human being, it is natural to become mired in your own struggle – in righting the wrongs that have been done to your people. With global anti-Semitism on the rise – as we see Jews continue to be murdered only because of their faith – the impulse to hunker down and focus only on our own is real and understandable.

Yet, Rabbi Schulweis spoke out against that kind of thinking. He drew the connections between genocides. He pushed our community to see that the Jewish quest for justice will never be complete if we stand idly by when others are in danger – and that the Jewish drive to protect ourselves will not succeed in a fractured and Balkanized world.

We live during a time in grave need of Rabbi Schulweis’ message. From Congo and Sudan, from Iraq to Syria, from Burma to the Central African Republic, we are called to take the words “Never Again” and turn them into action. In his memory, let us continue to breathe life into the best of our Jewish values to create a better world.

 

Janice Kamenir-Reznik, Esq., is the President and Co-Founder of Jewish World Watch – a multi-faith coalition representing hundreds of thousands in the fight against genocide and mass atrocities.

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Ohio man accused of plotting government attack pleads not guilty

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An Ohio man accused of plotting to attack the U.S. Capitol with guns and bombs pleaded not guilty to attempted murder and other charges in federal court on Thursday.

Christopher Cornell, 20, of Cincinnati, is being held without bail after prosecutors said he posed a threat to national security.

The charges against Cornell include attempted murder of government officials, possession of a firearm to commit a crime and solicitation to commit a violent crime.

Cornell, in gray prison garb, answered “yes” in a soft voice to U.S. Magistrate Stephanie Bowman's questions about whether he understood the charges.

Bowman on Thursday denied Cornell's request, made through his attorney, that he be addressed by his Muslim name, Raheel Mahrus Ubaydah.

Cornell was arrested on Jan. 14, after he researched the construction of pipe bombs, purchased a semi-automatic rifle and 600 rounds of ammunition and made plans to travel to Washington to carry out the plot, according to testimony from an FBI informant.

Cornell began plotting the attack in August, according to the indictment which was filed on Wednesday.

The arrest came after Cornell, using the name Raheel Mahrus Ubaydah, posted on Twitter that he supported the Islamic State, a militant group which has seized parts of Syria and Iraq.

According to court documents, Cornell met with an FBI informant to discuss his plans, and indicated to the informant that he considered the members of Congress as enemies and that he intended to conduct an attack on the U.S. Capitol in Washington.

No future court date has been set.

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Pressure from powerful Houthis proves too much for Yemen’s Hadi, president resigns

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Yemen's President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi, held virtual prisoner at his home by political adversaries this week, resigned on Thursday, his two-year-old attempt to steer the fragile country to stability exhausted by opposition from Houthi rebels.

His term as head of state of the poor Arabian peninsula state may also have fallen foul of less visible opposition from his predecessor, veteran former strongman Ali Abdullah Saleh.

Although parliament promptly rejected his offer to step down, Hadi said he had reached “a dead end” after repeated confrontations with the Houthi movement, which seized the city in September, becoming the country's de facto top power.

The former army general's departure deals a blow to a crumbling Yemeni state, which at times has acted as a bulwark against total warfare among a kaleidoscope of feuding politicians and sectarian militants – all heavily armed.

The Houthis have not been Hadi's only headache.

Diplomats say the movement's entry into Sanaa was made possible by a tactical alliance with his predecessor, Saleh, who retains wide influence, especially in the army, despite having stepped down in 2012 after months of Arab Spring protests.

Saleh's critics widely accuse him of making common cause with the rebels to settle old scores and undermine Hadi, despite himself having fought several wars against the rebels in the mountainous North.

The regular army appeared to make little attempt to assist Hadi's presidential guards this week when they fought battles with Houthi forces in a flare-up of tension, an indication, some Yemenis believe, of Saleh's continued favor to the Shi'ites.

The only name on the ballot for February 2012 elections, Hadi was the meant to guide predominantly Sunni Yemen through a transition to democracy shepherded by Western and regional powers after Arab Spring protests ousted his autocrat predecessor the year before.

Inheriting a nation in chaos, Hadi faced long odds: the economy was collapsing, al-Qaeda repeatedly struck at the army and state while secessionism festered in the North and South.

Despite years of service as Saleh's deputy, Hadi has suggested his former boss made no attempt to help him settle into the top job. In a speech earlier this month, state media reported Hadi as saying that when he took office “all I received was the republican flag.”

A former army general from Yemen's once independent and socialist South, Hadi moved to the North amid political turmoil at home in 1986, rising through the ranks to become Saleh's vice-president for two decades.

Soft-spoken and unassuming, 69-year old Hadi was hardly considered a rival by the former strongman, but he appears not to have won a firm power base during his decades in uniform and a series of political and military setbacks battered his administration.

“CONSPIRACY”

Hailing from a sect of Shi'ite Islam, the Houthi rebel movement steadily pushed southward toward Sanaa last year, trading its traditional demand for regional autonomy for a chance at becoming national power brokers.

When the capital finally fell with weak resistance from the army on September 21, Hadi sensed Saleh had helped lay him low.

“I realize you're surprised at the handing over of state and military institutions this way – this conspiracy defies the imagination,” he told a group of top political and security chiefs at his headquarters.

“There's a planned conspiracy, and alliances among the former stakeholders itching for revenge.”

After the United Nations Security Council slapped Saleh with sanctions for his alleged role in the upheaval, the ex-leader's party cut Hadi from the former ruling party and increased his isolation.

His policy appeared to drift as the Houthis fanned out across the country's South and West, engaging in pitched battles with Sunni tribes and Yemen's al-Qaeda affiliate – which claimed the deadly attack on a magazine in Paris this month and which is widely considered the deadliest offshoot of the militant group.

“The man's time in office have been marked by his inability to take timely decisions, letting problems pile up and causing his failure to interact with developments,” author and political analyst Abdul-Bari Taher told Reuters.

Al-Qaeda claimed credit for a series of spectacularly gory attacks in the capital against Houthi militiamen and security forces, while the enfeebled president wrangled with the capital's Houthi masters over a new draft constitution.

The political arm-wrestle deteriorated into an open fight when Houthi gunmen abducted Hadi's chief of staff Ahmed Awad bin Mubarak on Saturday, and heavy shelling and gunfire between army factions and the fighters began to convulse Sanaa on Monday.

Houthi fighters entered the presidential palace and positioned themselves outside his private home, where he actually lives, replacing his regular guards.

Hadi issued a statement on Wednesday signaling he was willing to accede to Houthi demands for more power, but also saying the guards outside his house would be removed. By Thursday afternoon, they remained in place, another humiliation.

Hours later he issued his resignation letter to the speaker of parliament.

“We apologize to you personally and to the honorable chamber and to the Yemeni people after we reached a dead end,” a government spokesman quoted Hadi's resignation letter as saying.

Pressure from powerful Houthis proves too much for Yemen’s Hadi, president resigns Read More »

Moving and shaking: Celebrating MLK Jr., Avraham Fried concert at the Saban Theatre and more

Leave a Comment / California, Movers & Shakers, Moving & Shaking /

The Temple Israel of Hollywood (TIOH) sanctuary was overflowing, every one of the 1,000 seats downstairs and in the balcony filled on Jan. 18 with congregants, friends and guests from Los Angeles churches and other community groups. They came to celebrate the life and legacy of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. in a multicultural — mostly musical — program marking the 50 years that have passed since the civil rights leader spoke from the TIOH bimah at Friday night services on Feb. 26, 1965.

In his speech, excerpts of which were played during Sunday evening’s program, King spoke of racism, militarism and poverty as the defining problems of the time. 

In the evening’s keynote address, PBS talk-show host and author Tavis Smiley (“Death of a King: The Real Story of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s Final Year”) raised those same problems as being just as relevant today. “Sound familiar?” he said, as he quoted excerpts from King’s 1965 sermon.

Keynote speaker Tavis Smiley apeared at Temple Israel of Hollywood. Photo by Ryan Torok

With a warning that he might offend some in attendance, Smiley also speculated on how King might have reacted to the cartoons in the French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo, which sparked a terrorist attack, as well as to the Sony Pictures film “The Interview,” which depicts the assassination of North Korean President Kim Jong-un. While clearly expressing his own disapproval of the terrorists in France and without condoning the leadership of the North Korean president, Smiley advocated for “civility” instead of criticizing another’s religion in cartoons and comic satires targeting the death of another country’s leader. 

“There can be no social mobility without social civility, and, frankly, as much as I treasure my free-speech rights, we can do better,” Smiley challenged the audience.

Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti also spoke, vowing to tackle some of the serious challenges facing society that King focused on decades ago.

“Let us raise the minimum wage, as Dr. King called upon us to do. … Let us end homelessness on the streets of Los Angeles … for our veterans and, soon after, for all,” Garcetti said.

The evening also featured video reflections on their callings by area Muslim and Christian faith leaders, followed by brief appearances by each of them — including Greg Bellamy of One Church International, the Rev. Sam Koh of Hillside Church, the Rev. Ian Davies of St. Thomas the Apostle Hollywood and Imam Asim Buyuksoy of the Islamic Center of Southern California — as well as song and dance performances from church and community groups. Performers included the Life Choir (appearing with its founder H.B. Barnum) and the Leimert Park Community Program’s Harmony Project Youth Choir led by its music director, Kenneth Anderson. The latter performed Sam Cooke’s “A Change Is Gonna Come,” which garnered the first standing ovation of several throughout the night. The 1964 song was an anthem for the civil-rights movement.

As a finale, a gospel-tinged performance, complete with hand clapping, of “Bridge Over Troubled Water” had approximately 75 singers onstage at once, including members of the TIOH choir, the Life Choir and the Harmony Project. The song closed out the concert portion of the evening, which began at 7:15 p.m. and ended around 9 p.m.

TIOH Chazzan Danny Maseng served as the night’s musical director, performing Elton John’s “Border Song” with a soulful singer identified only as MAJOR, of One Church Inernational. Demonstrating the range of musical styles, Shelly Fox, a member of the Los Angeles Master Chorale and a frequent TIOH soloist, performed Mozart’s “Great Mass in C Minor” in a duet with Andrea Fuentes. Two groups of colorfully costumed young Korean-American dancers, one of near-toddlers, from the Jung Im Lee Korean Dance Academy, also performed, including a traditional fan dance.

The mastermind and producer of the event was composer and TIOH board of trustees vice president Michael Skloff (best known for composing the theme song from TV’s “Friends”). To honor Skloff’s efforts, TIOH Rabbi John Rosove presented the impresario with a framed and autographed photograph of King shaking hands with the late Rabbi Max Nussbaum, who was the congregation’s spiritual leader when King visited the synagogue a half century ago. Marta Kauffman, Skloff’s wife, an accomplished TV showrunner (“Friends”), staged the fast-paced and multifaceted event. Monica and Phil Rosenthal sponsored the evening.

Attendees included Smiley’s mother, Joyce Smiley; West Hollywood Mayor John D’Amico; and David Levinson of Big Sunday, a co-sponsor of the event and which held a clothing drive the next day at its Melrose Boulevard headquarters in honor of the MLK holiday.

Alicia Bleier, 54, a TIOH member, said she had enjoyed the evening. Speaking to the Journal during a dessert reception that followed the concert, she described King as “the most inspirational leader in the past 50 years. I pray and hope for a new Black leader who is as insightful and pragmatic as he was. … I can only hope we have another Martin Luther King.”

Martin Luther King Jr. Day-inspired Shabbat services took place across Los Angeles last weekend. 

On Jan. 16, Rabbi David Wolpe of Sinai Temple and singer/songwriter/community leader Craig Taubman (Pico Union Project) led an interfaith service at Sinai in Westwood. Guests included the Revs. Chip Murray, Mark Whitlock and Najuma Pollard, all of  USC’s Cecil Murray Center for Community Engagement. The evening included a performance by H.B. Barnum’s Life Choir.

Nearby at the Saban Theatre in Beverly Hills that same evening, Temple of the Arts’ Rabbi David Baron officiated a service and performance that honored the Rev. Ronald Myers, a civil-rights activist and founder of the modern movement promoting the holiday of Juneteenth. The evening drew approximately 500 attendees. 

Speakers and performers included Consul General of France in Los Angeles Axel Cruau, and jazz harpist and pianist Corky Hale. Actor Gabriel Macht (“Suits”) appeared, and television editor Ari Macht served as keynote speaker. Stephen Macht, an actor/director and the father of Gabriel and Ari, produced the event.

Events took place at Temple Aliyah and Beth Shir Shalom, as well. 

At Temple Aliyah, a Conservative synagogue in Woodland Hills, congregants came together on Friday with St. Bernardine of Siena Catholic Church, the Mohammedi Center and the Islamic Society of West Valley in “prayer, music and mutual respect” in celebration of King, a press release said.

Titled “Voices of Freedom: The Legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King,” the event featured Life Choir; gospel artist DeBorah Sharpe-Taylor, singer John Bilezikjian, Arabic singer and actor Ben Youcef, the Voices of Peace Choir, the  Kolot Tikvah (Voices of Hope) choir and others. 

Meanwhile, Beth Shir Shalom, which is based in Santa Monica and describes itself as a “progressive, Reform synagogue,” paired with the Watts congregation Macedonia Baptist Church for the weekend. Approximately 175 individuals turned out for Friday night services, which celebrated King, at Beth Shir Shalom. On Sunday, Rabbi Neil Comess-Daniels of Beth Shir Shalom served as a guest preacher at Macedonia. 

“It’s an amazing, joyous spiritual experience for a rabbi to address this combined congregation of my people along with people from Macedonia,” he said in a phone interview about the Sunday event, which also featured Macedonia’s the Rev. Everett Bell. “It’s just a privilege and an honor, and we are so committed to doing more with each other than a once-a-year celebration.” 

Nearly 1,800 people packed the Saban Theatre in Beverly Hills on Jan. 11 to see Avraham Fried in concert during a musical extravaganza presented by the Modern Orthodox Beth Jacob Congregation and the synagogue’s  Cantor Arik Wollheim. Israel’s Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi David Lau also took to the stage and delivered an impassioned address, according to a press release.

Avraham Fried (right) sings during a concert at the Saban Theatre in Beverly Hills. Photo by Joe Shalmoni © 2015. All rights reserved

Born and raised in Crown Heights, Brooklyn, Fried is a Jewish singer, songwriter and musician whose musical style integrates variations of rock, pop and jazz, and features Jewish lyrics and themes. His hits include works sung in English, Hebrew and Yiddish. He has performed worldwide to large audiences, including a 2007 show in Jerusalem with Charedi superstar Yaakov Shwekey commemorating the 40th anniversary of the reunification of the city.

The event attracted large groups from Beth Jacob, Chabad yeshiva schools, Harkham Hillel Hebrew Academy, Maimonides Academy, Beverly Hills High School, and YULA boys and girls high schools, as well as casual Jewish music fans, the press release stated.

Sunday night’s concert was a festive occasion, as Fried and Wollheim involved the audience from the outset, imploring them to participate by singing along, dancing and forming conga lines in the aisles. Wollheim asked why a city like Los Angeles, with such a vibrant Jewish community, isn’t host to more events like this.

A conga line formed during the Fried concert at the Saban Theatre in Beverly Hills. Photo by Joe Shalmoni (C) 2015. All rights reserved

“What is it about Jewish-American culture that prevents this from happening, and why does Jewish music tend to be limited to weddings in this city?” the Israeli-born cantor asked, according to the press release. “Why are we not a major consumer of Jewish music?” 

Wollheim indicated that he hopes to change this trend in Los Angeles and is already mapping out ideas for a large-scale Jewish music event in 2016.

— Oren Peleg, Contributing Writer

Pressman Academy of Temple Beth Am in Los Angeles has appointed Erica Rothblum as its new head of school.

From left: Rabbi Adam Kligfeld, Sheryl Goldman (executive director of Temple Beth Am), Erica Rothblum, Rabbi Cantor Hillary Chorny, Rabbi Yechiel Hoffman (director of Youth, Learning & Engagement) and Rabbi Ari Lucas. Photo by Lee Salem

“I am excited to help Pressman continue to push forward and continue to grow its excellent programs and reputation in the community while maintaining its warm, inclusive community,” Rothblum, who started July 1, told the Journal.  

Pressman Academy houses an early education center, the temple’s religious school and a Solomon Schechter Day School. Prior to Rothblum’s arrival, Rabbi Mitchel Malkus was head of school for 12 years. He left in 2013 to work at the Charles E. Smith Jewish Day School in Rockville, Md.; Temple Beth Am Rabbi Emeritus Joel Rembaum served as the interim head of school.

Rothblum grew up in suburban Boston, received an Ed.D. in educational leadership from UCLA and began her teaching career in Compton as part of the Teach for America program. Before taking the position at Pressman, she was head of school at Beth Hillel Day School in Valley Village.  

Rothblum said she was drawn to Pressman because of its national reputation for strong academics, particularly Judaic studies, and its local reputation for a strong community and “menschlikayt” behavior. She noted that there are many challenges the academy and Jewish day schools in general face. 

“We face what many Day Schools are facing. The rising costs of tuition, along with the expensive nature of being a Jew in Los Angeles, create a strain for our families. We need to continue finding ways to offer an excellent program to every Jewish child who wants a Jewish education,” Rothblum said.

— Rebecca Weiner, Contributing Writer

The Levantine Cultural Center’s 13th anniversary gala on Dec. 13 raised $50,000 for the nonprofit, which hopes to open a second, $1 million facility in either North Hollywood or Westwood by June 2015. 

Executive director Jordan Elgrably said the organization has come a long way since its inception but that the work it does is as necessary as ever. Located on West Pico Boulevard, the center presents arts and education programs on the Middle East and North Africa, according to its mission statement.

Levantine Cultural Center executive director Jordan Elgrably appears at the organization's 13th anniversary gala. Photo by Sheana Ochoa

“The need for this, I guess for better or worse, hasn’t diminished, it has only increased,” Elgrably said in a phone interview. “If you look at the events of this past summer — with the Gaza conflicts, the events in Ferguson [Mo.] — and the events in Paris last week, intolerance and racism and misunderstanding about each other is manifest, and our work — it sounds cliche to say it —  has only just begun. All I have done is scratch the surface of this.”

The gala, which took place at the Carpenter Performing Arts Center in Long Beach, drew approximately 500 attendees and featured a “Sultans of Satire: Middle East Comic Relief” comedy show, with performers Aron Kader, Sammy Obeid, MT Abou-Daoud, Melissa Shoshani, Sherwin Arae and Tehran.

Guests included Bana Hilal and Josh Elbaum, members of the center’s national advisory board; Ani Zonneveld, president and co-founder of Muslims for Progressive Values; Bassam Marjiya, an immigration attorney born and raised in Nazareth who has previously appeared at the center; and Nikoo Berenji, who has supported past Levantine events.

Moving and Shaking highlights events, honors and simchas. Got a tip? Email ryant@jewishjournal.com.

Moving and shaking: Celebrating MLK Jr., Avraham Fried concert at the Saban Theatre and more Read More »