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Jewish Journal

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December 27, 2018

New Rose Queen Makes History As Member of Jewish, LGBTQ Tribes

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The Tournament of Roses Parade is 130 years old, but the venerable New Year’s Day tradition is changing with the times. This year’s Rose Queen is Louise Deser Siskel of San Marino, a senior at Sequoyah High School. She is the first Jew, glasses-wearer and member of the LGBTQ community to hold the prestigious title.

Siskel told the Pasadena Star News that she put her name in for consideration on a whim, but soon realized the value of the Tournament of Roses as a platform.

“Each year, the [Tournament] selects seven young women [for the Royal Court] and gives them a real voice; for that I feel very thankful,” she said. “What was important to me throughout the interview process was that I was completely transparent about who I was, about the things that I value, and about the things that I advocate for. I feel lucky that I was selected by the committee for those reasons. That, to me, gives me great faith in the organization and a great amount of respect for the committee. I’m inspired constantly by people’s dedication and hope, and joy for life.”

Siskel, who is involved in the student debate team, judicial committee, and YMCA Youth & Government, has done breast cancer research at Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science and a research project with NASA.

She had a message for others heading into the New Year.

“I think it can be easy to get discouraged when people don’t share the same passion for your values or for the things that you care about,” she said. “But I hope that people continue to fight for the things that are important to them, regardless of the support they see from others.”

Live coverage of the Tournament of Roses Parade begins at 8 a.m. on Jan 1 on KABC, KNBC, and KTLA

New Rose Queen Makes History As Member of Jewish, LGBTQ Tribes Read More »

Activist Barbara Edelston Yaroslavsky Dies, 71

Leave a Comment / Obituaries /

Barbara Edelston Yaroslavsky, the wife of former L.A. County Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky, died on Dec. 26. She was 71.

“We are shocked and devastated by this turn of events,” her family said in a statement released the day of her death. “We have lost an exceptional mother, a loving grandmother, and a beloved wife and partner in life. There are no words to describe what we are feeling at this moment, but our loss is profound and the void in our lives is immeasurable.” 

Yaroslavsky died in the midst of a difficult extended recovery following a severe West Nile virus infection. She was ill for the past six weeks but appeared to be on the slow road to recovery. On Wednesday morning, however, she collapsed during a physical therapy session and was taken by ambulance to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, where she was pronounced dead, despite efforts to revive her, after 10 a.m., her family said.

She is survived by Zev, her husband of 47 years; their son David and daughter Mina; four grandchildren; a brother and sister and additional family members.

Born in Los Angeles on Aug. 9, 1947, Yaroslavsky was a lifelong volunteer and activist in the Jewish community and beyond. She supported various nonprofit and social service agencies involved in education and healthcare.

At the time of her death, she sat on the board of the Friends of the Saban Community Clinic and was the president of the Los Angeles Commission on Communities and Family Services, which lifts poverty-stricken families into self-sufficiency.

She was active on several boards at the Jewish Federation of Greater Los Angeles, from what was formerly known as the Bureau of Jewish Education, to the Jewish Community Relations Council, which serves as the local Jewish community’s voice on government policy and advocates for Israel and world Jewry. She also participated in the Jewish Federation’s Koreh L.A. literacy program.

Additionally, she led the special projects group for the Zimmer Children’s Museum, which provides an educational play-space for children, and helped secure funding for the museum’s youTHink project, which is in many public schools statewide.

She married her husband, Zev, in 1971, four years before he was elected to the Los Angeles City Council.  They met while Zev was working as a shomer—hall monitor—at Los Angeles Hebrew High School and Barbara was working at the front desk of American Jewish University, which, formerly known as the University of Judaism, housed L.A. Hebrew High School at that time.

Zev served in the L.A. City Council from 1975-1994. Barbara, for her part, ran for the fifth district council seat that Zev vacated in 1994 but was defeated by current City Attorney Mike Feuer. From 1994-2014, Zev served in the L.A. County Board of Supervisors.

Yaroslavsky’s sudden death prompted an outpouring of grief and support from various city leaders, including L.A. Mayor Eric Garcetti.

“Los Angeles lost a dedicated activist and an unwavering champion for children and families today and [my wife] Amy and I lost a cherished mentor and a dear friend,” Garcetti said on Wednesday. “Barbara Yaroslavsky never stopped fighting for what she believed in. She was a model of what it meant to practice Jewish values in public life. An Angeleno born and raised, she worked every day to make our city a more fair, just, and compassionate place to work and live.

“I will miss her wisdom and leadership, and I hope it is a comfort to Zev and their children and grandchildren that so many mourn Barbara’s passing at this time,” Garcetti said. “May her memory be a blessing for all of us.”

As of press time, arrangements for a memorial service were pending.

Activist Barbara Edelston Yaroslavsky Dies, 71 Read More »

Women Should Run the World - A poem for Parsha Shemot (Aliyah 1) by Rick Lupert

Women Should Run the World – A poem for Parsha Shemot (Aliyah 1) by Rick Lupert

Leave a Comment / Blogs /

Now all those descended from Jacob were seventy souls,
and Joseph, [who] was in Egypt.

Seventy is a good starting point.
Considering it all started with one guy
in a garden and then a second person
made from a rib.

Considering how many came from
those two, you can see how coming
with seventy is a real head-start, how
the new neighborhood will fill up quickly.

You can see how Pharaoh or
whatever his name was, would
start to wonder about demographics
and solutions.

So the Egyptians enslaved the children of Israel
with back breaking labor.

Solution number one isn’t looking great.
You’d think the previous regime would have
put up a statue of Joseph or carved his name
in hieroglyphics.

Instead we’re treated like unwanted immigrants.
And we’re taking all the jobs the Egyptians
don’t want to do. Building treasure cities
and other backbreaking labor.

It couldn’t get any worse.

[and Pharaoh said] if it is a son,
you shall put him to death

It just got a lot worse.

But thanks to two women of valor –
Shifrah and Puah, instructions were not followed
and little Hebrew boys got to live.

We should put women of valor
in all the important positions. I hear in Nevada
the state legislature is now mostly women.

I expect a kinder and gentler Nevada
will come from this. Women make decisions
from the heart. They pull babies from

baskets from rivers. Their vocabulary
doesn’t include the words final or solution.
At least not together.

Here’s to women of valor, to midwives,
to all the Shifrahs and Puahs who do
nothing less than keep us alive.

God Wrestler: a poem for every Torah Portion by Rick LupertLos Angeles poet Rick Lupert created the Poetry Super Highway (an online publication and resource for poets), and hosted the Cobalt Cafe weekly poetry reading for almost 21 years. He’s authored 21 collections of poetry, including “God Wrestler: A Poem for Every Torah Portion“, “I’m a Jew, Are You” (Jewish themed poems) and “Feeding Holy Cats” (Poetry written while a staff member on the first Birthright Israel trip), and most recently “Donut Famine” (Rothco Press, December 2016) and edited the anthologies “Ekphrastia Gone Wild”, “A Poet’s Haggadah”, and “The Night Goes on All Night.” He writes the daily web comic “Cat and Banana” with fellow Los Angeles poet Brendan Constantine. He’s widely published and reads his poetry wherever they let him.

Women Should Run the World – A poem for Parsha Shemot (Aliyah 1) by Rick Lupert Read More »

Water drop

She is Pure by Rabbi Me’irah Iliinsky

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My first Taharah, ritual purification, was a trial of courage for me. I stepped in with little preparation, and it was new to me.

We met as the sun was going down, to prepare the metah (Hebrew for a deceased female) for burial the next morning. The difference between someone very ill, yet alive, and the shell that once had housed life is startling.

I didn’t know why, exactly, we were doing what we were, but followed the instructions of the team leader. We shared an intimacy with the metah, as we undressed and washed her, poured many quarts of water over her (bringing the mikveh or ritual bath to the metah), dried and dressed her in simple white garments, held her in our arms as we placed her in her aron, casket.

I felt as though I was getting to know her, and in caring for her in this way, I became attached to her. At the same time, I was frightened, and in a mild state of shock—continuing to function with the guidance of the team leader until our job was complete. And when we were done, she looked so peaceful, clothed in white, bonnet on her head, snug in her aron.

Afterwards, I walked out into the fresh air of the night, looked at the stars, noticed that my arms could lift all by themselves…. They didn’t need someone else to lift them! I cried for the preciousness of being alive in this dear world!

I recognized that I did not know or understand what we had done, though it felt important. During the ritual, together with the actions we performed, we paused at times to recite a liturgy unfamiliar to me. In its newness, and in my shock, I couldn’t absorb it. I felt I needed to know more about it, and now, through classes with the Gamliel Institute I have been taught why we do what we do, and learned this liturgy and find it exquisite.

What I learned is that the prayers for the Taharah ritual are a conversation between God, the team, and the deceased. The team asks God to help us in the difficult task ahead, to forgive any mistakes, omissions, or errors. We also entreat God to forgive the metah for the transgressions in her life.

We address the metah as a lover might when we wash her, reading to her from Song of Songs. We dress her as the high priest Joshua (Zechariah 3:4) was dressed as he prepared to go into the Holy of Holies (Isaiah 61:10, Zechariah 3:5), in the Temple in Jerusalem to meet God. Just so, we are preparing this soul before us to meet God. Many words of Torah are said to the deceased to comfort her (Isaiah 61:11, 58:11). We call upon sixty angels to surround both the casket and the soul on their journeys: one to the grave, the other to The World to Come.

The words of the liturgy raise a scaffolding to carry us over the liminal abyss, bringing us safely to the other side. They give us courage. They structure deep meaning into our actions and connect us with the timeless.

Rabbi Me’irah Illinsky graduated from the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College in 2007. Both a rabbi and an artist, Iliinsky is the illustrator of National Jewish Book Award Winner, The Torah: A Women’s Commentary, published by the URJ Press and the Women of Reform Judaism. She has served as a board member for Kavod V’Nichum, and been a student and instructor for the Gamliel Institute.

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Gamliel Courses

The next course in the cycle of core courses offered by the Gamliel Institute will be Course 2 – Chevrah Kadisha: Taharah & Shmirah. It will be offered live online during the Winter from January 8th to March 26th on Tuesday evenings, for 90 minutes each week for 12 weeks. The classes will begin at 5 pm PST/8 pm EST. Primary instructor will be Rick Light, with guest instructors.

Registration is now open – click here.

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Gamliel Café

Gamliel Students are invited to a free informal online session, held monthly. On the third (3rd) THURSDAY of each month, different person(s) will offer a short teaching or share some thoughts on a topic of interest to them, and those who are online will have a chance to respond, share their own stories and information, and build our Gamliel Institute community connections. This initiative is being headed up by Rena Boroditsky and Rick Light. You should receive email reminders monthly. The next scheduled session of the Gamliel Café is December 20th. More details will be sent out soon.

If you miss a Gamliel Café and wish access to the recording (if one is made) please send a request to receive it after the date of the session.

If you are interested in teaching a session, you can contact us at rboroditsky@jewisgh-funerals.org, rlight@jewish-funerals.org, or info@jewish-funerals.org.

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Gamliel Continuing Education Courses

Gamliel Continuing Education  Courses, advanced sessions focusing in on different topics. These will usually be in groups of three ninety minute sessions (three consecutive Wednesdays) offered roughly twice yearly, with different topics addressed in each series. The goal is to look at these topics in more depth than possible during the core courses. The first course took place in Fall 2017, focusing on Psalms, and the second was on The World to Come and the Zohar.

The next live course will be November 28th, December 5th, and December 12th. We will continue to look at death as seen in the Zohar, with a focus on the Idra Rabbah mateials, taught by Beth Huppin. This is a stand-alone course – you do not need to have taken the prior course to register for this one.

Registration is required, and there will be a tuition charge of $72 for each three session series. Contact us for information, by email info@jewish-funerals.org, or call 410-733-3700, or simply register online at www.jewish-funerals.org/gamreg/.

You can also register for prior courses and access them via recording.

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Taste of Gamliel Series

The 2018 Taste of Gamliel series has concluded, but it is not too late if you want to access the recordings. You can Register for the 2018 series, Your’re Gonna Miss Me When I’m Gone: Jewish Practices of Remembrance, or any of the series from prior years, and view them via recordings.  There are usually five sessions in a series, and each session is approximately 90 minutes.

The 2019 series is being planned now. Registration for Taste of Gamliel is mandatory to access the sessions. The Registration fee of $36 for each series helps us defray the out of pocket costs.
Those registered will be sent the information on how to connect to the sessions. To register, click here: register.

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DONATIONS

Donations are always needed and most welcome to support the work of Kavod v’Nichum and the Gamliel Institute, helping us to bring you the annual conference, offer community trainings, provide scholarships to students, refurbish and update course materials, expand our teaching, support programs such as Taste of Gamliel, the Gamliel Café, and the Gamliel Continuing Education courses, provide and add to online resources, encourage and support communities in establishing, training, and improving their Chevrah Kadisha, and assist with many other programs and activities. There is a matching donation program in progress so your dollars go further. See the website for details.

You can donate online at http://jewish-funerals.org/gamliel-institute-financial-support or by snail mail to either:

Kavod v’Nichum, or to The Gamliel Institute,

c/o David Zinner, Executive Director, Kavod v’Nichum,

8112 Sea Water Path,

Columbia, MD  21045.

Kavod v’Nichum and the Gamliel Institute] are recognized and registered 501(c)(3) organization, and donations may be tax-deductible to the full extent provided by law. Call 410-733-3700 if you have any questions or want to know more about supporting Kavod v’Nichum or the Gamliel Institute.

You can also become a member (Individual or Group) of Kavod v’Nichum to help support our work. Click here (http://www.jewish-funerals.org/money/).

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SUBMISSIONS WELCOME

Please note: this blog depends on you for content. Without you it cannot publish new material. If you have an idea for an entry you would like to submit to this blog, please be in touch. Email J.blair@jewish-funerals.org. We are always interested in original unpublished materials that would be of interest to our readers, relating to the broad topics surrounding the continuum of Jewish preparation, planning, rituals, rites, customs, practices, activities, and celebrations approaching the end of life, at the time of death, during the funeral, in the grief and mourning process, and in comforting those dying and those mourning, as well as the actions and work of those who address those needs, including those serving in Bikkur Cholim, Caring Committees, the Chevrah Kadisha, as Shomrim, funeral providers, in funeral homes and mortuaries, and operators and maintainers of cemeteries.

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She is Pure by Rabbi Me’irah Iliinsky Read More »