National Days of Jewish Service Volunteers, Magen David Adom Luncheon, USHMM Lecture

As part of National Days of Jewish Service (NDJS) and NuRoots’ 10th annual Collective Escape, Repair the World Los Angeles invited volunteers to prepare and pack meals alongside partners at Project Angel Food, which prepares and delivers free meals to those facing life-threatening illness. Taking place just ahead of Passover, volunteers honored the holiday themes of reflection, resilience and liberation. 

“These values extend to the concept of food justice and remind us of our responsibility to address hunger and inequality,” an organizer of the event said, “advocating for a more just and compassionate society where every person has access to nutritional food and can partake in the blessings of sustenance and dignity.”

NuRoots is the young adults’ initiative of Jewish Federation Los Angeles.

Two paramedics from Israel — one Muslim, one Jewish — recently offered a story that brought Los Angeles’ religious leaders to their feet.

 Organized by American Friends of Magen David Adom (AFMDA), in partnership with the Flesh Family Sinai Temple Israel Center, the Board of Rabbis of Southern California and Jewish Federation Los Angeles, the May 7 luncheon at Sinai Temple drew a gathering of clergy from across Los Angeles. 

 Orthodox, Conservative and Reform leaders sat alongside Catholic priests, Muslim leaders, Sikh granthis, and representatives of the Latter-day Saints and Seventh Day Adventist communities, all united by the message that saving lives transcends belief systems.

 Standing at the center of this gathering were Aryeh Myers and Hatem Nassar, paramedics with Israel’s Magen David Adom. They weren’t there to talk about war or politics. They came to share what it meant to serve during Israel’s darkest days, when Hamas launched the Oct. 7 attack.

 “In the field, there are no divisions,” Nassar, an Arab-Israeli paramedic, said. “We wear the same uniform. We serve for the same reason, because every life matters.”

 Myers, a senior medic who helped evacuate wounded civilians under rocket fire, reflected on what carried them through. “We didn’t stop to ask who someone prayed to,” he said. “We stopped the bleeding. We carried the wounded. We saved whoever we could.”

 Their testimony stirred something deeper in the room, a shared conviction that religion doesn’t have to divide us, and that faith, at its best, is a force for healing.

 “In a post Oct. 7 world, where religion has led to division, Magen David Adom and its diverse paramedics, Hatem Nassar and Aryeh Myers, shared the true story of unity without uniformity, the power of working together to save lives with mutual respect, cooperation, and ultimately love,” Sinai Temple Rabbi Erez Sherman, who moderated the event, said. “It was the story of Magen David Adom from thousands of miles away that enabled the group of interfaith leaders around Los Angeles to come together once again.”

Pastor Terrance Taylor of Breath of Life Worship Center, a Seventh-day Adventist congregation, said, “The mission and resolute courage of Magen David Adom shared through the stories of our presenters was profoundly inspirational. I was reminded that in the face of all that threatens the sanctity of human life, compassion is still the meeting point for faith and the common good.”

Magen David Adom is Israel’s national emergency medical service, consisting of a network of 37,500 paramedics, EMTs, first responders, and volunteers. Volunteers are Jews, Muslims, Christians, Druze and Bedouins.

On May 13, United States Holocaust Memorial Museum (USHMM) held its 14th annual Linda and Tony Rubin Lecture program. The event, held at Wilshire Boulevard Temple’s Resnick Family Campus, drew nearly 75 guests.

The topic of discussion was “Rescuing the Hidden Michalovce Collection.” In 1942, members of the Schwarz family packed their belongings, hid them in the attic for safekeeping, and left their home. Like many Jews who received deportation orders, they certainly hoped to return one day. But they never did. Those possessions — personal letters, photographs, Hebrew prayer books, clothing — stayed hidden for nearly 80 years. But during renovations in September 2019, a new homeowner stumbled upon the time capsule still hidden in the attic in Michalovce, Eastern Slovakia.

 At Wilshire Boulevard Temple, the program’s speakers unraveled the mystery of this remarkable collection now in the museum’s care and shared what they’ve learned so far about the family who left it behind. 

Those in attendance included Seth Gottlieb, collections curator at USHMM; Beth Gottschling Huber, the museum’s assistant curator; and Carol Stulberg, western regional senior advisor for leadership giving at the museum.

Linda and Tony Rubin, dedicated supporters of USHMM since 1994, have consistently brought thought-provoking discussions on Holocaust history and education with their annual Rubin Lecture Series.