When Rabbi Neal Borovitz retired from Temple Avodat Shalom of River Edge, N.J., in August, his congregation donated a Torah in his honor to a Reform Jewish summer camp. At the dedication service, Borovitz sat in the audience as his successor offered a sermon about the Torah’s history.
Former Culver City Mayor Christopher Armenta, who is running for a California state Assembly seat, sent a mailer to local residents last week accusing his opponent’s father, Los Angeles County Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas, of using his influence to elect Sebastian Ridley-Thomas to the state Assembly by scheduling the upcoming special election on Dec. 3, during Chanukah.
Not long ago, I showed up for a Friday night Shabbat service at Beit T’Shuvah in Culver City. Over the years, I have counseled a number of congregants whose adult children were saved by this addiction recovery program, and I wanted to experience Beit T’Shuvah’s spiritual Shabbat service, which I had heard so much about.
Sporting a blond wig and slinky dress, Beit T’Shuvah’s whippet-thin Cantor Rachel Goldman Neubauer sat on Harriet Rossetto’s knee and parodied Marilyn Monroe’s famous, breathy “Happy Birthday” crooning to JFK.
Professor Moshe Lazar was a Renaissance man and polymath whose studies ranged across the centuries, from medieval Sephardic life and writings to modern Hebrew poetry, according to his colleagues and students at USC.
Lips and face blue, Temple Akiba congregant Duke Molner lay unconscious, without a pulse, outside the Veterans Memorial Auditorium in Culver City, during Kol Nidre services on Sept. 25.
For a parent who has been caring for a child with special needs, it can be jarring to realize that at age 18, the child is considered a legal adult, whether or not he can sign his own name or understand the value of a dollar.
“Keys! Keys!” David Weisbord says as he tugs at his father’s hand, pulling him toward the door.
On May 8, in a very cool space in Culver City, I listened to a hundred very cool people talk about their very cool vision for the Jewish future.
With its iconic angular form tucked between a ramshackle limousine company to the north and a feed and pet supply store to the south, Temple Akiba rises behind a black tarp-lined security fence on a well-traveled stretch of Sepulveda Boulevard.
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