Rick Richman

Safire Says Book of Job Political

Published on November 18, 2004

Dean's confusion about the location of the Book of Job generated a fair amount of ridicule at the time from commentators -- but not from William Safire, the Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist of The New York Times, who is speaking next week about Job at Sinai Temple.

Kerry’s Flip-Flops on Israel Stir Concern

Published on May 20, 2004

Earlier this year, Sen. John Kerry started shifting his position on Israel in hope of removing it as an issue of concern to Jewish voters.

Saving Lives in a Time of Murder

Published on November 13, 2003

"The Righteous: The Unsung Heroes of the Holocaust" by Sir Martin Gilbert (Henry Holt and Company, $35).

On Jan. 19, 1942, Rabbi Jacob Schulmann of Grabow Synagogue wrote to his community in Lodz:

"Alas, to our great grief, we now know all. I spoke to an eyewitness who escaped. He told me everything. They're exterminated in Chelmno, near Dombie, and they are all buried in the Rzuszow forest."

Old Canon Gets New Look

Published on November 1, 2001

"The Modern Jewish Canon: A Journey Through Language and Culture" by Ruth R. Wisse (The Free Press, $28).

The Hebrew Bible is a canon of 24 books, written in the same language, collected by a people living in a single nation, compiled at a time of belief in an all-powerful Authority speaking through that canon.

Capturing History and Hope on Film

Published on April 27, 2000

"History holds a magical power over me," says Laura Bialis, the 26-year-old producer of "Tak for Alt: Survival of a Human Spirit," the award-winning documentary that will be shown on KCET on Tues., May 2 at 10:30 p.m. and screened at the University of Judaism's Gindi Auditorium on Thurs., May 3, at 7 p.m.

Adrift in a World in Which God is Hidden

Published on October 14, 1999

It is remarkable how many great Jewish American writers first came to the public's attention through a volume of short stories.

Finding God Among the Ruins

Published on February 25, 1999

In "Traveling Mercies: Some Thoughts on Faith" (Pantheon Books, $23.00), a gentle and touching memoir, Anne Lamott tells a variation of an old story: