Ask Rabbi Steven Z. Leder what the mission of Wilshire Boulevard Temple is, and he’ll tell you, “We make Jews.” The temple started making Jews two centuries ago, in 1862, when the country stood divided, engaged in Civil War, with Abraham Lincoln as the president of the United States.
Patricia Alcalay, 24, has been unemployed since she finished her nursing degree in December 2010. Her father lost his job four months ago, a year shy of retirement. Her older sister, who was studying abroad, meanwhile, found work in the Netherlands and is not coming back to Greece anytime soon.
The father of pop star Katy Perry, a preacher at an Ohio church, ranted against Jews during a sermon.
s modern Judaism facing an identity crisis? One would think so from reading \”We Jews: Who Are We and What Should We Do?\” by Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz. This provocative work, which Steinsaltz calls \”a private, intimate conversation within the Jewish family,\” looks to bring out into the open \”the issues and subjects that are rarely raised in a straightforward [manner].\” Included are controversial topics such as \”Are We a Nation or a Religion?\”; \”Do We Have Our Own Set of Character Traits?\”; \”Is Money Our God?\”; and \”Are We Excessively Warm or Excessively Cold?\”
In these parshot, Moses wraps up all he has to say to the Israelites. When he is done speaking, he will take leave of them and die. He says: \”Please remember all I have instructed you to do, so that you will lead happy and fulfilled lives.\”
President George W. Bush is certainly putting his money where his mouth is. Last week, the State Department announced it will invest $25 million to promote democracy throughout the Arab world. The goals of the program, which will train political advocates, journalists and others, are economic reform and private sector development, education, promotion of civil society and respect for the rule of law.
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