The service was heartfelt, but it was also unsettling. There was a kind of emotional chaos in the air — almost a reluctance to accept that a beautiful life could be taken away from someone so God-fearing and life-giving.
When Tali Rosenthal moved to Los Angeles eight years ago, she landed in the Pico-Robertson neighborhood on the Westside. It was near her office, and besides, it was where many of Los Angeles\’ Orthodox singles live.
\”There\’s a challenge for Reform Jews around the observance of Tisha B\’Av, and communities make all kinds of choices,\” said Rabbi Sue Ann Wasserman, the Union for Reform Judaism\’s director of worship, music and religious living.
Proponents of gay marriage were \”pursuing a deliberate plan of litigation and political pressure which will not only redefine marriage, but will follow from that to threaten the first freedom enshrined in the First Amendment — religious liberty,\” said Nathan Diament, the director of the Washington office of the Orthodox Union.
Rumors of anti-Semitic laws in Iran have disturbed local Iranian Jews who have been increasingly concerned for the safety of roughly 25,000 Jews still living in Iran since Ahmadinejad denied the existence of the Holocaust and called for Israel to \”wiped off the map\” late last year.
The Haggadah tells us \”you were strangers in the land of Egypt.\” Here is the interesting thing — because we were strangers, we are supposed to learn not how the Israelites should have acted, but — how the Egyptians should have acted. We are supposed to learn how not to oppress others. Don\’t treat others the way we were treated.
At Temple Beth Israel, the planting project, which is being done in phases with funding and physical assistance from a Jewish environmental group, has transformed congregants\’ preconceived notions of drab native plants.
\”We are blessed in Los Angeles with a plethora of adult learning opportunities,\” said Rabbi Mark Diamond, executive vice president of the Board of Rabbis of Southern California. \”Synagogues offer literally hundreds of courses for adults as do many other fine institutions.\”
Jewish community. With courage and vision, we need to act on this opportunity by understanding the important changes that have occurred over the last decades and rethinking the way we engage the broader Jewish community.
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