- NEWS & COMMENTARY
Kerry praises Netanyahu’s ‘seriousness’ on peace
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry praised Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for his “seriousness” in finding ways to restart the peace process.
Angelina’s breast cancer victory isn’t for celebrities only
Actress Angelina Jolie just announced that she underwent a preventive double mastectomy after learning that she was genetically predisposed to cancer. Her disclosure was a powerful show of solidarity with the more than 100,000 American women who undergo breast removal…
Garcetti, Feuer, Galperin: A new era of Jewish leadership in L.A.?
Los Angeles chose Eric Garcetti as its first elected Jewish mayor in a number of political contests on Tuesday that reflected the city’s diversity, as well as its numerous variations of Jewishness. (In a historical footnote, one Bernard Cohn served…
- HOLLYWOOD
Spielberg to produce ‘Halo’ television series, plus other news from the Xbox One announcement
Microsoft Corp gave the world a first look at its new Xbox One on Tuesday, announcing that its first gaming console in eight years will come with exclusive video and…
Justin Timberlake and Coen brothers answer Jewish questions at Cannes
Using his preternatural smoothness, Justin Timberlake saved the Coen brothers from some serious awkwardness at a Cannes press conference for their folk singer film “Inside Llewyn Davis” on Sunday. “Jewish…
Sarah Silverman sings about staying home in ‘Perfect Night’
For your listening pleasure, “Perfect Night,” in which Sarah Silverman recounts the benefits of skipping the club for the couch. Because this is a Silverman production you can expect references…
- LIFE & CULTURE
Angelina’s breast cancer victory isn’t for celebrities only
Actress Angelina Jolie just announced that she underwent a preventive double mastectomy after learning that she was genetically predisposed to cancer. Her disclosure was a powerful show of solidarity with…
‘God is a fraud’
In this week’s parasha, Beha’alotecha, Moses faces the fragility of life as he watches his sister, Miriam, struggle with tzara’at, a dangerous skin disease. Overcome with anguish, Moses cries out…
Startup classroom
In a twist on the classic academic approach to entrepreneurship, Israeli universities are trending toward classroom-based incubators that allow students to put theory to the test in a sheltering atmosphere.…
- BLOGS
Propaganda lies in a disguise
Muhammad al-Durrah, the little boy who became the symbol of the Al-Aqsa Intifada, is returning to the headlines after a decade. A photo of him, crying, leaning against a wall…
Male Eating Disorders: A Real Thing
Recently, People Magazine came out with an article about Ashley Hamilton talking openly about his struggles with an eating disorder. I applaud Ashley for coming out about having an eating…
Religion at the End of The Big C
Last night, Showtime’s The Big C aired its final episode. After three seasons of half-hour installments, this comedy returned for a shortened final season consisting of four hour-long episodes. Subtitled…
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A prayer for Oklahoma
Lord our God, we stood before You just a week ago to receive the Ten Statements of Your Torah. We stood, as though with our ancestors, and listened to the Torah reader chant descriptions of the smoking mountain, the thunderous rumbling, and the long-awaited voice of God.
Thank You Rabbi Kurtz
What I Learned From Shavuot All-Night Study
Palestinian group says it fired rockets on Mount Hermon
A previously unknown Palestinian group took responsibility for two rockets that hit Mount Hermon, a popular Israeli tourist site in the Golan Heights.
This week in power: WoW scuffling, IRS scandal, Newseum, Shavuot message
May 18-24
Events throughout Los Angeles. Food festival, Shavuot activities, Allan Sherman and more.
A Healthier Shavuot: My Favorite Cheese Plate
The Shavuot Challenge: Connecting Liberal American Jewish Males to Jewishness
Revelations and Revolutions: Thinking about Shavuot
Wandering, Romantic Love, Transcendence, and Shavuot - D’var Torah B’midbar
Shavuot inspires dairy recipes
Shavuot celebrates the receiving of the Ten Commandments and the arrival of the spring harvest. But, for food lovers, it is noted for the array of dairy foods that are served — delicious combinations of cheese, sour cream, milk and eggs. Also in abundance are “stuffed” foods, such as blintzes with cheese fillings.
Calendar Picks and Clicks: May 11–17, 2013
Known as “The Ambassador of the Great American Songbook,” the five-time Grammy-nominated Feinstein covers classics from musical theater as well as the songs of Frank Sinatra and other standards. $40-$85. 8 p.m. California State University, Northridge, Valley Performing Arts Center, 18111 Nordhoff St., Northridge. (818) 677-8800. valleyperformingartscenter.org.
Celebrate Shavuot with the best of the spring season
With its tradition of dairy meals, Shavuot is one of my favorite holidays. Arriving later in the spring -- an ideal time to find delicious fruits, herbs and vegetables -- it's perfect for using fresh and seasonal ingredients.
White night in Pico
I have a feeling that several years from now, as the movement to strengthen Jewish connection in America accelerates, the coolest night of the year will be Shavuot.
Shavuot and Mormons
SHAVUOT: 10 ways to celebrate
Rabbi Akiva’s gift to a ghost
“You shall teach your children diligently” (Deuteronomy 6:7). Rabbi Akiba traveled from town to town in Israel, teaching the Torah, judging cases, settling disputes, offering wisdom and listening to the stories of his people.
Shavuot – Torah for everyone
My daughter, Dina, accepted a summer job here in Los Angeles last year. Before being hired, she explained that she was an observant Jew who would have to take off two days in early June to celebrate the holiday of Shavuot. The manager, respecting Dina’s religious commitment, said it would be no problem.
‘Spavuot’ offers day of teaching and escapism
Craig Taubman vividly remembers when Bill Kaplan first showed him around the grounds of the Shalom Institute, neatly tucked into the vast Santa Monica Mountains of Malibu.
For Shavuot, Bay Area Jews head to the wilderness
Most Jews around the world observe Shavuot in the relative comfort of their synagogues and homes. Not so for Wilderness Torah, a Berkeley-based nonprofit.
Opinion: If Passover is the question, Shavuot is the answer
Unlike other Jewish holidays, the Torah does not specify a date for Shavuot; it is celebrated on the 50th day (seven weeks) after Passover. We moderns celebrate Shavuot on the sixth day of the Hebrew month of Sivan; in ancient times, when the first day of every month was declared only when the new moon was first seen, the holiday could have been celebrated on the fifth, sixth or seventh day of Sivan.
Putting the Ten Commandments on display
Are the Ten Commandments only to be heard but not seen? And when they are seen, how should they look?
The goat herd: A story of chevre, Shavuot and backyard goats [RECIPE]
What’s the Question? What’s the Answer?
Unlike other Jewish holidays, the Torah does not specify a date for Shavuot; it is celebrated on the 50th day (seven weeks) after Passover. We moderns celebrate Shavuot on the 6th day of the month of Sivan; in ancient times, when the first day of every month was declared only when the new moon was first seen, the holiday could have been celebrated on the 5th, 6th or 7th day of Sivan.
The goat herd: A story of chevre, Shavuot and backyard goats [RECIPE]
The most common question people ask when they visit our home is: “Why the goats?” We live in the city. A few houses west of us, four lanes of Lincoln
May 19-25
Days after the election that brings Hitler to power, a Jewish couple — an acclaimed physicist and his unfaithful wife — contemplate whether to seek an unknown future outside of Germany or stay put in Berlin. Written by playwright Iddo Netanyahu, brother of Israel’s prime minister, directed by Ami Dayan, and featuring award-winning actor Bruce Davison, this staged reading is the play’s West Coast premiere. Part of the California International Theatre Festival. The Museum of Tolerance hosts an additional performance on May 21. Sat. 8 p.m. Free (first come, first served). Founder’s Hall, 100 Civic Center Way, Calabasas. (818) 783-3576. citfestival.org.
Liberation
It’s fashionable to look at Passover as a universal idea. This makes sense; after all, how much more universal can you get than the theme of human freedom? Also, it’s a lot easier these days to be outer-directed and feel outrage at injustice.
June 7-June 17
Jewish texts further the understanding of difficult social issues and current events, including the Arab spring, WikiLeaks, protests at soldiers’ funerals and more. Sponsored by Temple Beth Am, Temple Emanuel, Adat Shalom, Pico Egal, Ma’or and the Ziegler School of Rabbinic Studies. Tue. 7:15 p.m.
Valedictorian to give taped speech to accommodate Shavuot observance [VIDEO]
The valedictorian at a northern California high school is planning to deliver her graduation address via a pre-recorded audio message in order to observe Shavuot. Carolyn Fine worked out the arrangement with Vacaville High School officials, according to The Reporter, Vacaville’s local newspaper.
Seeking a conversion in time for Shavuot
Ruth’s day is coming. Not the Ruth with all the home runs. The other Ruth, the biblical one who hit an eternal shot for Jews by Choice. We read her book and story on Shavuot. Her words of commitment spoken to her mother-in-law, Naomi, travel over time to us on the holiday: “Wherever you go I will go, and wherever you lodge I will lodge. Your people shall be my people and your God my God.”
Amigos in San Miguel de Allende: A Shavuot Story of Conversion
Earlier this year, I got a call from an old friend, Rabbi Juan Mejia. Juan asked me if I’d be willing to accompany him and Rabbi Felipe Goodman to San Miguel de Allende for a couple of days in early February. Juan, Felipe and I have a lot in common: We laugh at the same jokes, we all speak Spanish, and we’re all rabbis. A little getaway to Mexico in the middle of winter? Sure, I could fit that into my schedule — no problem, I said.
Say Cheese: Recipes for Shavuot
During Shavuot, it’s a custom to serve dairy foods, such as cheese blintzes, cheese noodle kugels, cheesecake and even ice cream. But have you wondered where this tradition comes from?
June 1-June 10
Fyodor Dostoevsky’s “Crime and Punishment” inspires director Nina Menkes’ 2010 Israeli art film, which follows a morose young Israeli Jew (Didi Fire) who murders a female pawnbroker. Shot in Yaffo, a predominantly Arab part of Tel Aviv, the film won the Anat Pirchi Award for Best Drama at the 2010 Jerusalem International Film Festival.
Italian cheeses inspire a unique holiday menu
It all started with Signora Grazia, an elderly cheese maker in Panzano, Italy. While vacationing in this Tuscan village, just 30 minutes south of Florence, we walked by her farm early one morning and saw the sign that read “Pecorino and Fresh Ricotta for Sale.”
From Torah to cheesecake
Ask a group of average Jews what they know about Shavuot, and you’re likely to hear something like: “Oh sure, that’s the holiday when we eat cheesecake.” From a biblical standpoint, Shavuot is one of the holiest days in Judaism, but as a holiday on the Jewish calendar it is one of the most misunderstood and overlooked.
Shavuot with a French accent
Joan Nathan says she's always had a particular fascination with French Jews and their food. For Nathan, author of "Quiches, Kugels, and Couscous: My Search for Jewish Cooking in France (Knopf, 2010), the love affair with French cuisine started as a teenager when she made her first trip to France in the 1950s. The prolific cookbook author says the simple pleasure of sampling a slightly melted bar of chocolate sandwiched into a crackly baguette transformed her life.
At a Jewish time of reflection, thoughts on a pope and Catholicism
Passover is over and Shavuot is weeks away. It's a season when Jews traditionally take time for contemplation and reflection. This year, I've been reflecting on Catholicism. Rather on the complicated interfaith nexuses between Catholics and Jews. In large part, of course, this is because of the beatification May 1 of Pope John Paul II.
Retrial ordered in Md. case held on Shavuot
An Orthodox Jewish plaintiff in a medical malpractice trial will be allowed a retrial after he missed part of the trial for a religious holiday. The Maryland Court of Appeals ruled Feb. 24 that by not rescheduling the court date so that Alexander Neustadter could appear, his opponent went unchallenged, prejudicing the trial.
Dairy, dairy, Shavuot is quite contrary to holidays’ meat traditions [RECIPE]
Recently my 3-year-old granddaughter played with a music box she had received from her parents at Chanukah.
“What is Chanukah?” I asked her.
Camp Obama vs. Shavuot: The Third Story
Hundreds of young people gathered to become a part of Camp Obama for intensive three-day weekend retreats throughout the months of July and August of 2007. Several of the retreats were led by Marshall Ganz, a Harvard professor of sociology, and son of a rabbi and World War II Army chaplain).
Birthright Israel, sex and the column
" . . . It is wishful thinking by the writer that Obama's chance to be president has been torpedoed by his past association with the Rev. Jeremiah Wright. McCain and the writer want us to focus on this guilt by association nonissue, rather than on Obama's own actions and words and the terrible political and economic conditions our beloved country has fallen into under the Bush/Cheney regime . . ."
Shavuot 5768: Praise for the scroll
In a knowledge world ruled by books and pages and digitized memory, why do Jews hold onto the scroll? Could it be that rolled along together somewhere in our minds with the love of Torah is the love of scroll?
Breaking news: Giraffe milk is kosher, Israeli rabbis say
Shavuot 5768: Creative twists fill large field of holiday events
"My sense is that people gathering in synagogue for all or part of the night is expanding," said Rabbi Mark Diamond, executive vice president of the Board of Rabbis of Southern California. "A lot of great learning takes place in the Los Angeles Jewish community on Shavuot."
Shavuot 5768: Multitude of views from majestic Mount Sinai
What prompted Agnon, a master of original writing, to create an anthology of rabbinic texts relating to Shavuot? As an author with a deep connection to his religious roots, Agnon related to the experience of Shavuot, a celebration of the centrality of books in Judaism.
Shavuot 5768: Midrash love
When I think of Torah, the first thing that comes to mind is a divine, rigorous system of laws that guides an ethical and holy way of life. The last thing I think about is whimsy and romance
The greatest gift of all—and Bunnies!
Find your inner cheesecake
What I did not expect was to get a phone call from one of the city's illustrious Orthodox rabbis defending the magical, mystical, community-building power of ... the cheesecake.
Mr. Nobody
Often we give excuses of not being involved in Jewish life because we have strong and even valid criticisms against organized religion. We only see the negative in our Jewish institutions, forgetting that such an attitude produces Peloni Almonis, nothings and nobodies. We have no choice but to accept the challenge to become a generation of Boazs, whose creative thinking will guarantee the future of our people.
Say ‘grazie’ for ricotta-filled Italian delights
Shavuot begins exactly seven weeks after Passover and brings with it centuries of food traditions. Because some say milk and cheese symbolize the purity of the Torah, it is the festival when dairy foods are normally served. The holiday also celebrates the spring harvest, a time when a new crop of fresh vegetables and fruits begin to appear.
Cheese for Shavuot wrapped in tradition and variety
Since then I've been relegated to eating blintzes at delis, where they've been decent but far from sensational. However, with Shavuot approaching, a craving for Bertha's blintzes drove me to replicate the nirvana of that first experience.
Got Shavuot?
But unlike Rosh Hashanah -- which has the irresistible attraction of a new year and a new beginning -- and other holidays that have their own attractions, Shavuot seems to miss that special sizzle that could engage mainstream Judaism.
Tisha B’Av Dilemma: Day of Solemnity or Celebration?
"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.
Unraveling the Red String
Around the Pico-Robertson neighborhood -- and the city -- the standard lectures were being given on topics ranging from the Book of Ruth to Israel, but something off the beaten path was taking place on Robertson Boulevard in a lecture at Anshei Emet Synagogue. The subject was "Kabbalah and the Red String."
How to Give Torah
Shavuot commemorates the Jewish people's grandest moment of revelation -- on a mountain, but definitely not in solitude. Absolutely personal, but not in the least private.
Them and Us
At 81, frail of body but sharp-tongued and wise, Rabbi Schulweis has made it his mission to preach the gospel of conversion to the Jews. That is we, as individuals and as a people, must seek and embrace converts. Doing so will not only improve Jewish life but improve our own lives as Jews.
Blind Faith
Jews often live in calendar dialectics. Annually, we oscillate between two Jewish New Years (Tishrei/Nissan) and two "Judgment Days" (Rosh Hashana/Yom Kippur). the Dubner Maggid, Rabbi Yaakov Krantz, perhaps the greatest Jewish storyteller of all time, was once asked: Why do we celebrate both Simchat Torah and Shavuot? Why not condense them into one grand holiday?
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The Brief, news from around the world.
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Do you like ice cream? Cheesecake? Blintzes?
Well, Shavuot is the holiday for you. That's when the dairy queen grants us our wish: to eat all the sweetest, milkiest foods we want.
Shavuot Food : Turn Torah Fest into a Veggie Feast
Shavuot, which marks the receiving of the Ten Commandments by Moses, was often referred to as the Jewish Thanksgiving or the "Feast of the First Fruits," a time when farm bounty and grains were brought to the ancient Temple. The harvest often included wheat, barley, grapes, figs, pomegranates, olives and dates.
In modern times, Shavuot inspires the preparation of many delicious and traditional recipes that usually feature a variety of vegetarian and dairy foods. Milk, eggs and cheeses of all kinds are used in abundance.
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