I’m a card carrying member of AIPAC because no one mobilizes the support of Congress and the Administration in support of Israel like AIPAC does. I believe Israel needs to have friends on both sides of the political aisle, and AIPAC does just that. I will always be a supporter of AIPAC for just that …
Communicating Openness: We Welcome Families with Special Needs
We know that Congregation Or Ami is a community that really “gets it” with regards to families with children with special needs. The families that are part of the synagogue – enjoying the B’nai Mitzvah we have crafted for children with all sorts of special needs, thriving in our Mishpacha program because its coordinator contact …
Educator Michal-Rozenberg Yalovsky Receives Ner Ami Innovator Award
Another person who inspires! Congregation Or Ami bestowed its first Ner Ami Innovator award to Educator Michal Rozenberg-Yalovsky for her transformational work creating the new Kesher Learning program. The Ner Ami Innovator award is presented to synagogue and community leaders who shine new light in the areas of Jewish education, ritual and community. Literally “Lamp …
Prom Prep 101: Helping Foster Kids Experience the Joy of Being a Teen
Or Ami member Michelle Feinstein and her daughter Carly helped raise up a spark of holiness this month at Prom Prep 101. Michelle writes: “We were like fairy godmothers getting Cinderella ready for the ball,” said Carly Feinstein (age 7 ½) of her experience in participating in the Prom – Prep Mitzvah. About 50 young …
Calabasas Boy Overcomes Serious Disabilities to Become a Bar Mitzvah (Acorn, 5/24/07)
The local weekly, The Acorn, tells us about one of the more emotional events at Or Ami, the upcoming Bar Mitzvah service of Brandon Kaplan. Brandon cannot write or speak, but he understands Judaism and loves Torah. And on Shabbat this Memorial Day Weekend, he becomes a Bar Mitzvah. I suspect there will not be …
Martin Buber Morphs into Legally Blond’s Ellie Woods
Our congregant, Donnie Cohen-Cutler (now a big-wig in the Marketing Department of the Union for Reform Judaism), tossed me a link to an interesting posting on Jewcy using the Broadway version of Legally Blond to teach Martin Buber’s I/Thou philosophy. Writes Elisa Albert in Jewcy: [There] is the undeniable fact that Ms. Ellie Woods is …
Shavuot: Seeking the Light of Torah
We gathered at Karen and Bill Harris’ home for Shavuot. It was an evening of talking Torah, chowing on cheesecake and receiving the gift of the light of Torah. Greeted by Karen’s delicious homemade cheesecake, we recounted the tradition of eating dairy on Shavuot. Some explain that Jews were given the laws of kashrut (kosher …
It is All about Community, Stupid!
I am amazed and saddened by the depth of dissatisfaction people express with their spiritual lives and their spiritual searches. As the new synagogue year approaches, I am sitting successively with dozens of individual Jews and couples who express a distaste and dissatisfaction with the communities they have joined or their inability to find a …
Special Needs Leads to Especially Meaningful Bar/Bat Mitzvah Services
I love officiating at Bar and Bat Mitzvah services. Watching young one grow up – sometimes during the process of studying Torah, sometimes right before our eyes as they chant Torah on the bimah – is a moment of kedusha (holiness). Kal v’chomer (“how much the moreso”) when the Bar/Bat Mitzvah is a child with …
Basketball and Boxing: Lessons on Forgiveness
Another sports story which teaches an important Jewish ideal: Almost thirty years ago, Rudy Tomjanovich was punched ferociously by Kermit Washington in an NBA basketball game, leaking spinal fluid as a result. There in the ICU he wanted to return and smash back in return. The doctor told Tomjanovich, “You have to get on a …
Seder in the Wilderness: Or Ami Celebrates Passover in Malibu Creek State Park
Creativity abound when Congregation Or Ami ventured out into Malibu Creek State Park for an April weekend of Passover activities. Friday night campfire service Camping Out overnight Adult Spirituality Torah Trek Hike Morning Children’s program Afternoon Horseshoe Tournament “Reliving the Exodus” experiential program Persian Kosher-for-Passover Seder dinner Talent Show and Sing-a-long Havdala Under the Stars …
Coping in the Shadow of the Virginia Tech Shootings
The Virginia Tech shootings are horrifying. Within each of us wells up a mixture of reactions: worry, anger, anxiety, sadness and more. We wonder how to respond to our children. We struggle with our own fears and pain. With the help of our Union for Reform Judaism, I offer these prayers, readings and suggestions for …
Speaking Out for Religious Freedom and Marriage Equality
Religious leaders must speak out on the moral issues of our day. The prophets did it. The sages did it. Rabbis throughout their time did it. Earlier this month I did too. I lent my voice, and my understanding of the evolving Jewish tradition, to two efforts occurring in the State of California regarding Marriage …
The Daily News: Seder Need Not Be Boring!
The LA Daily News highlighted our engaging seder. The dinner table at Rabbi Paul Kipnes’ house was topped Monday night with more than the ceremonial food associated with commemorating the Exodus from Egypt. The arrangement of bitter herbs, parsley and matzo also included a football, history book and corkscrew. The purpose of Passover, which began …
A Statistically Accurate, Methodologically Sound Top 50 Rabbis List
Last fall, three self-appointed bozos tried to do to the Jewish world what VH1 and others do to the world of entertainment: insert ridiculous standards of measurement create a circus, er, a Top 50 Rabbis list. So Sony Pictures CEO and Chairman Michael Lynton got together with his good friends and fellow power brokers Gary …