Author: David Rutman

Ten years ago, Nicole Guzik, who shares the title of Senior Rabbi of Sinai Temple with her husband, Rabbi Erez Sherman, decided she needed to pursue something that was distinctly her own. Five years later, as an associate marriage and family therapist, she launched the Sinai Temple Mental Health Center to address the mental and […]

Wilshire Boulevard Temple and the Los Angeles Jewish Symphony (LAJS), under the direction of Founding Artistic Director and Conductor Noreen Green, held “Opera Favorites with a Jewish Twist” on March 22. An enthusiastic crowd, including multiple senior homes and a local student group, turned out. Taking place in the historic sanctuary at Wilshire Boulevard Temple’s […]

On April 1, Bar Kupershtein celebrated his 24th birthday and his first Passover with his family in Israel since being kidnapped by Hamas on Oct. 7, 2023. Kupershtein had been working as a paramedic and deputy security officer at the Nova music festival when he was abducted. He spent 738 days in Gaza’s tunnels, enduring […]

Last summer, my family and I traveled to Rome. In three short days, we hurried through cobblestone streets to see ancient ruins, gaining a deeper understanding of Italian history. One of the most striking landmarks was the Colosseum, a testament to the sophistication of ancient Roman engineering and the central role that entertainment and power […]

As if Israel didn’t already engender enough reasons for an antisemitic world to despise the Jewish state, its parliament, the Knesset, came up with another one last week—a real doozy. A majority of Israel’s elected representatives voted to impose the death penalty against Palestinians—specifically, death by hanging—for acts of murderous terror intended to end Israel’s […]

Not long ago, I watched Ari’el Stachel alone on stage—alone in the fullest sense. In “Other,” his one-man show, he inhabits scores of characters while wrestling with a life spent moving between worlds: a Yemeni Jewish father, an Ashkenazi mother, and a self that could pass as Jewish, Arab, Middle Eastern or Black depending on who is looking. […]

On March 29, Temple Emanuel of Beverly Hills held its fifth annual Bird Goldstein Songs of Freedom Interfaith Concert, bringing together clergy, musicians and community members from diverse faith traditions for an afternoon of music and connection. Held in the spirit of both Passover and Easter, the program celebrates the power of using our voices […]