Author: David Rutman

Halfway through his first year as leader of the Pasadena Jewish Temple and Center,  Rabbi Josh Ratner told The Journal that “I wanted to try everything before I knew for sure what I wanted to do.” And after five less-than-fulfilling years as a commercial litigator and 14 years after his ordination, the San Diego native […]

Some fathers have to answer questions from their sons about the birds and the bees. But in his new book “Where We Keep the Light” Democratic Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro describes his son Max asking if the firebombing of their residence (which took place after the first Seder of Passover) was because they are Jewish. […]

When I was job-hunting some years ago, I interviewed with a national Jewish organization for a position related to Israel education. A senior professional asked me how the emotional connection to Israel he had grown up with could be transmitted to younger generations. I told him that it couldn’t be done, and that I was […]

American culture invented the Hollywood western. The Dallas Cowboys are America’s Team. The wisdom of the West is often described as “horse sense.” But nowadays it’s horseshoes—worn by both Democrats and Republicans—that have been given a political shine. A political theory bandied about in what passes for smoke-filled backrooms these days is that the two […]

At the very beginning of his one-man show, “Marcus is Alive,” which I saw Thursday night at a cozy little theater in Hollywood, Marcus Freed grabs the audience’s attention by throwing out one of life’s ultimate questions: What if? Indeed, what if? Who hasn’t asked that question? Who hasn’t wondered how their life might have […]

I wake in the night—yes, the middle of night, When the moon’s still on duty and stars are on site. My alarm clock goes BEEP! far too early to cheer, “Radiation time!” says the clock with a sneer. I shuffle and wobble and mumble and yawn, While sensible people are still fully gone. The sun’s […]

Rabbi Mordecai Finley We Jews, particularly Israelis, suffered a terrible tragedy on October 7, 2023. Much has been written and said about the “October 8th Jew” — the Jew whose identity sharpened overnight, whose sense of solidarity intensified, whose awareness of vulnerability and peoplehood became immediate and urgent. I find myself thinking about what happens […]

There are mitzvot between human beings and God. There are mitzvot between human beings and each other. Both categories help refine and develop our character. But there is a third, often overlooked category of mitzvot: mitzvot between a person and themselves. What does this category look like? The category addresses the ways we think about […]

My truck-driver father and secretary mother, both hardworking people, seemed like failures to me because they were not doctors or lawyers like many of my grammar school classmates’ parents. I was so wrong. It’s painful to think that your parents are losers. I hope to God they never knew my thoughts.  I lived in a […]