Author: David Rutman

Jews around the world are mourning today. We’re mourning tragedies that go back centuries—the destruction of two massive Temples, pogroms, Crusades, the Inquisition, the Shoah, Oct. 7, among other tragedies. How can we mourn all this in one day? We can’t. We can’t focus on only one target of grief—there are too many. So I […]

Mourning is unfashionable. A popular platitude is that funerals are meant to be a “celebration of life.” This seemingly innocuous phrase is actually a subtle form of peer pressure, demanding the heartbroken mourners remain upbeat so they don’t drag the mood down for the rest. The bereaved are counseled to look for “closure” and find […]

A sign in a Shtiebelech (small synagogue) in Golders Green, London, caught my eye shortly after I returned from a long stay in Los Angeles. It began with the words: “Due to the situation in Israel…” My mind raced, anticipating the rest of the sentence. The year was 2002, the height of the Second Intifada. […]

How will artificial intelligence models affect our understanding of the past and the lessons we derive from history?  This issue is of immense concern as AI is becoming ubiquitous:  86% of college students report using the models (including 24% who use them daily).  Perhaps nowhere is this more important than remembrance of the Holocaust which […]

If you’re starting college soon, congratulations! I hope it’s eye-opening, mind-expanding, brain-sharpening, soul-stretching, character-building and FUN. But beware. Unless you take charge, your campus debut will disappoint. Today’s college orientation programs prove just how modern universities lost their way.  The University of South Florida Official Admissions Blog suggests “a few questions you might bring” – […]

A uniformed New York Police Department (NYPD) officer and three civilians were killed Monday evening in a mass shooting at a high-rise office building in Midtown Manhattan. The suspected shooter, 27-year-old Shane Tamura of Las Vegas, opened fire just after 6:30 p.m. EDT inside 345 Park Avenue, near East 52nd Street. NYPD surveillance video shows […]

Summer doldrums have a way of deadening the senses. That might explain why a monumental week of bad news for Jews slipped by without a collective gasp. It should have shaken up even the most languid among the tribe—if anyone truly cared. But alas, there was Donald Trump’s and Jeffrey Epstein’s friendship to interrogate, the […]

Many supporters of Israel are freaking out after French President Emmanuel Macron announced that France will recognize a Palestinian state at the United Nations Assembly in September. There’s no need to freak out. Like human rights lawyer Arsen Ostrovsky says, “You can have 100 countries saying the earth is flat and that won’t make it […]

Since being appointed Mayor of Beverly Hills on April 1, Sharona Nazarian has been very busy. There’s hardly a day that goes by without her attending at least one community event — often several in a single day. Since taking office, she participated in dozens of events and spoke at most of them. But none […]