Author: David Rutman

Rabbi Daniel Costin Burg, the new leader of Hamakom in West Hills succeeded retiring co-senior Rabbis Richard Camras and Stewart Vogel just one month ago. But talking to The Journal on the Conservative congregation’s hilltop campus, he sounded and looked as if he had come home. In a way he had. Rabbi Burg was ordained […]

When I tell people I’m a nonobservant Orthodox Jew, there is usually a small pause, followed by a look that says: Pick one. I understand it. The phrase sounds like a hedge, or like someone claiming a title he hasn’t earned. But I don’t think it’s a contradiction. It helps to start with where this […]

A Portland, Oregon theater with a reputation for controversial marquees posted one for Christopher Nolan’s “The Odyssey” that concerned many in the Jewish community. On July 16, the Lake Theater & Café’s marquee read: “Before there were Jews … there was ‘The Odyssey.’” Rabbi Mark Blazer of Santa Clarita happened to be in the Portland […]

Surprises everywhere, and yet no real surprise—just wishful thinking, benign neglect, repeat performances, and business as usual. Late Saturday, President Trump called for yet another halt to America’s attacks against Iran. We are being told that he is once again close to getting the ayatollahs and mullahs to agree to a peace resolution that will […]

It’s been 20 years since Rabbi Deborah Schuldenfrei was ordained, andduring that time she has instructed nearly every kind of Jew, from children and seekers to adult scholars and elders. A year from now, she will become the senior rabbi of her first congregation, Kol Tikvah, Woodland Hills, succeeding the retiring Rabbi Jon Hanish. Personable, […]

The Temple Beth Am-Pressman Academy gala was held on June 14 in honor of outgoing Temple President Jacqui Jacobs and the outgoing chair of the Conservative congregation’s Education Cabinet Shani Fisher. Appropriately, the event’s theme was “Leadership with Heart.” Temple Beth Am-Presman Academy Gala Co-Chair Joanna Kasirer, Honoree Jacqui Jacobs, Honoree Shani Fisher and Gala […]

Jew-haters are going crazy. After having the field to themselves for three years, convincing much of the world that Israel rhymes with genocide, a quirky non-Jewish artist from London has rattled them. He’s rattled them not just with a fabulous song with a cool reggae beat. He’s rattled them with six words: You say genocide, […]

At gatherings of university leaders, my fellow college presidents and I would regularly review data on how Americans felt about higher education, and shake our collective heads. Each year the percentage of U.S. adults who said that they had either “a great deal” or “quite a lot” of confidence in this country’s colleges and universities […]

What will it take? What needs to happen before Jews finally take full measure of the meteoric rise in antisemitism around the world—and start taking it personally? How close to home must it hit? Since October 7, 2023, when violence and incitement against Jews became casually accepted as a social justice prerogative, far too many, […]