Author: David Rutman

For many of us these are dark days. War in Gaza and in Ukraine, climate change, the tragic Los Angeles fires, and domestic political turmoil conspired to turn the zeitgeist into a foul wind. In my medical practice, I see the challenges of disease and debility faced by so many. In such times hope takes […]

It is hard to be an optimist these days. Wars rage without resolution, terrorism strikes without warning, political discourse grows increasingly toxic, and natural disasters remind us of our fragility. In such a climate, hope can feel like naïve denial, and faith in a better future can seem more like wishful thinking than rational conviction. […]

  Arbitrariness Shabbat Thought Nitzavim 2025 (adapted from previous versions) This week’s Torah portion, Nitzavim (“Stand up and be counted”), contains stark language. Choose – life or death, blessing or curse. In my words, choose the laws of the moral and spiritual order or flout them. Blessing if you align yourself, catastrophe if you don’t. […]

At every synagogue in the afternoon on the first day of Rosh Hashanah, congregants perform Tashlich by casting off bread crumbs into a moving body of water to release the sins of the previous year. But at Beit T’Shuvah, a synagogue and residential treatment center on Venice Boulevard, the ritual continues week after week. Jesse […]

My daughter-in-law recently asked me what I looked forward to during the upcoming Jewish holidays. “Nothing!” I replied, “I dread them.”  When I think about any Jewish holiday, all I can think about is cooking – and cooking – and serving and clearing and cooking some more. I’ve been doing this for nearly 40 years.  […]

At the 77th Primetime Emmy Awards, comedian and actress Hannah Einbinder ended her acceptance speech with words that drew immediate backlash from Jewish leaders and organizations. After winning Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series for her role in HBO’s “Hacks,” Einbinder concluded her remarks by saying, “Go Birds, f—k ICE and free Palestine.” CBS […]

When Fiddler on the Roof was staged at The Soraya at CSUN, audiences encountered more than Sholom Aleichem’s beloved characters brought to life on stage. Alongside the production, the David Labkovski Project presented ‘Through the Eyes of David Labkovski: Sholom Aleichem and His Heroes,’ an exhibition that offered a visual journey into the shtetl world […]

Maya Vorobyov grew up in Ramle, Israel, a mixed city with both Jews and Arabs. Her parents were immigrants from the Soviet Union, and her grandparents were Holocaust survivors. After studying at Reichman University, she left home to work as The Jewish Agency’s Israel Fellow at the Hillel Foundation of Orange County, which is where […]

In the aftermath of Charlie Kirk’s horrific assassination, I posted on social media, like many others, that I was shattered by his murder while he was speaking on a campus. Kirk was a hero of the young right with millions of followers, appearing at universities across the country to debate the issues. I often disagreed […]