Author: David Rutman

For those of a certain age, the name Bennett Cerf brings up fading memories of an owlish, avuncular man you’d see on reruns of “What’s My Line.” For many, that was all he was: funny, sophisticated and one of television’s first celebrities. In retrospect, he seems like an early incarnation of someone who was famous […]

The story goes that the Chief Rabbi of Israel visited the Vatican and was invited into the Pope’s private quarters.  In the corner was a pay phone.  The Pope said that the phone was a direct line to God, and suggested that the rabbi make a call.  When the rabbi picked up the receiver, an […]

Now that ceasefire negotiations with Iran have predictably broken down before they ever got started, we can finally get back to the destruction of Iran’s “civilization” that Donald Trump promised with all the subtlety and panache of a drunken sailor. The president who apparently doesn’t drink nonetheless can’t hold his tongue. Who will ever forget […]

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 […]

With the third and final season of ”The Comeback,” now streaming on HBO Max more than two decades after its 2005 debut, Lisa Kudrow, 62, returns to her cult-favorite role as Valerie Cherish, a veteran sitcom actress navigating a career comeback in a rapidly changing Hollywood — much like Kudrow herself — with the same […]

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 […]