Author: David Rutman

I’ve driven by Sinai Temple in Westwood hundreds of times, and attended countless events, but never once have I asked myself: What came before this? I’ve always known the temple has been around for a while, but I have no idea how it started or how it evolved. We’re a people of stories and memory. […]

Parshat Beshalach offers a seminar on courage. It begins by declaring that, “God did not lead them by way of the land of the Philistines, although it was nearer; for God said, ‘The people may have a change of heart when they see war, and return to Egypt.’” The newly freed slaves were not ready […]

Arson In a Fire That Badly Damaged Beth Israel Congregation in Jackson, Miss., Early Saturday Morning  Another poem about a firethat burns a synagoguethat burned beforein Mississippi,then the KKK,who today? And the article says “no one was hurt”And the article says “two Torahs burned” Then it was 1967, which the article calls“The Civil Rights Era”Now […]

The return of Ran Gvili, the last Israeli hostage, has raised questions for many people: What’s the big deal? Why write about this now, when there are so many other urgent things happening in the world? Why keep returning to October 7, to one man, to one body? I’ve been asked these very questions by […]

Birthright Israel is widely associated with short-term trips designed to introduce young Jews to Israel for the first time. Jacqueline Korren is working on something built for what happens after people return home. Through Birthright’s Storytellers initiative, Korren is leading an effort buttressing Jewish presence in media and culture, rather than exhausting debate. “Birthright Israel […]

The first time I saw swastikas in my local park, they stopped me in my tracks. But now antisemitism has become a daily occurrence, so common and brazen that my shock has diminished. Two Israeli Embassy staffers were murdered with 21 bullets. In Boulder a group of older Jewish women were set on fire by […]

Thugs, it is said, fear only one thing – physical might more powerful than their own, combined with the demonstrated capacity to wield it. After  the shockingly swift decapitation of the Maduro regime in Venezuela, mere days into this new year, the surviving authoritarian regimes are on notice: democracy is once again on the march. […]

With chaos raging in Minneapolis as ICE agents confront protesters, my mind has wandered to the motivations and history of the man ultimately responsible for the chaos—President Trump. What makes the man tick? If I had to pick from his many foibles, I would pick addiction to power. Power has long been Trump’s drug of […]

Jewish life has always been shaped by the tension between belonging and boundary. In every generation, Jews have had to decide which elements of the surrounding culture can be absorbed, and which cannot, without hollowing out what is meant to endure. That question has become sharper, not softer, in the age of social media, where […]

State Senator Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco) announced today that he would be stepping down as Co-Chair of the California Legislative Jewish Caucus on Feb. 15. Wiener’s decision comes amid criticism from Jewish groups about statements he made about Israel. In his statement, Wiener linked the timing of his decision to both his congressional campaign and […]