Passover 2024: The Four Difficulties
Every Passover, we remember we are free. This Passover, we must remember those who are not. Rabbi Yoshi spoke about the Four Difficulties.
From Silos to Solidarity: Combating Antisemitism Together
The Federation and ADL Los Angeles are launching the Southern California Jewish Security Alliance (SCJSA) to combat antisemitism.
Installation of Senior Cantor Emma Lutz
Installation of Senior Cantor, Emma LutzFriday, March 25 at 6:15 p.m. | In-person and Online Since joining Stephen Wise Temple & Schools in 2016, Cantor Emma Lutz has made a significant mark on the Wise community. She has guided our Wise School students, mentored our youth, shared moments of joy and sorrow with our families, and brought beautiful, … Continued
Hamantashen for HOPE and more ways to HELP Ukraine
You can help by BAKING: Hamantashen are a symbolic cookie for the holiday of Purim – a time of reflection about destructive megalomaniacs and triumph of good over evil. Ukrainians are, in real time, facing a modern-day Haman in Vladimir Putin. Let’s do what we can to help. FROM NOSHER at My Jewish Learning: To … Continued
My Chelm Story!!
By Hazzan Michael Stein Where to begin? This past Shabbes was a fantastic experience in every way!! Lighting Shabbat candles in the synagogue in Chelm, where there has not been a service for 80 years, was a humbling experience. As I explained the meaning of lighting Shabbat candles, the metaphor of bringing light again into … Continued
First Light of Hanukkah in Poland
By Hazzan Michael Stein The train from Krakow to Gdansk/Sopot/Slupsk was almost six hours, but the most comfortable ride ever. The US Infrastructure bill barely passed, which would provide an opportunity to upgrade our rail system. With food, drinks, internet, and electric outlets, the high-speed train outclasses anything we have in the US. I spent … Continued
Finding Freedom and Fireworks in Our Hearts with Cantor Emma Lutz
Shabbat Shalom! Thank you to Cantor Emma Lutz from Stephen Wise Temple for sharing her wisdom this past week about Fireworks, blessings and finding our way back to adventures. What she wrote really spoke to me and I asked for her permission to share it here: MONDAY As we continue to enjoy more normalcy after a challenging … Continued
How Jew(ish) Are You?
Thank you to Thrive Global for publishing my article, “How Jew(ish) Are You?” Reading Matt Greene’s autobiography, Jew(ish): A primer, A memoir, A manual, A plea, during COVID19 Thanksgiving weekend, I thought gratefully about my relationship to being Jewish. Growing up in Los Angeles, California at Stephen Wise Temple, one of the largest Reform synagogues in the … Continued
Canada: I Enjoy Myself Without My Ears
I hate Klezmer music. The whiny shriek of the clarinet sounds like a castrato who woke up to find a tarantula staring at him. The tunes all sound like a newly bar-mitzvahed boy went crazy on Clarinet or Trumpet Hero. The roughness of the syllables coming from the singer’s mouth reminds me of what I … Continued