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Pacific Jewish Center Purim Celebration Recap February 28, 2010

rabbifink — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 12:00:05 +0000

The Shul on the Beach Purim 2010

This Purim, The Shul On The Beach opened its doors to the entire Venice / Santa Monica community to join in a Purim Celebration. An excellent turnout from our members, friends and neighbors set the stage for a truly memorable afternoon.

Mr. and Mrs. Beithalachmi prepared a wonderful Purim feast that was partially sponsored by Yossi and Joannie Ziff on the occasion of their second anniversary. As always, Jeff Liss planned an excellent party, including first class entertainment (see the previous post), refreshments and a costume contest. Most importantly, our community really stepped up to the plate in terms of hospitality, friendliness and warmth. Led, once again, by Rabbi Mintz, many, many guests were ushered into the Shul.

I had the pleasure of meeting neighbors who had simply never dropped by the Shul, Israelis on vacation, random folks on Venice Boardwalk who wanted to stop in, children, elderly people, Jews, non-Jews, religious and otherwise. We tried to take photos with as many people as possible and you can check out the slideshow of photos below. [If you have any photos to add, PLEASE email them to me and I will add them!]

Guests enjoyed hamentaschen, the lively music and touring our Shul. As always, we enjoyed meeting so many people from so many different backgrounds and situations and sharing the joy of Purim with them.

There was a small contingency from the press (MSNBC.com) that joined us throughout Purim. They were at the reading of the Scroll of Esther on Purim evening and returned for the today’s celebration. It was so much fun getting to know them and sharing our Purim with them. We look forward to seeing the fruits of their labor sometime in April. Stay tuned…

The gathering was lively and inspiring. I spoke briefly about the meaning of our commandment to remember Amalek. Amalek attacked the Jewish people just after the Exodus from Egypt. They focused their attack on the stragglers. I expressed my hope that as a community we would not allow any stragglers. We must be inclusive and help everyone to feel that they are in the center of the group. There can be no fringe group if we are to “defeat” Amalek. Today’s event was a strong step in that direction.

Once again, thank you to all of you who helped and joined and made the event the festive celebration it was.

We are planning more events of this nature in the future.

Matisyahu, NBC and The Olympic Winter Games Make A Great Team

rabbifink — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 23:25:57 +0000

I first heard of Matisyahu while working as a Campus Rabbi at USC. The Jewish students on campus were really into his music (this was ~5 years ago) and some of my students invited me to join them at a Matisyahu concert.

He was performing at the Knitting Factory in Hollywood which was right near my home. I went and it was really cool. The music was great, the message was equally wholesome and the connection that I got to build with my students was profound.

I liked it enough that I took my wife to a Matisyahu show at the American Jewish University a few weeks later. It was a bad venue for a concert. It was more like a movie theater than the right venue for a reggae concert. Still, we enjoyed the music.

I knew that Matisyahu had made it, when I was listening to my then favorite sports radio show, “The Loose Canons” on AM 570 in Los Angeles (oh how I miss those guys…) and they played Chop ‘em Down as their bumper music. That was an epiphany for me. At that point, Matisyahu has “made it” in my books.

If that wasn’t sufficient proof that Matisyahu had “made it”, I received another clue a few weeks ago. I was playing the NBA 2K10 video game and the background music was… Matisyahu!

I found a video of the NBA 2K10 playlist so you can see for yourself.

I thought that was pretty cool.

But today around the blogosphere and on Twitter the latest Matisyahu news is regarding the new NBC advertisement for the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics.

This is, by far, the best exposure that Matisyahu has seen in the public eye. The commercial is perfect. The content, the timing of the cuts, the slow – motion, the music and the message are woven together to create a really perfect ad. The emotion that the 30 second spot exudes are exactly what NBC wants you to feel.

I like NBC as a network and I hope that they can mount a comeback and become relevant again. This ad is a great start.

I am sure Matisyahu is proud to be part of such a great ad. I am proud to share it with you.

200th Post: Something To Bring a Smile To Your Face

rabbifink — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 11:23:49 +0000

This is post #200 on finkorswim.com. Congratulations to me. As promised, I will do a best of the first 200 posts in the next few days. In the meantime, here is this…

It has been a short 10 and a half months since this blog opened it’s doors to the public. I have had a blast writing my thoughts, sharing links and Jewish content with you, the readers.

The blog gives you a glimpse into a slice of my life. But that is all it is, a slice.

My life goes way beyond this blog. The most important thing in my life is my family. And for the 200th post on this blog I present a video of my wonderful boys as a tribute to my family.

It’s a recent video of the boys playing ball together. They are so cute and Ozzie (the baby) loves to play (and say!) ball. They, along with my incredible wife, are the greatest blessing I have.

Enjoy.

Crosses Honor Fallen Soldiers of All Faiths

rabbifink — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 07:01:43 +0000

We took the family to Santa Monica Pier on Sunday and our six year old son proved to be smarter than a Supreme Court Justice!

It is so beautiful to walk along the beach and observe all the excitement along the boardwalk and pier. As always, we had a great time in Santa Monica.

For the last few years there has been a protest / exhibit just north of the pier. The protestors are against war in general, the Iraq war in specific and pretty much the entire defense budget of the United States.

They call it Arlington West and they have set up a faux graveyard in the sand representing the fallen soldiers in what they call a criminal war.

It can be quite powerful when you see it.

As we walked by the lines and lines of crosses on this occasion, my 6 year old son asks, “How do they know all the soldiers who died were Christian? If they were Jewish or Muslim or ‘nothing’ they probably wouldn’t want a cross.”

Excellent point kiddo! Score one for the six year old.

In fact you may have heard about this exact issue arising in the Supreme Court of the United States in Salazar v. Buono. The issue in the case is an eight-foot high cross that was erected as a memorial to fallen soldiers in foreign wars.

The case made recent headlines when Justice Scalia could not fathom that a non-Christian would perhaps be offended by a Christian symbol as a memorial for the dead. The exchange between Justice Scalia and ACLU lawyer Peter J. Eliasburg went something like this:

JUSTICE SCALIA: The cross doesn’t honor non-Christians who fought in the war? Is that — is that –

MR. ELIASBERG: I believe that’s actually correct.

JUSTICE SCALIA: Where does it say that?

MR. ELIASBERG: It doesn’t say that, but a cross is the predominant symbol of Christianity and it signifies that Jesus is the son of God and died to redeem mankind for our sins, and I believe that’s why the Jewish war veterans –

JUSTICE SCALIA: It’s erected as a war memorial. I assume it is erected in honor of all of the war dead. It’s the — the cross is the — is the most common symbol of — of — of the resting place of the dead, and it doesn’t seem to me — what would you have them erect? A cross — some conglomerate of a cross, a Star of David, and you know, a Moslem half moon and star?

MR. ELIASBERG: Well, Justice Scalia, if I may go to your first point. The cross is the most common symbol of the resting place of Christians. I have been in Jewish cemeteries. There is never a cross on a tombstone of a Jew. (Laughter.)

MR. ELIASBERG: So it is the most common symbol to honor Christians.

JUSTICE SCALIA: I don’t think you can leap from that to the conclusion that the only war dead that that cross honors are the Christian war dead. I think that’s an outrageous conclusion.

MR. ELIASBERG: Well, my — the point of my — point here is to say that there is a reason the Jewish war veterans came in and said we don’t feel honored by this cross. This cross can’t honor us because it is a religious symbol of another religion.

(Credit: Huffington Post)

DovBear posted about this last week (Impeach Scalia) click for discussion there.

What amazes me is how my 6 year old son can see something so patently obvious and yet Justice Scalia can’t seem to process the concept…

Incredible.

Ozzie Is Growing Up, Are You?

rabbifink — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 16:44:40 +0000

Video Post

It has been a while since I posted a video of Ozzie. The last video showed him crawling to his toys. That was 4 months ago and boy how things have changed since then.

Even more has changed since I posted the first video of Ozzie playing a game.

Babies change every day. They learn new things every day. We can learn a lot from babies.

Especially at this time of year as we attempt to make changes in our lives. Sometimes it is hard to make change, I think it can be helpful to observe others who are succesful at learning to behaviors and attitudes. Babies definitely change drastically from day to day and month to month and year to year.

As adults we need to “re-learn” how to change. We need to be more like babies to a certain extent. We must be hungry for knowledge, quick to change and ready to adapt.

Ozzie understands a lot of words and can respond accordingly. In this video he is asked to “Bang” and he does so very well. Ozzie also says his first word. Incredibly it is the same first word that Rami said, “Uh-Oh”. He says it when things fall. In fact he said it recently and we thought he was kidding, but later we realized that he was right, we had dropped something…

Sometimes kids know best!

(By the way – if you are in the market for a new Digital Camera, I recommend getting this camera. It is very tiny and shoots HD video and is only about $200 – it shot the video on this page)

Enjoy the video.

Today's Sign The Apocalypse Is Upon Us

rabbifink — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 16:43:14 +0000

Yesterday morning I received a blogging gift.

Sometimes there is just not much to write and that’s every bloggers worst nightmare. I had a few things that were on my mind that I wished to share but none of those ideas fermented into anything worth posting.

I love blogging and I think it is important to supply fresh content as often as possible. It is no fun to see the same posts every day. I needed something new.

Then I went outside and I found what is perhaps the most disturbing flyer I have ever seen attached to my car.

Before my blogging days, I may have been annoyed with the person who stuck the flyer to my windsheield. But not this day. This flyer was so outrageous that I felt I must share it with you.

I present you with “alibisnpaybacks”.

Family Outing to Huntington Gardens

rabbifink — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 00:11:03 +0000

We took the family on a Sunday trip to Pasadena to see the famous Huntington Gardens.

Esteemed Pacific Jewish Center, Board Member, Alan Lipman first told me about this landmark a few months back. He described Huntington Gardens as a place of natural beauty, educational value and cultural significance. I had been looking forward to seeing the gardens in person ever since then.

Yesterday, I discovered for myself that Huntington Gardens is a “must see” attraction in the Los Angeles area.

Henry E. Huntington was a very wealthy man living at the turn of the (previous) century. He amassed great wealth and spent much of his time and money cultivating a large library of rare book and manuscripts as well as valuable artwork from around the world. On his property, Huntington built botanical gardens of various locales and cultures.

The entire property was donated to the public as a place of education and natural beauty.

We began our day in the library. There is a Guttenberg Bible prominently displayed just as you enter the library. I am always amazed by old books. My grandfather, Sidney Greenwald, had a huge collection of antique Jewish books that I just loved to peruse and listen to him tell the tales of each volume. To a slightly lesser degree I enjoy old secular books and books from other religions, but in any case, I am always drawn in by old books. The Huntington Library is incredible. I saw a first edition copy of The Federalist, I saw a facsimile of the original copy of the 13th Amendment abolishing slavery that Huntington owned and I saw Aesop’s Fables hand written from the 14th century. Of course there were many others as well. I was also pleasantly surprised by my 6 year old’s budding interest in the antique books; “a chip off the old block”.

We moved on from the library to the Children’s Gardens. There we found a wonderful exhibit on all types of flora from various climates and conditions. The exhibit is extremely kid friendly and any grade school child will love experimenting and learning as much as our son.

Just outside the doors of the exhibit is the actual Childrens Gardens. With fountains, tunnels and quaint play areas there was plenty to see and to do. We already had enough fun to make the trip worthwhile.

Then we went to see the Chinese Gardens and take the beautiful walk from the Chinese Gardens to the Japanese Gardens. The gardens are magnificent. The landscapes, use of water and bridges as well as plant life made us feel as if we were walking in a royal garden in a castle somewhere. The views were breathtaking and inspired a lit of photography. I found some similar photos to ours online so you can get an idea for what we were enjoying.

Pretty incredible. One thing that I really loved was the rock garden in the Japanese Garden (see top photo). It was so Zen and peaceful it made we wishfully consider having a Zen rock garden in my back yard.

After the Chinese and Japanese Gardens we quickly walked through the art gallery. Our children were getting tired and we only spent a few moments in the gallery. Needless to say, the art gallery is home to some absolutely stunning pieces of artwork. I loved the landscapes. The attention to detail, while giving the eye a chance to appreciate the entire canvas is truly an art form within an art form.

We ended our outing with a walk through the Rose Gardens.

It was time for us to leave and yet we already knew that we would return sometime soon to see the Jungle Gardens, the Palm Gardens and to spend more time in the art gallery.

In a city of superficiality and make-believe, The Huntington Gardens stand out as a wholesome, educational, beautiful place to visit.

I strongly recommend making it part of your itinerary. Whether you live in Los Angeles and are looking for a Sunday day trip or are planning a Los Angeles Vacation, the Huntington Gardens must be on your list.

Brett Favre, Treason and Teshuva

rabbifink — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 17:17:17 +0000

This week’s big sports news involved my favorite athlete to hate, Brett Favre.

I mentioned Favre a while back in a post about immaturity and athletes. Back then, I was contrasting the complimentary way in which Favre is recognized for his youthful exuberance and the way athletes who act immaturely and hold out for money or take PEDs are lambasted. (Read all about it here.)

I dislike Favre, but it is not really his fault. ESPN makes me hate Favre with over-reporting and unprofessional, blatant favoritism and flattery of Favre. It is just impossible to like a guy who is in the news that much.

For others, the hatred toward Favre is due to his “treachery”. To illustrate I have some photos for you.

You see, to most people the “real” Brett Favre is the one on left. He is wearing a Green Bay Packers jersey. Favre became a superstar in Green Bay and carried the franchise for a decade and half. Then he retired.

Retirement did not suit Favre well and he came out of retirement and was traded to the New York Jets, that is the middle picture. The Jets had to guarantee they would not parlay Favre to the hated Minnesota Vikings, lest they suffer a tremendous penalty. The season started well for Favre and his Jets, but the season was derailed and injury forced Favre into retirement, again.

In February 2009, Favre unequivocally stated that he will stay retired this time.

In June 2009, Favre expressed interest in returning to the NFL once again, this time as a Minnesota Viking. After flirting with the idea, Favre clearly expressed that he was not returning to the NFL and he was staying retired.

Yesterday, Favre signed a 2 year deal with the Vikings. That is the picture on the right.

To Packers fans this was treason. Like a Hatfield becoming a McCoy, a Montague becoming a Capulet or a Jet becoming a Shark, this was perfidy.

Packers fans are burning Favre jerseys in effigy for his mutiny.

Is it reasonable for an athlete or even a fan to think that treachery is possible in sports? How is this normal? Are sports so powerful that it becomes like a religion, a marriage or nationalism that is so important that if one changes teams it is treason?

Seriously. People take sports way too seriously. I enjoy sports, I follow sports and I watch a lot of sports. Don’t think for one second that I treat it like a religion. In fact I can prove it. I am a sports polygamist (see here for definition and the opposing point of view). I like a few teams in every sport. People look at me in horror when I explain to them that I like 2 NFL teams equally. Or that I follow 7 or 8 baseball teams. They don’t “accept me” as a real fan. “You can only root for one team” they say. Says who? Is it like religion where you need to choose? Is it like marriage, one wife or husband per person?

Favre sees through those “sports as religion” fanatics. Favre sees it as a game, as a business and as entertainment, and that is exactly what it is. He wants to play, he is going to play and he doesn’t care for whom.

There can only be treason when something is so important and vital that reneging on that thing is harmful. Sports are not in that category.

Another example of placing too much meaning in sports comes up in the Performance Enhancing Drugs in basbeall argumnent. You will hear critics say that the PEDs besmirch the sanctity of the game. Is there anything more self contradictory than “sanctity of a game”?!?! The whole is that is it is a game! An escape from sanctity! Sanctity is part of religion, not baseball. Sports are a game, entertainment. There is no sanctity and there is no treason.

But there are things that have sanctity and there is treason. As a Rabbi, I think it is supremely important for everyone to develop a theology that they believe in strongly. That belief should be strongly enough that reneging on that belief would be treacherous. We should constantly reevaluate our position,and perhaps treason is the right decision at some point, ala Raoul Wallenberg. The point is that we should find things in our life that we believe with conviction. We need an understanding of what is right and what is wrong, what is true and what is false.

As I heard many times from Rabbi Motti Berger, “Truth is something worth dying for and in some cases, worth killing for”. What is that truth?

Tonight is the first day of Elul. the last month of the Jewish calendar. That means judgment day is just a month away. It is high time to kick into gear and work out our true beliefs. Only when we know what we are willing to die for can we begin to live for something.

Why FinkOrSwim?

rabbifink — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 19:00:22 +0000

Finding the perfect blog URL is an adventure. The choices are endless and one’s mood can affect one’s opinion tremendously, leading to potential buyer’s remorse.

As I talked on the phone with my blog consultant, Judd Magilnick, we searched for the perfect concept. Our ideas ranged from the ultra bland, finkblog.com to the ultra creative ifinkican.com. We were having a hard time agreeing and my family was nixing just about every suggestion.

Eventually, finkorswim.com was suggested. Of course, there were some detractors at first, but as we realized the deeper connotations of finkorswim.com its appropriateness became apparent.

A play on words from “Sink or Swim”, finkorswim.com reminds us that if we don’t swim, we will sink. In fact the Talmud teaches us that a father is obligated to teach his child to swim. This is a lesson in parenting. A father must provide his child with the tools necessary to navigate through life. Further, a teacher is compared to a father in Judaism and students are compared to children.

A Rabbi is a teacher. It is my job, as the Rabbi of the Pacific Jewish Center in Venice, to help provide the tools necessary to “swim” in the sea of life. When I speak at Pacific Jewish Center or when I teach a class at PJC I try to provide some of those tools that we can learn from Torah to help our lives. Many of those classes are available here on the blog.

Another way I try to do my job of helping folks swim through the sea of life is by providing perspective on social issues, news items, ethical dilemmas and anything else that floats through my mind. Reading my thoughts on various subjects and reading the thoughts of other readers can also provide tools for swimming through life. Many of those thoughts and ramblings can also be found on this blog.

Another idea that finkorswim.com represents is a direct invitation to all. When you got to the beach you have a choice. You can go a swim or surf, or sunbathe or walk the boardwalk. But other times, you can also “fink” and come into the magical walls of the Pacific Jewish Center and study the ancient wisdom of the Torah. One can learn, socialize and grow tremendously as a person in our quaint Shul. There is a special feeling inside the Shul that I know you will feel once you come inside.

So, next time you are on Venice Beach, don’t forget, you can “fink” or ‘”swim”, or you can do both!

A Happy 2009 Birthday

rabbifink — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 17:36:23 +0000

Yesterday was my birthday.

I am not huge “birthday guy”. I love my children’s birthday more than my own birthday and my mother loves my birthday more than I do.

A lot of people know my birthday. Co-workers, family and friends all know my birthday. This year I got a ton of birthday wishes.

But it was different.

One summer when I was in sleepaway camp on my birthday I got like 250 “in person” birthday wishes. The guy who made the breakfast anouncements said “the 100th person who wishes Eliyahu Fink a Happy Birthday gets a free soda”. Everyone wanted a free soda so throughout the day random kids were wishing me Happy Birthday. I like that. It felt good to be acknowledged (birthday or not…).

This year, I was not in sleepaway camp and there were no contests.

I got 7 in person happy birthdays.

I got 2 phonecall happy birthdays.

I got 8 Twitter timeline happy birthdays.

I got 3 Twitter direct message happy birthdays.

I got 2 SMS Text happy birthdays.

I got 39 Facebook happy birthdays.

Notice a trend?

Yes, technology contributed tremendously to my birthday wishes.

I don’t have any major commentary about this, I just think it is notable. Social networking plays such an important role in our 2009 lives. It is not going to change so if you are not yet on Twitter or Facebook or leaving comments on blogs, you are a little behind the curve.

That’s okay. I am not saying we all need to be ahead of the curve. What I am saying is our world is trending into a more digital era.

Be ready!

Onymous Blogging

rabbifink — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 16:51:22 +0000

This post has been cross-posted to DovBear. – more discussion there.

Social Networking has been around for a long time. The term is nearly two centuries old and the concept perhaps 30 times that.

With the internet explosion around the new millennium social networking became all the rage on the world wide web. MySpace and others blazed the trail. Now, blogging, Facebook and Twitter are an integral part of our social landscape.

Naturally, I was drawn to these new age ways of using technology to create social networks. I’ve been on Facebook since its inception five years ago and joined Twitter a while ago and have only recently begun to blog.

Over the last few weeks some incredible things have happened that are direct results of social networking online.

A couple of weeks ago a lovely woman came to our Shul on the Beach for Shabbos morning services. At the Kiddush (where incredibly, we do not have Kugel) she approached me and introduced herself as “Rena, I follow you on Twitter”. Immediately I realized it was @Tinsbar from Baltimore. Rena was in LA for a few days and decided to come check out our Shul. Rena enjoyed her time spent at PJC and we enjoyed her company. In fact one community member even got some footwear recommendations from Rena!

When I related this story to a Shul Board Member, he said this is the new wave of Shuls. We have moved from being just a “Brick and Morter” Shul to a “Click and Mortar” Shul.

About a month ago I posted the story of a penniless Jewish artist on the beach who was homeless. He needed some money and I was not sure if he was a good candidate for Tzedaka and I posted my moral dilemma on DovBear.

As reported last week, an anonymous donor (living miles away from Los Angeles) who read the blog post here on DovBear, literally saved this man from a dire situation.

On Twitter I follow a wonderful couple from Connecticut. She is a blogging convert and is now in the process of a more stringent conversion that would be universally accepted. He is a fellow blogger as well who blogs about his relationship with his Judaism.

He recently discovered the wonderful Jewish town of Waterbury CT. With a Yeshiva, Day School, Shul, Mikva, Kosher restaurant and very affordable housing, Waterbury is quickly picking up young couples looking to settle (slightly) out of town. I read all about that on his “onymous” (it’s a new word that means ‘the opposite of anonymous’) blog.

My sister and brother in law live in Waterbury, I told him to call my brother in law and check out Waterbury. They set a date and spent a wonderful afternoon together.

In short all of this great stuff occurred as a direct result of blogging, Twitter and social-networking 2009 style. These events also occurred in many ways as a result of “onymous” blogging. The charity case required someone be known (in this case, me). There is no way Rena would have found me if I blogged and Twittered anonymously. And if I was an anonymous blogger I never would have connected my sister with two fellow Jews looking for friends and connections.

These are the benefits of “onymous” blogging.

On the other hand (term of art – remember that discussion?), anonymous blogging and Twittering is also great. In particular I point to DovBear’s blog as a bastion of anonymity and great discussion that would admittedly never happen if we all had faces, names and families. The unfortunate realities of the Frum world as they are, almost force us cower in fear when we disagree with authority or tradition and we tend to hide behind familiar rituals, thus avoiding conflict and we are safe behind the veil of secrecy that is anonymous blogging.

Anonymity gives the silent, a voice. It gives us all a chance to be heard.

In truth, we have other things to worry about as well. As Tikkun Olam pointed out, we have Frum leaders blanketing all bloggers as a negative force, when we know that is ridiculous. There are some negative forces and many positive forces in the J-Blogosphere.

Worse is the fear we all feel of expressing our opinions. My opinion on this is transparent as I blog “onymously”. Speak your mind, challenge what you don’t understand but never lose the art of respectful questioning. I am (usually) not afraid to speak my mind and challenge what I don’t understand and thus I don’t need to be anonymous. Plus, I support many of the traditional ideals that “they” espouse. But, the crux of the issue remains the environment which we have created and now support that does not allow for us to challenge.

I say created, and that is self evident. I say support because we “give in” to the cyber bullies that force us to remain anonymous. How much greater impact would have as a group if those whom we challenge knew that we were real people? They should know that we have Yeshiva educations, wonderful families and jobs and we are frustrated with the status quo. But to “them” we are words on a computer screen, not people.

Words are cheap. Words have no soul when they are anonymous. If we want to be heard we need to be people. People have souls and people need to be dealt with. It is easy to ignore anonymous bloggers. People with souls demand attention and can affect change.

Should we strive to create a Frum culture that allows for challenging and questioning?

Are we helping the situation by blogging anonymously?

Do we lose a lot by blogging anonymously?

Do we stand to lose more by “onymous” blogging?

Outreach on the Beach 6/14/09

rabbifink — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 17:27:00 +0000

Sunday was the launch of a new initiative at Pacific Jewish Center.

First, some matters of introduction.

We are blessed with an incredible location for our Shul.

Our Shul is on the Venice Beach Boardwalk. With thousands of tourists and locals walking along the boardwalk every week, it is a great spot to meet and greet Jewish people from all over the world.

The Shul is on such a perfect spot for meeting new people it would almost be criminal not to be there on Sundays!

This Sunday we began our “Outreach on the Beach” initiative. I was there for most of the afternoon and we had a chance to meet many interesting folks from Los Angeles and around the world.

I met an Iranian Jewish couple. We spoke for a little while and they confirmed what I wrote about last week related to the treatment of Mid-Eastern Jews outside of Israel.

I also met a South African Jew whose son had his Bar Mitzva at our Shul 20 years ago.

Then I met a Hollywood stunt man who wants his son to have his Bar Mitzva and maybe even in our Shul.

Later I met a wonderful woman whose son lives in Venice and is a very well known attorney.

Towards the end of the afternoon I met two friends who were originally from Holland. One now lives in Los Angeles and the other is still living just outside Amsterdam.

This was just a sample of some of the great people we met and I have included some photos that we took at the bottom of this post.

It was a lot of fun and I hope that over the summer we will meet many more Jewish people from around the world.

Click the arrow buttons to navigate the short slide show.

Take A Smile Break | Another Cute Baby Post

rabbifink — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 16:26:50 +0000

After yesterdays disturbing news and my sobering blog post about mid-eastern Jewry I thought something lighter would be appropriate for today.

Our son Ozzie, will be 7 months old in a couple of weeks.

There is nothing quite like the experience of observing a baby grow. They are completely helpless when they are born and they gain mobility, instinct and personality before your very eyes.

A few weeks ago, Ozzie learned how to play a game with us.

That was quite a milestone. Playful interaction is something all parents look forward too. After months of staring your baby in the eye and the baby staring back it is quite the moment when the baby responds in kind.

Over the past few weeks Ozzie has been learning how to crawl and play by himself. This is another exciting milestone as a baby gains the skill of mobility and independence.

It is a joy to watch and I want to share his cuteness with you.

<a href="http://youtube.com/watch?v=bo5mT7p140A&feature">http://youtube.com/watch?v=bo5mT7p140A&feature</a>

In light of recent tragedy, I hope this can bring a smile to your face.

Men (Learning) at Work

rabbifink — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 22:54:18 +0000

This blog post is about men learning at work. By learning, I mean studying Torah.

I taught a class today at Teichman Enterprises.

It was a really great experience and I was inspired and I want to share my feelings with you.

If you are looking for the Australian musical artists known as Men at Work who sing that great song called “Down Under” (the one the “Piamentas” ripped off and sing to the words “Asher Bara”) click here for Men at Work.

If you don’t know what I am talking about watch these two videos…

Okay – got that? Now Watch this:

<a href="http://youtube.com/watch?v=Fig44jXBpj4&feature">http://youtube.com/watch?v=Fig44jXBpj4&feature</a>

But I digress.

Back to our previously scheduled blog post.

I heard from my Rebbe that he is often approached by men who work long hours and feel as if they are spiritually drowning because they have such limited time to work on their spirituality.

His advice was that once a day, while at work we should contemplate on the reasons we are working. We are working to support a family, a wife, children, to provide the opportunity for them to grow Jewishly, so that we can send our children to expensive Jewish schools and so we can give charity, and so that we can experience a beautiful Shabbos together and if we are able to focus on that for just a moment it can make a tremendous difference in our work. Literally transforming our mundane job into a spiritual activity.

Truly, this is a beautiful idea.

Today I witnessed and participated in an equal if not better solution.

Teichman Enterprises has a weekly Torah class in their office. A catered lunch and a Rabbi teaching Torah is sure to insert some spirituality into a mundane work week. It is the perfect way to integrate the spiritual with the more mundane.

I was privileged to teach the class today and I was inspired. The attendees were attentive, interested and thoughtful.

It is impressive that so many people were willing to take time off from work to come hear words of Torah.

Notable among the attendees was Meish Wilson from Venice and the Pacific Jewish Center.

Today we learned about the special silver trumpets that were blasted before many moments in Jewish life. We learned about the root of sin and the path to recovery from sin as well.

I thoroughly enjoyed myself and I hope the attendees did as well.

(One correction, I mention R’ Yehuda HaLevi in the class, in fact it was R’ Shlomo Alkabetz, my error and I apologize.)

Today was a big day for iPhone owners and before the class we talked about the marvels of the iPhone over lunch. Thanks to the magic of the iPhone (and an app called iTalk) you can listen to the class on your computer right now!

Click below to listen.

Enjoy the class. (35 minutes)

Happy Birthday Tetris

rabbifink — Sun, 07 Jun 2009 18:40:25 +0000

June 6th. An auspicious date in history.

For most it a day known as D-Day. The day the Allies invaded Normandy.

I have the greatest respect and appreciation for the massive Ally effort to maintain freedom in our world. Thank you.

If you want to see more about that click here.

For others, it is also T-Day. What is T-Day? Nothing, I just made it up.

But it is the birthday of perhaps the greatest video game of all time.

Tetris.

Would you believe that Tetris is 25 years old today?

Yes. 25 years ago, a Soviet scientist named Alexey Pajitnov invented what has since become an international phenomena.

Everyone knows about Tetris and everyone has played Tetris. This is by no means scientific, I merely think this is the case… and if you have not played yet, read on.

The most famous version of Tetris came packaged with the original Nintendo Game Boy. That version iconic music is the only music that I accept as Tetris music.

The tune was even made into a dance music hit. I kid you not. Check it out.

<a href="http://youtube.com/watch?v=kc0JNt25GBM">http://youtube.com/watch?v=kc0JNt25GBM</a>

If you want to play the original Tetris on your computer you can play right now by clicking here.

Incredible!

Anyway, this is slightly Jewish related as well.

The original Tetris music as seen above is a Russian folk song. I have some Jewish Russian friends and they sing a Jewish children’s song to the same tune.

I remember when I heard that for the first time I thought that was pretty cool.

Happy Birthday Tetris.

Happy playing to the rest of us.

Does Your Kiddush Have Kugel?

rabbifink — Tue, 19 May 2009 06:33:46 +0000

There’s a fellow in the Los Angeles Jewish community named Hilly Zeitlin.

Hilly sends out daily emails with all the important goings on in Los Angeles. He does this for free and it is a tremendous service to the community. (If you want to join his email list click here to subscribe.)

Hilly comes to Pacific Jewish Center for our Sunday morning services most weeks, so we know him well.

From time to time Hilly sends jokes or funny video links. Today he sent a really funny youtube video, I just had to post it.

I can’t put my finger on why this is so funny, but it made me laugh out loud and it has garnered the same reaction from anyone else who I know has seen it.

What do you think? (Basic Hebrew required)

<a href="http://youtube.com/watch?v=5wVCOu2PTeU">http://youtube.com/watch?v=5wVCOu2PTeU</a>

Does your Kiddush have Kugel?

I Could Not Help Myself

rabbifink — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 08:06:51 +0000

I just had to post this video.

While I was at school today, my 5 month old son, Ozzie, learned a new trick.

It is so incredible seeing our baby grow more and more each day. It seems like just a short while ago he was unable to interact with us and now he is playing games with his mommy.

Reminds me that we too should be growing each day…

My ever resourceful wife captured it on video. I am so grateful to her (and to whoever thought it would be a good idea to add video recording to my Canon point and shoot digicam). You have got to see this video!

<a href="http://youtube.com/watch?v=VEvUhHnEuYA">http://youtube.com/watch?v=VEvUhHnEuYA</a>

Plus, my wife even called me when the Ozman was performing so I could hear it over the phone!

That was the highlight of my day.

A Nation's Challenge and "Seabiscuits"

rabbifink — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 00:07:21 +0000

Today was closing day at Santa Anita Park. That means the season of horse racing has come to a close at Santa Anita Park and I was there.

Today, we took the boys to see the ponies run.

Previously, we lived in Baltimore MD, home of The Preakness at Pimlico Race Track. The Preakness is one leg in the Triple Crown. In fact we lived right around the corner from Pimlico and we always thought about going to the track for a day at the races. For some reason, we never actually made the 2 minute trip to Pimlico and never saw a race in person.

Today we drove 35 minutes to Santa Anita Park and we experienced our first day at the races. It was amazing. I learned a lot about a lot of things.

First of all, I saw a dad with his 3 sons, ranging from the ages of 9-14. Incredibly, he was teaching them how to bet on the races.Is this considered normal? Are pre-teens supposed to be betting on horse races? Needless to say, this was disturbing to me.

Second, I have known about Santa Anita for some time now. One of the most poignant films that I have ever seen is Seabiscuit. The story is simply about a horse, its owner, trainer and jockey. The spirits of these characters has been broken. The horse wins race after unlikely race lifting the spirits of its team and the ultimately the entire nation. As the United States tries to extricate itself from the Great Depression the horse represents their struggle. The story is powerful, the cinematography is beautiful and the point is made subtly.

A key part of the film occurs at Santa Anita Park. Santa Anita has a statue of Seabiscuit as well as a small Seabiscuit museum. So, ever since seeing the film I have wanted to visit Santa Anita. Today I saw Santa Anita.

It is beautiful in Pasadena and Santa Anita did not disappoint in that regard. The races were not terribly exciting, especially because I did not place any bets. What I loved was the pageantry. The trumpets, men in suits, shiny jockey uniforms and play-by-play in the “Queens’s English” all made the atmosphere unique.

Due to the Seabiscuit connection, I remembered the film and its message. The Nation was recovering in 1937 and a National sports hero sparked the hearts of the people. It happened again in history in 1980. The “Miracle in Ice” captured the imagination of the country as a ragged group of young men defeated the seasoned, clinical, (evil) USSR Soviet National Hockey Team in the 1980 Winter Olympics Medal Round. The surprising victory launched (you must watch that clip) Al Michaels‘s career and inspired a nation to rebound from a tough decade (the 70′s).

Then I read about the Hungarian Seabiscuit in the NY Times. In Hungary, the country is recovering from economic turmoil and they’ve given their hearts to a horse. An undefeated horse that is inspiring their nation.

We need a mascot. America is ready to recover, to rebuild, to rethink its priorities (as I have mentioned previously), I think we just need something inspiring to get the juices flowing.

Will we need to wait for the 2010 Winter Games? Will America’s National Pastime provide a true hero?

All of this, from a short outing at Santa Anita Park…

Matza in the NY Times and In Our TImes

rabbifink — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 21:16:46 +0000

To be fair I have had my share of criticism of the New York Times. I don’t call them anti-Semitic though, that just reminds me of Uncle Leo in the Shower Head Seinfeld episode. Uncle Leo’s burger is medium instead of rare so he assumes the chef must be an anti-Semite… That doesn’t stop these guys from going in that direction. (I found them in a google search result, I have never heard of them before…) Maybe Unlce Leo writes for the “American Thinker”.

And when the NY Times has an article that paints Jews in a positive light I feel equally compelled to raise the issue,

A few days ago the NY Times “Bitten” blog ran a great article on April 1st / Fools Day, (tongue in cheek I suppose, but one never knows) about how Matza is just like Pizza – only better! The article takes a few stabs at the price of Shmura Matza (near $20 a pound) which is a legitimare gripe and gives a decent description of the process by which matza is fashioned and baked.

The line that makes the article is the close.

Shmura matzoh is an authentic product — not the re-creation of one — and authenticity is to be prized, especially when it tastes so good.

Pesach is the most celebrated Jewish holiday. Varioations and modern reincarnations of the Seder are everywhere we turn. I think that the original, authentic Seder is powerful enough and vast enough for years and years of discussion that we don’t need new versions. The original has plenty to offer us. But at least for everyone the Matza remains authentic. The Matza does not get adulterated.

The Seder reenacts and reminds us how the Jewish tribe became a nation. The Jewish people remain a nation because its precepts and tenets remain viable unchanged.

It’s a shame that the celebration of the birth of the Jewish people by many Jews would be unrecognizable to those who experienced the very first Seder. The authentic Seder tastes so good – we don’t need to change it! There are plenty of ways to bring your creativity to the traditional Seder.

The Matza reminds us all of what a Seder is all about – authenticity..

Where The Wild Things Are

rabbifink — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 01:36:47 +0000

It is not my style to post a movie trailer on this blog. However, after watching the trailer for the upcoming movie of the famous Maurice Sendak book, Where the Wild Things Are, I was compelled to share my thoughts on the trailer.

First, my thoughts on the book. 1) Never send your child to bed without dinner, it is cruel and it makes me want to cry when I contemplate the very idea, 2) a child’s life should be so wonderful that they don’t need to “escape” to where the wild things are.

Second, my thoughts on the trailer. This is a perfectly executed trailer in one respect and a failure in another respect.

Click the play button on the video to watch the video. And watch it with feeling…

My thoughts…

The trailer is perfectly executed in the respect that the trailer is a work of art independent of the film. This is great entertainment on its own, even if no full length feature would ever follow the trailer. The artistry is tremendous, note the font of the text, note the music, the lyrics to the song and the cutting of the trailer action in sync with the music. It is perfection. It is so perfect that the trailer, in its two minutes, has the power to move us.

Anyone that I have shown this trailer has been moved. What is so moving about the trailer?

I think its secret lies in the beauty of childhood. We all wish we could return to the innocence and freedom of childhood. The world is a tough place sometimes and generally children are immune to the larger issues facing the adult world.

This innocence is captured perfectly by the trailer.

Also, the words of the song are so telling. “If children don’t grow up / our bodies get bigger but our hearts get torn up”. The dangers of not growing up are real. If we are children going through adult lives and situations the pain and heartache of adult life will be too much for that child to bear.

As has been mentioned previously on this blog, we all have a child inside us. That child inside us is moved by this trailer. It almost seems like the child inside us wants to turn back the clock when we watch this trailer.

This is why it moves us.

The trailer is a failure (that rhymes) because due to its outstanding artistry I don’t feel like I want to see the film! The trailer is certainly going to be better than the film. That kind of emotion cannot be maintained over the course of a 100 minute movie. The trailer is the peak of this story.

The Wave

rabbifink — Mon, 26 Jan 2009 16:06:51 +0000

Yesterday we took the boys to Adventure City. We had a great time. The rides are perfect for a 5 year old like Rami and he was able to hop onto any ride he wanted with no wait. Some of the rides there are pretty intense and yet Rami was undeterred. I am blogging today because of two women. The first of those women is pictured below waving excitedly. We will get to the second woman shortly.

I am certain that you have noticed that all amusement / theme parks must have a train which goes around the park. This is an unwritten rule in the theme park code which if not adhered to can have dire consequences for the park. Towards the end of our stay at Adventure City we decide to board the train. I love the theme park train stations. They have all the “destinations” with arrows showing the direction you must travel to reach those destination and the mileage to each location as well.

The next best part of the station is the nostalgic luggage. They have the same thing at Ellis Island so I guess this is really important!

Finally the train arrives. The conductor is an old man with a hat that is striped blue and white. We got on the train and began our journey. As we made or way around the vast expanses of Adventure City Tova (my wife) – the second woman in the story, made such a great observation. Whenever the train passes someone that person feels this uncontrollable urge to wave at the train and its passengers. Why do they do this? These same people don’t wave when we walk by them. We would think they were crazy if they just waved excitedly every time someone passed them by. Imagine if the old lady on top had to wave to everybody she saw all day. She would go bonkers! Why do they wave when we pass them by train? This got me thinking – where does waving come from? Who invented it? Is waving to say hello universal? When did it begin? I did some research on Wikipedia and around the web but found nothing substantive. So I am looking for answers. In general – what is this waving all about? Origins? Where is it used? Why this gesture?

As important as all this is there is a more important issue here. What is the reason people feel compelled to wave at the train passengers? I know there must be something to it. The sign at the Adventure City train station even has safety rules for waving. But the sign does not explain WHY I should wave as the train goes by…

I can’t help but think that there is something profound and important connected with all this wave talk – I just can’t put my finger on it yet…

So I am looking for ideas from you!