Pacific Jewish Center | Rabbi » Gary Dalin

KCET Departures Features Pacific Jewish Center

rabbifink — Thu, 03 Jun 2010 19:27:34 +0000

Back in November I wrote about our local PBS station, KCET, coming to visit us one morning to be part of their Departures Online Series. (KCET Visits PJC and Interviews Me). At the time, we were told that the project would be online in March or April. Not hearing from the producers since the interview I had a feeling that the project was dead.

I am happy to say that I was pleasantly surprised when I was treated to an email from producer Justin Cram that the Web Series was online and we were part of it!

This is the second time we have been featured in a wonderful online video project. Just a few weeks ago we were featured on MSNBC.com. (Pacific Jewish Center Featured on MSNBC.com)

The Departures project is massive. Departures is a journey around Los Angeles and into the heart and soul of the City. You could spend hours, perhaps days, discovering more and more about local Los Angeles. The series features stunning photography, interactive murals, video and a wealth of first hand information.

I am amazed at the quality of Departures and really recommend checking out the section on Pacific Jewish Center as well as the hundreds of other stories.

KCET came to visit us at morning services. I am photographed wearing my tallis and tefilin (phylacteries), no, it is not a mohawk.

Gary Dalin was interviewed about the history of our Shul and he gets 3 segments and I get 2 segments. Please watch below.

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Visit Pacific Jewish Center on KCET Departures here: Departures/PJC

Visit Departures here: Departures

KCET Visits PJC and Interviews Me

rabbifink — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 18:13:40 +0000

KCET (the local PBS affiliate) has been working on a city-wide project. It is called Departures and it focuses on the people and places that make the neighborhoods of Los Angeles. For the last six weeks they have been working on Venice. Today they came to the Pacific Jewish Center Shul on the Beach to learn about us and to be included in their upcoming Venice piece.

It was a true honor and privilege to be a part of this worthwhile project. The production should be finished in February and I look forward to seeing that.

The camera crew shot some footage of our morning services and did two interviews. First, they interview Gary Dalin. Gary has been part of PJC since 1979 and provided great insight into the rich history of Pacific Jewish Center and the greater Venice Jewish community. He was eloquent and impressive in his interview and represented us very well. Great job Gary!

I was interviewed next. I hope I did okay. I myself have interviewed so many Jewish College student on camera and made those interviews into documentaries, so I know how hard it can be. (For two of my videos click here for JAM 2006 and click here for Chase Edler.) Among many topics, we talked about the juxtaposition of the historic quality of the Shul on the Beach to the future of outreach including this blog and my relative youth as a Rabbi. We also talked about the role the Shul plays in the boardwalk community, surrounded by the wild atmosphere of the boardwalk. It wasn’t too long, maybe a 35 minute interview in total, but we covered a lot of topics. Of course, there were some delinquents that felt the need to disturb us, that is just life on Venice Boardwalk…

I hope the final product reflects well on our special community and those who see it are inspired at least to check us out some time. I ended the interview with an open invitation to anyone who would like to see what we are all about and I extend that invitation to all of you reading this right now.

I also, want to thank Justin, Dan and Matt for including us in this project. I wish you much success in this endeavor and anything you do in the future.

Here are a couple pictures that Leslie Friedman took with her BlackBerry during the interview.

Twitter Your Prayers

rabbifink — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 17:11:25 +0000

This Post Has Been Cross Posted to DovBear.

The morning before Rosh Hashana there is a custom to recite extended Slichos in Shul.

Led by Gary Dalin, the services this morning were wonderful. Thank you Gary.

The Slichos are mostly Medieval era poetry designed to arouse the soul within to make amends for all wrongs committed during the year. As we approach the judgment of Rosh Hashana we bolster our efforts in securing a good verdict with the extra Slichos.

As the Slichos are written using a complex, poetic formula it is necessary to use a prayer book with translated versions of the Slichos to help us understand what we are reading in the original Hebrew.

Sometimes, the translations are nearly as difficult to understand as the original. There was one very familiar word found in Slicha #38.

After Slichos this morning, Alan Danziger pointed out this little gem to me.

(Artscroll Slichos 389)

It seems that the Paytan (composer of the Selicha) was either on Twitter sometime before 1234 CE or was prophesizing ~800 into the future.

In all seriousness, Prayer can be effective through any medium. Whether you pray in your heart, with your lips, in print or digitally, the main thing is to be sincere and to use Prayer as a tool for developing a deeper relationship with God.

It is clear that from the Rosh Hashana liturgy that a primary task of Rosh Hashana is to anoint and accept God as our King. We use the Shofar and our Prayers to accomplish this goal.

There is a Mechilta in Yisro that says that gratitude for what God has done for us is the key to open the door for those feelings to penetrate and enable us to make God our King of our lives. Think about all the wonderful things that we have in life. Appreciate them and use those emotions to propel you to proclaim God as our King.

May we all merit to see the day that God’s dominion is clear to all.

Gmar Chasima Tova to each and every one of you.