If not for a few hanging chads in Florida at the turn of the millenium, America may have gotten its first Jewish vice president. The passing of Senator Joe Lieberman calls to mind a different era in American politics when the nation’s biggest concern was how to spend the budget surplus and the idea of...
Many a rabbi cringes at the description of Purim as Jewish Halloween. Although there are doubtless similarities between the two, namely the focus on candy and costumes, the differences are vast. As a sort of teachable moment, Hebrew School educators will make an important distinction between the two holidays to their students. Halloween’s trick-or-treaters threaten...
Did Moses drink beer? It all boils down to one He’Brew word: שכר (pronounced shay-khar) Mentioned six times in the Torah, the translation of שכר has been hotly debated for thousands of years. Before you think these were just a bunch of rabbis in Babylon getting wasted on the synagogue’s dime before engaging in abstract...
***In honor of International Women’s Day, the JCC welcomes Israeli attorney and public policy specialist Ayelet Razin Bet Or to address us on Friday evening at 8:30pm. The topic of the lecture and discussion will be wide-ranging but with specific focus on women’s rights in Israel. All are welcome.*** “Resolved that we, Jewish women, sincerely...
An inquiry email from an Angeleno landed in the JCC inbox this week: “Shalom. I will be visiting in March and wanted to know if there are any Israeli dancing classes anywhere?” What followed was a fierce debate in the office as to whether ‘Israeli Dancing’ as a concept even exists. The American and Israeli...
Not since February 2016 has the calendrical oddity known as a leap year occurred simultaneously in the Jewish and secular world. The Gregorian calendar adds an extra day every four years giving children born on February 29th, known as leaplings, an extra bureaucratic nightmare to deal with for the rest of their lives. The Hebrew...
Monday morning’s dramatic rescue of two Argentinian-Israeli captives provides much-needed hope that the remaining 101 hostages believed to still be alive in Gaza will return to Israel. Norberto Louis Har and Fernando Marman had been kidnapped together on October 7th with three female family members who were released in November. The reunification represents an echo...
***Please RSVP for Adam Berman’s Bar Mitzvah Lunch THIS Saturday 2/3 on our Events Page *** The Season 8 episode of Curb Your Enthusiasm when Larry finalizes his divorce from Cheryl contains a hilarious scene where Larry’s lawyer Andrew Berg, who keeps a shofar on his desk and a mezuzah on his office door, is...
***Please RSVP for Adam Berman’s Bar Mitzvah Lunch next Saturday 2/3 on our Events Page: https://jccjapan.jp/event-registration/ *** Scholar. Soldier. Rabbi. Vegetarian. Japanophile? These and many other superlatives are often attributed to Shlomo Goren, the first Chief Rabbi of the Israel Defense Forces (1948-1968). Born in Poland 1917, Shlomo Goren emigrated in 1925 to the budding...
As Jewish fans of Sumo (no, we don’t call ourselves Jew-mos) get ready for the second week of Ryogoku Kokugikan’s January Tournament, the question inevitably comes up. Has there ever been a Jewish sumo wrestler? Although the JCC has not yet served the Sumo Stew known as Chanko Nabe, Judaism provides a substitute in the...