Online Edition WILSHIRE Please call to obtain a full printed copy. BOULEVARD TEMPLE BULLETIN Volume 97, Number 6 • June 1, 2010 ake some time this summer for yourself and the people you love 4. The Zimmer Children’s Musuem is another delightful and Tto discover the amazing array of Jewish museums, historical sites educational place for children. They can learn about tzedakah, and cuisine Los Angeles has to offer. Here are a few of my sugges- see a replica of the Western Wall in Jerusalem, learn about tions for you and your family. Of course, I have to begin with food. Jewish heroes, and enjoy art, cooking classes and more. 1. If you have never had a hand carved, double thick pastrami 6505 Wilshire Boulevard. on crispy-on-the-outside, soft-on-the-inside, twice-baked rye 5. The Museum of Tolerance will make an important and last- from Langer’s Deli, you are missing one of life’s great pleasures. ing impression on children and adults alike. The Museum of Even the New York Times called it the best in the country. Tolerance helps people understand how something like the Langer’s is located at 704 South Alvarado. Holocaust was possible and what needs to be done to prevent a 2. From Langer’s it’s a short drive to the Breed Street Shul. Built similar tragedy against Jews or others in the future. There is also in 1923, the Breed Street Shul was the largest synagogue build- much to learn here for children and adults about civil rights, ing west of Chicago until Wilshire Boulevard Temple opened the history of segregation, understanding our own genealogy in 1929. Designed by the same architect who designed our and appreciating the uniqueness of every culture and individual. sanctuary, although now in disrepair, remnants of a beautiful 9786 West Pico Boulevard. carved ark, windows, and decorative paintings remain. Contact 6. Wilshire Boulevard Temple’s sanctuary is arguably the most the Jewish Historical Society of Southern California for tour architecturally significant room in Los Angeles. This summer you information (323) 761-8950. can learn about the renovation plans, get an up close view and 3. The Skirball Cultural Center is always worth the trip. In addi- history of the Warner Murals, the incredible windows, dome, tion to the incredible ongoing Noah’s Ark exhibit, you can also bimah, ark and other features that make our sanctuary such take your children and grandchildren to Monsters and Miracles; an inspiring place. For tour information call Mike Curtis A Journey Through Jewish Picture Books, and spend some time (213) 388-2401. yourself at the Jews on Vinyl exhibit spanning the history of Rabbi Steven Z. Leder American Jews and music. 2701 North Sepulveda Boulevard. In This Issue 7th Annual G lf Classic Nursery School Assisting the Homeless Torah Portion Check out the June Torah summaries by visiting our website: www.wbtla.org Seeing Through Different Eyes “Seeing is Believing.” “I wouldn’t believe it if I didn’t see it with my own eyes.” ften, we want empirical proof to believe something. At perception, and potential. They saw themselves as small and Othis juncture in the Book of Numbers, the Israelites have insignificant, therefore they assumed that the residents of the wandered the desert for two years since leaving Egypt and have land saw them the same way. the Promised Land in sight! Moses sends twelve emissaries to re- We need confidence in ourselves to have faith in what we port back about this special land that God has promised them. cannot see. This inability to see through different eyes is the Is God’s promise insufficient? The Israelites seem to require reason why the generation that left Egypt could never actually eyewitness accounts to affirm God’s assurance of their posses- reach the Promised Land, even though they stood right at its sion of this beautiful and bountiful land. borders. Let us learn from our ancestors that faith comes from Their accounts, however, do not reaffirm the Divine self-affirmation. We must believe beyond only what we see to promise. Rather, ten of the scouts reported of a land filled continue to merit our heritage of truth and righteousness. with giants where, “we looked like grasshoppers to ourselves, Cantor Susan Caro and so we must have looked to them.” (Numbers 13:33). Their venture, it seems, was a test of self- Plugged In abbi Leder spent two weeks Rin Uganda last month touring small villages with American Jewish World Service and Wilshire Boulevard Temple families. If you were unable to participate, we have the next best thing: Visit our website to watch this six-minute video of photographs from the trip narrated by Rabbi Leder. Hear him describe the desperate living conditions of the Ugandans, their indomitable spirit despite such difficulties and listen to him read his TAKE YOUR FAMILY TO final journal entry from the trip. The video is quite moving and well worth with with Rabbi Leder and American Jewish World Service the six-minute break in your day. UGANDA has created a specially tailored travel experience for Wilshire Boulevard Temple members, to be co-led by www.wbtla.org AJWS Rabbi Leder and Ruth Messinger, AJWS President. With separate programming tracks for parents and teenagers during the day, this trip will open our eyes to Africa—its beauty, its challenges and our own responsibilities as Jewish global citizens Adults will meet AJWS’s extraordinary grassroots partners in Kampala and rural eastern Uganda, who are working tirelessly to combat HIV/AIDS, promote children’s rights and improve the quality of life for some of the most disadvantaged communities in the region. Young people (ages 13 and older) will fuel their passion for grassroots change through hands-on volunteer service, painting, planting and building vital structures in local grassroots organizations. They will learn from hands-on experience what it takes for a community to overcome poverty, hunger and discrimination, from the ground up. 2 Everyone will come together for lively family dinners and a group day of service. Each day’s programming will include exploration of Jewish texts and values related to social justice. 4March 28 to April 7, 2010 Cost (excluding international airfare): $4,600 based on double occupancy. Single supplement fee: $1,000. Service fee: $1,000. Minimum number of travellers: 20 In addition: Spend Passover in Uganda! Join the Abayudaya Jewish Community and AJWS for a once-in-a-lifetime Passover Experience For more information about AJWS Study Tours, please contact Rena Dascal at 212.792.2829, [email protected] or visit www.ajws.org/studytours. Tikkun Olam The Importance of One... Plus One, Equals... Success! “Roll up your sleeves / hold back the dam / every child, woman and man / you, too, gotta lend a hand” o begins a brand new song by Jakob Dylan (son of Bob) and local feeding centers, 65 dozen homemade cookies to sweeten Sits words fit so perfectly with Wilshire Boulevard Temple’s lives not accustomed to having warm baked goods, 100 care involvement in BIG SUNDAY. It was a day of true personalized packages for our U.S. Marine Corps friends in Afghanistan, 30 tzedakah! YOU made it happen. YOU changed the world by No-Sew Blankets warming the nights of babies who didn’t have changing the lives of so many individuals, one mitzvah at a time. them, 19 boxes of great books for all ages of children and adults, YOU were changed by the reflective participation in so many 70 backpacks filled with clothing and personal items for home- g’milut chasadim, acts of loving kindness. Perhaps, because of all less teens, 75 cell phones to be reconditioned for those who have you have done, you are seeing the world with greater commit- no way of keeping in touch, a new garden and a freshly painted ment and in a new light. library, $1000 for clean water projects in Haiti and Darfur… Watching adults, teenagers and children, working together Wilshire Boulevard Temple, YOU rock with mitzvot! on projects that were designed for immediate consumption Children and adults created projects which were reflec- and distribution, we were amazed at the total effort exhibited. tions of shared visions and raised consciousness. In the words of Naaseh v’nishmah we did, and we certainly heard the call to be Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel: I am convinced that the sense part of the solutions in tikkun olam, repairing our world. More of meaning grows, not by spectacular acts, but by quiet deeds, than 18 life sustaining projects were compassionately completed. day by day. Thank you andYashir Koach on a job well done. 44 pints of blood, enough beautiful hair to create 2 wigs for a Vinny Green, Director of Curriculum & woman and a child undergoing treatment, 700 sandwiches to 3 Educator Development, Religious School Adult Opportunities in a relationship with the One that will allow prayer to open Summer Reading our hearts. His book is not sermonic—it is conversational and experiential and moves each of us in our own spiritual quest. ( h, for the bliss of a good summer read that captivates my Jewish Lights, 2010) Amind, enough but not too much! Summer is a chance to Philosophy: Rabbi Harold M. Schulweis keeps us on our catch up on the “want to” and the “wish-I-could-get-to” book toes as he grapples with Conscience: The Duty to Obey and the lists. Here are a few books that I’m thinking of reading, now Duty to Disobey (Jewish Lights Publishing, 2010). He defines that there is a little space on my nightstand.