Judaism

The Vatican's influential Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, who upset Jewish leaders last year with published remarks suggesting that Judaism finds its fulfillment in Christianity, told reporters here that Roman Catholics do respect the Jews' understanding of their own Scripture and faith. "They are the owners of the Old Testament," he said.

Jerusalem, Jerusalem How the Ancient City Ignited Our Modern World James Carroll Houghton Mifflin Harcourt: 418 pp., $28 James Carroll's latest book is very ambitious. Invoking history, anthropology, social psychology, geography and theology, the author, a former Catholic priest, delves into the stories of the violence unleashed by the organized religions of Judaism, Christianity and Islam throughout their existence. He anchors the book by describing how each has used the city of Jerusalem, holy to all three, as a symbol or metaphor or touchstone.

The bat mitzvah girl was not alone. There were nine of her, dancing like a bat mitzvah-girl chorus line across nine--count 'em, nine--television sets. "This is broadcasting television technology that we're making available to the bar mitzvah market," said Vince Doyle, a bar mitzvah professional, as he hovered before his flashing "video wall" at Los Angeles' first bar mitzvah planning show Sunday. "You can turn it into the 'Arsenio Hall Show.' " Oy. So you want to do a bar mitzvah?

Three hundred rabbis walk into a Las Vegas martini lounge. Bartenders scramble to handle the crowd — the rabbis are thirsty. Suddenly, an Elvis impersonator takes the stage. We are faced with two possibilities. One, this is the beginning of a joke. Two, they don't make rabbis the way they used to. The Rabbinical Assembly, the clerical arm of Conservative Judaism, would have you believe the second message, or something like it. That's why it launched its 2011 convention with a martini reception at a Las Vegas synagogue.

In a crumbling brick building on the edge of the city's downtown arts and culture center, Rabbi Brian Lurie dreams of creating an institution that will help define an American Jewish identity for the 21st century. He talks of filling his new Jewish Center with a kaleidoscope of interactive, ever-changing exhibits aimed at introducing visitors to Judaism and challenging them to reshape it.

Christians know that the Christian calendar starts from the birth of Jesus. Muslims know that the Muslim calendar begins with the flight of Mohammed from Mecca to Medina. But most Jews would be hard pressed to explain what happened 5750 years ago and why the Jewish calendar begins with that event, which will be commemorated this year on Friday evening. Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, begins the introspective 10-day period called the High Holy Days, culminating at sundown on Yom Kippur, Oct.

Christian pop music played quietly in the background as instructor Bryan Brock led a recent yoga class at the nondenominational Church at Rocky Peak in Chatsworth. Incorporating prayer and readings from the Bible, Brock urged his class of about 20 students to find strength in their connection to their creator through yoga's deep, controlled breathing. "The goal of Christian yoga is to open ourselves up to God," he said. "It allows us to blur the line between the physical and the spiritual."

Barbara Mendes believes her life has been a series of miracles. Certain events have led her to embrace Judaism and paint vividly colored biblical narratives based on Genesis, Exodus and now Leviticus, the third book of the Torah. "Vayikra Mural," her newest work, is a 6-by-16-foot mural depicting the book's 859 verses in tiny, intricately detailed pictures. Mendes, an Orthodox Jew, said she names her murals in Hebrew to emphasize the language's use in the Bible. The latest mural, on display in her Pico-Robertson gallery, took her more than three years to complete, with the illustrations of each verse numbered so viewers can find it in the Bible.

Reform Judaism's synagogue union praised President Bush's leadership since Sept. 11, while urging him to preserve civil liberties during the war on terror. The Union of American Hebrew Congregations, representing more than 900 liberal synagogues, issued the resolution at its biennial conference. The union praised Bush as a model of service and tolerance for trying to protect civilians in U.S. airstrikes and for condemning "our home-grown fundamentalists."

After several frustrating years of trying to break the male-only barrier, 14 women were inducted into Conservative Judaism's Cantors Assembly during the international body's annual convention this week in Los Angeles. Conservative Judaism, which has often taken middle positions between liberal Reform Jews and the strictly conservative Orthodox, ordained its first woman rabbi in 1985. Reform Judaism already had women cantors and rabbis; Orthodoxy has remained solidly against any change.

On a recent weekday evening in Santa Monica, seven Muslim and five Jewish women gathered around a dining room table laden with homemade foods prepared in accordance with the dietary laws of both faiths. One by one, the women lighted candles, each saying a few words to mark the eighth anniversary of the West Los Angeles Cousins Club, a grassroots discussion group that explores spirituality and mutual understanding. "Before we started the Cousins Club, I never even knew a Muslim person," said Shayna Lester, who hosted the anniversary meeting.

Gilad Kariv has been indefatigable in his battle against the dominance of Israel's Orthodox community. The 36-year-old rabbi, and lawyer by training, had fought court battles seeking state recognition and funding for the more liberal Jewish movements for four years before being tapped last year to head the Israel Movement for Progressive Judaism, which represents the less strict Reform stream in Israel. The position thrusts Kariv into the sometimes heated relationship between the liberal Reform movement, which ordains women and openly gay individuals as rabbis and permits Jews to drive to synagogue on the Sabbath, and the Orthodox movement, which prohibits such actions and follows a strict interpretation of Jewish law. He recently spoke with the Los Angeles Times: Why does the Reform movement remain fairly insignificant in Israelis' religious life?

Christian pop music played quietly in the background as instructor Bryan Brock led a recent yoga class at the nondenominational Church at Rocky Peak in Chatsworth. Incorporating prayer and readings from the Bible, Brock urged his class of about 20 students to find strength in their connection to their creator through yoga's deep, controlled breathing. "The goal of Christian yoga is to open ourselves up to God," he said. "It allows us to blur the line between the physical and the spiritual."

Why is this day unlike any other day? As Jews worldwide prepare to celebrate next week their liberation from slavery, a group of Los Angeles Jews went to Boyle Heights on Sunday to ask that variation of their traditional Passover Seder question. The answer, however, did not recount Jewish oppression in Egypt as is customary. Activists from major Jewish organizations instead focused on what they see as a modern injustice afflicting their fellow Angelenos, marking the day with a new push to bring quality grocery markets and healthful food to underserved neighborhoods such as East Los Angeles.

Barbara Mendes believes her life has been a series of miracles. Certain events have led her to embrace Judaism and paint vividly colored biblical narratives based on Genesis, Exodus and now Leviticus, the third book of the Torah. "Vayikra Mural," her newest work, is a 6-by-16-foot mural depicting the book's 859 verses in tiny, intricately detailed pictures. Mendes, an Orthodox Jew, said she names her murals in Hebrew to emphasize the language's use in the Bible. The latest mural, on display in her Pico-Robertson gallery, took her more than three years to complete, with the illustrations of each verse numbered so viewers can find it in the Bible.

The Western Wall is a unifying spiritual magnet for Jews the world over. It is also a place of contention over a rule by its Orthodox custodians that forbids women from standing beside men while praying there. So how to worship was a sensitive question for 17 leading Los Angeles rabbis, including two women, as they strolled toward the sacred site one evening this week. The itinerary called for "private prayer," but as they entered the plaza one of the men quietly asked Rabbis Laura Geller and Sharon Brous to join him and others.

A group of prominent Christian scholars has issued a 10-point statement that says teaching contempt for Judaism "dishonors God." The document is a response to a declaration issued by Jewish leaders in 2000 urging Jews to reexamine their understanding of Christianity.

For many local retailers, holiday business is still gathering steam. But for Lauree Feigenbaum, a busy season has just about wrapped up. Feigenbaum owns Judaica, a mail order business featuring Jewish crafts and gifts. She began taking Hanukkah orders back in August for items such as her confetti shaped like mini menorahs, her menorah T-shirt with battery-operated flickering candles, and her Hanukkah cross-stitch kits.

Alfred Gottschalk, a leader of Reform Judaism who ordained the first American woman rabbi and headed Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion for three decades, died Saturday in Cincinnati. He was 79. A Hebrew Union official said Gottschalk died from complications following an automobile accident late last year Gottschalk, who escaped the Holocaust as a child in Germany, oversaw the expansion of Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion, the Reform seminary and graduate school with campuses in Los Angeles, New York, Cincinnati and Jerusalem, during 25 years as president.

Amos Kenan, a novelist, newspaper columnist and sculptor who as a member of Israel's founding generation helped define modern Israeli culture, died in Tel Aviv on Tuesday. He was 82. He struggled with Alzheimer's disease for years, said Uri Avnery, a prominent Israeli peace activist and journalist who was a longtime friend. Born in Tel Aviv in 1927, Kenan fought in the 1948 Arab-Israeli war. Soon after, he became a peace activist and wrote satirical articles about organized religion and the newly created state of Israel.