Yoshi Zweiback
By Yoshi Zweiback
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Community We are all mourners on Tisha B’Av
Collectively, we are in the period known as the “nine days,” a time of mourning leading up to Tisha B’Av, the day on which, according to tradition, both the First and Second Temples were destroyed. Personally, I am observing shiva for my father-in-law, Henry Hantgan, who passed away on July 8th. I am grateful to…
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Community In Abraham, a model for our divisive times
Whatever your feelings about the outcomes of the 2020 election, one thing is certain: We are a deeply divided country. We see these divisions even in our own families. Friendships have been destroyed, there have been online spats, and disagreements at family gatherings. Searching for answers, longing for comfort, we turn to our tradition. It’s…
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Community High Holiday lessons from Ruth Bader Ginsburg
Our Torah reading for Rosh HaShanah relates the story of Sarah and Abraham sending Hagar and Ishmael out of their home. As you’ll remember, this first Jewish couple was initially unable to conceive. Hagar serves as a surrogate, giving birth to Ishmael, Abraham’s firstborn son. Years later, God fulfills the promise made long ago to…
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Community What will you write in the Book of Life?
For more than two decades, we have served as congregational rabbis in some of the largest synagogues in the United States. We’ve faced all sorts of challenges throughout our careers but we’ve never experienced anything like the present moment. Just a few months before the COVID-19 pandemic led to stay-at-home orders in our communities, the…
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Community This Tisha B’Av, remember John Lewis
It’s Tisha B’av – the darkest day in the Jewish calendar. We remember the destruction. We mourn the loss of the First and Second Temples. We recall Crusades and pogroms that happened on this same day in years gone by. And each year, after the fasting and the mourning of Tisha B’av, comes Shabbat. This…
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Community Judaism means putting obligation toward others before yourself
“Whoever destroys a single life is considered by Scripture to have destroyed the whole world, and whoever saves a single life is considered by Scripture to have saved the whole world.” (Mishna Sanhedrin 4:5) Los Angeles and other cities across the United States are experiencing riots and social unrest the likes of which we haven’t…
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