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Rabbi's Message
Jerry Cutler

The basic story of Purim is well-known: how King Ahaseuerus of Persia let himself be influenced by the wicked counselor Haman to order the annihilation of all the Jews in his vast empire, and how the Jews were saved by the resourcefulness of Mordecai and his niece, Queen Esther.

Historically, it is questionable whether any such episode occurred exactly as it is reported in the Book of Esther. More significantly, the story recorded in the Book of Esther is an uncannily accurate depiction of Jewish life in the diaspora. We are indeed scattered throughout all parts of the world. Also, we have, for the most part, kept our own laws and customs. We have been, in part because of our separate communal existence, a ready scapegoat for social, political, and economic problems.
We have been often the target of slanderous accusations, ranging from the charge that we use the blood of Christian babies to make matzah to the claim that our concern for Israel makes us disloyal to the United States. Also, it is a recurring phenomenon in our history that some of our people rise to high places in the general society by concealing or down-playing their Jewishness, as did Queen Esther. 

There is someone running for the presidency of the USA who was born and raised in Brooklyn, attended temple and had a bar mitzvah. He even lived on a Kibbutz! No, it wasn't Ted Cruz. It was our very own, Bernie Sanders who doesn't deny being Jewish, but doesn't exactly boast about it, either.

When Joe Lieberman ran for vice president, he was the poster man for Judaism. He and his wife Hadassah (the Hebrew name for Esther which is Persian) never once shirked from talking about their heritage with great pride and exuberance. Our survival through the many years of being ostracized and marked for extinction is due to the tenacity and courage of public servants such as 'Joe' who was as proud being Jewish as he was an American.

We ask that the Good Lord bless Joe and Bernie (perhaps Joe a bit more) for being a source of pride to our people and giving of themselves to the service of our country, the United States of America.

Bernie won't be successful in his quest for the highest office in our country - however, it would have been nice to have a Jewish president in the White House.  Happy Purim, everyone (March 24).

Much Love, Rabbi Jerry
Rabbi Jerry Ram Cutler


For those of you who made a pledge the High Holidays, we thank you from the bottom of our collective hearts. If you have yet to send in your commitment, please do so now. 

For those of you who haven't made a pledge, please search your hearts and try to give as much as you can. We will even work with you on a payment plan. It will help us tremendously. 

Thank you.
Shabbat Services

Where: B elmont Village
              10475 Wilshire Blvd  

When:   7:30 pm on Friday, 
              March 4, 2016
 
Why:    Tradition!


Extras Turn into the driveway that has the sign "Church Parking" and park on levels P2 or P3. Take the elevator up to P1 (which is also the lobby). Services are in the Town Hall room directly across from the elevator.



CAT Designer & Collectibles Flea Market 

Sunday, May 1, 2016
8 AM till 3 PM
at the
Santa Monica Airport Outdoor Antique & Collectible Market

Noted as One of the Top Ten "Flea Markets' in America.

Are you creative, organized and love thrifting? Volunteer to help coordinate the event! We need your help. We're also on the hunt for tax deductible donations of clothing, designer clothes, small furniture, tchochkes, and other donations in good condition and gently used. Donate to CAT!

Our drop off is at 1511 Pontius Ave. (just behind the temple office). Please call the office at 310-446-1800 to make an appointment.

 
We've already acquired some interesting donations. You'll be able to view some of the goods on the internet as soon as we have the page set up.

 
Please no books, mattresses or out of date electronics.
grocery cart
Ralphs Rewards Card
Donate to CAT while you grocery shop
It's that time again!

Every September you must register with Ralphs to donate!


Please register with Ralphs now!!!

 

Just download and print this letter with the scan bar and take it with you the next time you go grocery shopping.  Present it to the cashier as you check out and from that time on, you will be contributing to Creative Arts Temple for this year.


 

It doesn't cost you a penny and helps the temple out exponentially. Thank you!




Arne's Corner
by Arne Charitan
March 2016




              I am here to chew bubblegum and kick butt, and I'm all out of bubblegum (Author Unknown)
 
               Nobody has a right to come to America............

               Immigration, and the admission of refugees is a "privilege" conferred by the U.S. - voluntarily. As far as I am concerned we need to stop all immigration, student visas, and other visas from.......nations that sponsor terrorism or have a significant part of their territory in control of terrorist groups. Sorting out immigration by geography, not by religion (a la Donald Trump) would pass constitutional muster. After all, our entire quota system fpr LEGAL immigration is based on "country of origin".

               When you are an immigrant or the child of an immigrant, you can call America, " The most extraordinary country in the history of mankind", and it won't sound "shmaltzy". I was raised to know how differently my life could have gone if my parent hadn't made it to these shores.

                Like so many others, I am an unabashed patriot. I talk openly about love of country. I am also a transplanted New Yorker, and Jewish. So when it comes to cheering for America OR Israel, I do it shamelessly and vigorously.

               G-d Bless America.  Am Israel Chai.

Monthly Events
Services, Dinners, and Flea Market

Fri. March 4, 7:30pm
Shabbat Service
Belmont Village

Fri. April 1, 7:30pm
Shabbat Service
Belmont Village

Fri. May 6, 7:30pm
Shabbat Service
Belmont Village

Sun. May  8, 8:00am - 4:00pm
Art, Designer & Collectibles
Flea Market
Santa Monica Airport

Fri. June 3, 7:30pm
Shabbat Service
Belmont Village

Fri. July 1, 7:30pm
Shabbat Service
Belmont Village

Fri. August 5, 7:30pm
Shabbat Service
Belmont Village

Fri. September 2, 7:30pm
Shabbat Service
Belmont Village

Sun., October 2, 8:00pm
Erev Rosh Hashanah

Mon., October 3, 10:00am
Rosh Hashanah

Tues., October 4, 10:00am
Tashlich
Mother's Beach

Tues., October 11, 8:00pm
Kol Nidre

Wed., October 12, 10:00am
Yom Kippur

grumpy cat hearts
March
 Anniversaries
Mazel Tov to our CAT lovebirds!

Michael & Lynn Zaifert 3/10/2016
Elton Lewis & Barbara Van Orden Bailiss 3/11/2016
Warren & Lois Sefton 3/21/2016
Charles & Marcia Watson Wasserman 3/23/2016
Douglas & Roni Cohen 3/27/2016

March Birthdays
And many happy returns!
bday grumpy cat

Shirley Leibowitz 3/5/2016
Andrew Stevens 3/5/2016
Marty Kove 3/6/2016
Romy Fleming 3/8/2016
Stuart Struhl 3/8/2016
Lee (Lisel) Bernstein 3/9/2016
Stuart Kricun 3/9/2016
Daniel Paulson 3/9/2016
Phyllis Slayton 3/10/2016
Linda Weinberger Markowitz 3/12/2016
Scott Braun 3/14/2016
Helen Richman 3/14/2016
Mathew Millen 3/15/2016
John Levy 3/17/2016
Robert Levy 3/17/2016
Allan Diamond 3/18/2016
Sue Rosenwasser 3/18/2016
Donald Stewart 3/19/2016
Dr. Stephen Weisberg 3/21/2016
Jonathan Rosenblatt 3/25/2016
Michael Donsker 3/26/2016
Danton Rissner 3/27/2016
Gyla Bright 3/29/2016
Jeffrey Goldberg 3/30/2016
Richard Rohrlick 3/30/2016


  
cake platter
February Onegs 
Thank you to our sponsors!

As always, thank you to our annual Oneg sponsors: 
 June Miller 

Doris & Philip Felsen In honor of her birthday
Nolan & Patrice Zappa Porter In honor of her conversion into Judaism
Barbara Lee Schulz In honor of Barbara Lee's birthday
Tootsie Veprin In honor of her birthday




Get Wells
Refuah Shleima

CAT wishes a speedy recovery to:
Alexis Crestol, Harriet Crestol, Rocky Kalish, Allan Diamond, Norman Kantor, Marvin Markowitz, Peter Mark Richman, Phyllis Slayton and Robert Slaytonand Barry Smith.  


February Yahrzeits
Thank you for your donation and may you be comforted by the mourners of Zion


Alan & Sharon Archer In memory of Sylvia Rosenberg
Joni Berry & Stephen Maitland-Lewis  In memory of Clara Davis & Inez Eichenbaum
Ralph & Cynthia Bovitz  In memory of Anne Yasser & Martin Yasser
Fern Field Brooks In memory of William Field & Betty Field
Florence Davis In memory of William Simon
Alan & Karen Elias In memory of Harriet Elias
Martin & Phyllis Gilmore In memory of Lenore Gilmore
Lorain Goldberg In memory of Esther Chotiner
Susan Isaksen In memory of Myer Hodes
Jaffe, Gladys In memory of Sylvia Rosenberg
Pamela Kerman & Bill Brandt In memory of Anna Brandt & Bernice Mackiewicz
Bill & Gail Landers In memory of Lucille Chickie" Bercovitz"
Shirley  Leibowitz
In memory of Meyer Ellenbogen
Alice Michelson In memory of Joel Russell Michelson
June  Miller
In memory of Ethel Rosenblatt
Warren & Lois  Sefton
In memory of Bette Sefton & Sarah Dee
Rosalie  Shulman
In memory of Stuart Evan Shulman
Arlene T.  Sidaris
In memory of Andy Sidaris
Tootsie  Veprin
In memory of Billy Veprin
REVIEW FROM THE PEW
BY Rabbi Jerry Ram Cutler

An Act Of God
 
I took my lovely wife to the premiere of "An Act Of God" at the Ahmanson Theatre and what I saw was the back of someone's head.

I am starting a petition for the sales offices of legit shows to ask everyone who orders tickets their height.

I sat behind a large person whose head was as large as the Times Square Ball on New Year ' s Eve. I am not a short person, 6 feet tall on a good day an inch or two shorter on a bad day.  The guy in front of me was a building on the Wilshire Corridor with shoulders as wide as New England Patriot's Ron Gronkowsky - wearing his shoulder pads!

I had a problem seeing over him so I decided to look over his left shoulder. However, his head moved like a metronome. When his head moved left, I moved right and vice versa. I felt like I was at Wimbledon.

I shouldn't complain as I was there to review the play and the price was right.   But, what about the shnook who has to pay a hefty price for a 90 minute show and is stuck behind a human pillar?

So, until The Ahmanson puts in staggered seating, I feel it's up to me to request that the theatre patron ask just how tall the person sitting in front him or her is, before purchasing a ticket!

Now that's out of the way, let me tell you about" An Act Of God." It is brilliant and funny. Sean Hayes is magnificent playing God and his timing is impeccable. The lines come fast and furious and the audience response is one of continuous laughter.

Written by David Javerbaum, Jon Stewart's, "Daily Show" Head Writer, God, wearing sneakers and a tie-less shirt under a white robe, is an ordinary person who happens to rule the world. He sits on a lounge and answers questions that many of us had pondered over the years. Some have called his answers irreverent - I call them, "right on!"

Suddenly, everything from The Ten Commandments, The Creation, Adam and Eve, Cain and Abel, Noah, Abraham, Job, etc. seemed to come together. The explanations were so obvious that I felt my answers to many of the questions asked of me, were too complicated and unsatisfying.

Thanks to Mr. Javerbaum and the magnificent Mr. Hayes, the Biblical stories are no longer a mystery. So, until March 13, when "An Act Of God" closes, when someone asks me a profound question about God and the age old mysteries of Biblical proportions, I will just tell them to go see the play.....but, to call first and ask how tall the person is sitting in front of them.
 
4 Bagels out of 4


REVIEW FROM THE PEW
BY Rabbi Jerry Ram Cutler

Touched With Fire
 
"Touched With Fire" is neither a Biblical film nor is it a war film. It is a brilliantly written saga about two bi-polar lovers who try to overcome their affliction and live a normal life together.

Writer/Director, Paul Dalio, who is bi-polar, has presented us with a surface understanding of this brain disorder that causes unusual and sometimes very dangerous changes of mood.

The film stars an excellent Luke Kirby as Marco and Katie Holmes as Carla who is nothing short of brilliant in her portrayal.

Marco (Kirby) meets Carla (Holmes) at a psychiatric hospital. With both being manic-depressive their liaison is frowned upon by family and psychiatrists. Carla is a writer and the author of a book of poems.  Marco fashions himself as a poet but due to his failure to stay on his meds, as is necessary for a bi-polar patient, it comes from an inner tumultuous turmoil. His life is filled with anger caused by the inability to live his life without being dependent on drugs. They both feel that their shared affection can overcome the odds of having a loving relationship.

Dalio has given those of us unfamiliar with the devastating effects of being bi-polar, an insight into the demons that infiltrate their lives. Spike Lee, Dalio's professor and confidant when he was a student NYU, serves as Executive producer.

"Touched With Fire" is an important film and deserves a much wider audience than it will  obviously attract. Hopefully, Lee's name, the reviews, and Ms. Holmes and Mr. Kirby's incredible performances will help generate a healthy response from moviegoers.

3 ½ Bagels out of 4



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Creative Arts Temple

P.O. Box 241831
Los Angeles, CA 90024

(310) 446-1800
                                
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