IKAR

Join us at IKAR for “We Are All Hostages,” an event featuring Israeli protest leaders Yehuda Cohen, Zahiro Shahar Mor, and Efrat Machikawa, whose family members are currently being held by Hamas. They will discuss the protest movement in Israel and their efforts to push the government for a peace deal to secure the safe return of all the hostages. Activist and writer Elad Nehorai will lead the discussion. Learn more about how you can support their efforts.

Verse To Live By: A deep dive into a single verse from this week's parashah with R’ Deborah Silver - Friday, July 19, 2024

Taking up his theme, he said:
Word of Balaam son of Beor,
Word of the man *whose eye is true*…
Bamidbar 24:3

The tale of Bilaam the prophet is full of idioms for seeing. Bilaam sees, he gazes, he lifts up his eyes, he invokes foresight. All this in the context of being unable to see anyone in the story properly, especially not the angel standing directly in front of him.

Our verse is one more of those many expressions for seeing. “Shatum ha-ayin,” is noted in many translations with *meaning of Hebrew uncertain,* which it is. While every translation on Sefaria, including all the non-English ones, renders it as “open” or even “pierced,” the word is has a trick up its sleeve. If you move the dot on the first letter from its left to its right, you get the word “satam” - which means, “blocked.” And we should remember that the text in a sefer Torah has no dots at all.

So can Bilaam see, or can’t he?

As with so many other questions in our tradition, the answer has to be “both.” In one way, he does see truly - the beauty of the people Israel and the fact that King Balak will not succeed against them. He also comes to recognize that actually, he really is a prophet, who can only speak what the Divine puts in his mouth (I have always thought that this experience was his first real prophecy, rather like Sybil Trelawney’s in Harry Potter…)

But in other ways, Bilaam remains blind. After his transformational experience he goes back to his old job, apparently unchanged. An angel, a talking donkey, a transcendent experience - none of it seems to leave any impression on him or change him in any way. It’s as if he watched it all with his eyes closed.

The difference is just where we put one dot.

Where do we put ours?

The IKAR contingent rolling deep in Big Bear and loving their summer ⛺️☀️

💚💚💚💚 this week at IKAR. 🗓www.ikar.org/caendar for details and to RSVP.

The IKAR delegation at Camp Alonim enjoying the summer!

this week at IKAR🟩365 party girls hit the link, https://ikar.org/events/?calendar

IKAR is fueled by the love, talent, and commitment of our community members. Join or renew today, https://ikar.thankyou4caring.org/membership Remember, all members receive ikards for the High Holy Days. Q's? Email [email protected].

For 20 years, IKAR has created a vibrant, inclusive Jewish community that inspires spiritual growth, social justice, and belonging. Our community is strong and growing and as we plan for the next 20 years, we're taking a moment to celebrate our success and examine our impact. We are asking our entire community, members and non-members, to fill out our survey https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/G55572L to better understand our reach and ways to improve upon our strengths. Each section of this survey measures our work with demographic and hard data as well as anecdotally through your personal stories. Your insights will help guide our future planning, ensuring that we continue to meet the needs of everyone in the IKAR family for years to come.

🔋RECHARGING - Our team will be enjoying some time off!
🔕Our office will be closed and our phones will be off from Wednesday, July 3 through Monday, July 8.
🕊We will not be holding Kabbalat Shabbat Services on Friday, July 5 or Shabbat Morning Services on Saturday, July 6.
❤️If you experience a Rabbinic Emergency, please email [email protected] or call 323-634-1870 x 118.

This week at IKAR, we're off for summer break!

🗓️ This week at IKAR! RSVP and all details at ikar.org/calendar

Pre-Services Concert with
Friday, 6/21, NEW TIME: 6:30pm, RSVP in bio.
(vocalist Anthony Mordechai Tzvi Russell, an AJU Public Fellow, and accordion/keyboardist Dmitri Gaskin) will perform a world of new and traditional Jewish music of diverse genres, times and places. Co-sponsored with

🗓️ This week at IKAR! Link in bio for all the details

Verses To Live by: A deep dive into a single verse from this week's parashah with Rabbi Deborah Silver
- Friday, June 14, 2024

God bless you and protect you!
God deal kindly and graciously with you!
God bestow favor upon you and grant you peace!
-Bamidbar 6:24-26

Who knows fifteen?

It isn’t the easiest question to answer, since the song we sing at Seder only goes up to thirteen. And surely, fourteen would be two sets of seven, our signature number - wouldn’t that be better than fifteen?

But if we look carefully, fifteen does turn out to be a “Jewish number.” Fifteen steps up to the altar of the Mishkan; fifteen in the Temple, too; fifteen steps of the Seder (motzi and matzah are one each); fifteen offerings to the Divine in the Yishtabach prayer; another fifteen ways to describe Divine teaching after the Emet declaration at the end of the Shema in the morning service.

And of course, in gematria, fifteen adds up to the Divine name itself - or one of them.

But perhaps the oldest occurrence of a set of fifteen in our tradition is the blessing quoted above, conferred by the priests upon the people. In Hebrew, at least, it has fifteen words arranged in lines of three, five and seven. If we write the words out ourselves in the center of an empty page, we’ll have drawn a mountain. In the Torah, by contrast, they appear cupped in white space, the letter “kaf” manifested in light around them.

Rabbi Elliot Dorff teaches that the “graciously” in the second line of the blessing really suggests “may God give you more than you deserve” - that what makes Divine grace so special is that it is always a little more than we would expect. Like the ascending steps of the Temple or the Seder, like what we offer when we offer our whole selves, like the expansiveness of Torah and the radiance of light - fifteen is the number which means, just a little bit more.

Milkshakes, flower crowns, and edible Torahs! The ECC community celebrated Shavuot with joy and ruach. Want to join us? We are currently accepting applications for the fall – email [email protected] for more info❤️.

Check out these great resources from our partners at Be'chol Lashon, https://globaljews.org/learn-with-us/education/

We’re excited and proud to launch our newest Juneteenth educational resource! As a multicultural community, celebrating Juneteenth allows all Jews to focus on the variety of ways American Jews have experienced the American past and experience the American future. 

Highlights of this resource include:
▫️historical background
▫️explanation of traditions and customs
▫️ Juneteenth from a Jewish perspective
▫️ discussion guide
▫️ easy-to-follow recipe

Download it for free at the link in our bio.

Check out what's going on this week at IKAR! RSVP and learn more, www.ikar.org/calendar

IKAR and Temple Beth Am are joining forces for Shavuot. What better way to celebrate the giving of the Torah at Mt. Sinai than pulling an all-nighter, learning Torah from sundown to sunrise. We've got it all covered: soul-stretching study, heart-expanding singing, and too much dairy to be good for you (BYO Lactaid). From text-based learning to creative workshops, there's something for everyone— Come Together, Right Now (well actually, June 11th). https://www.tbala.org/prayer/shavuot/

Check out what's going on this week at IKAR! RSVP and learn more, www.ikar.org/calendar

🥳Celebrating 20 Years of IKAR Magic🥳
Sunday, 6/2, 5pm, Historic Woman’s Club
https://e.givesmart.com/s/:PEzRogx20Bz/e/CkX/
Honoring the Founding Board and celebrating founding members. Join us for a magical evening of food, drinks and dessert.

Volunteers are needed for setup, cleanup, ushering and auction. You'll receive a free ticket. Please sign up at ikar.org/volunteer

IKAR Reflects I Yom HaShoah 2024
Watch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ITaH1UB9nYg&t=130s
With Auschwitz Survivor Ella Mandel and Amit, Zeve, and Oren Zilberstein, Jason Neidleman, and Alexia Gyorody, the second, third, and fourth generation of family members who both survived and perished in the Shoah. As living survivor numbers dwindle, we will explore together how we can understand and hold their experiences in ways that co-create a more just, humane and dignified future for one another and our world. Co-produced by Peanut Productions.
Listen: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/ikar-reflects-i-yom-hashoah-2024/id696010741?i=1000654580134
Listen: https://open.spotify.com/episode/7MWN1K0ttvZ2RtOB6IIIjU?si=-lOAieIxSOCunYWVLpAxAQ

IKAR Reflects I Yom HaShoah 2024 With Auschwitz Survivor Ella Mandel and Amit, Zeve, and Oren Zilberstein, Jason Neidleman, and Alexia Gyorody, the second, third, and fourth generation of fa...

If you are Jewish, live in California, and are concerned about the climate crisis, this is for you! This Sunday, May 5, RSVP: https://airtable.com/appAQq7bNMC1F2JQt/pagreTB9wqgCRndKn/form

IKAR's Minyan Tzedek Green Action team is mobilizing the Jewish community in CA with Dayenu: A Jewish Call to Climate Action and RAC-CA to create a powerful statewide Jewish movement for climate action and environmental justice. Join us this Sunday to build our organizing power to defend : a landmark piece of California legislation that establishes a 3,200 ft health-and-safety buffer zone between toxic oil and gas sites and community sites like homes, schools, and hospitals. The fossil fuel industry is spending millions on misleading ads to repeal the law this November. We can't let that happen.

Southern California: Don't miss this chance to build community, learn, and take meaningful action to tackle the climate crisis!

This May, we’re bringing together Jewish communities in California to:
- Connect and grow our communities
- Share joy and hope through Jewish music, art, and ritual
- Learn more about our campaign to KEEP a critical oil and gas buffer zone
- Build our leadership and organizing skills

The SoCal Jewish Climate gathering, which we're co-hosting with the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism-California, will take place at Temple Israel of Hollywood on Sunday, May 5.

Learn more + sign up: https://buff.ly/4bdoD46

Join our good friends Second Nurture tomorrow, May 2, 2024 at 7pm at Skirball Cultural Center for a Community Gathering in loving memory of Donald and Janice Silverman. RSVP: https://2nurture.networkforgood.com/events/69743-2n-gathering-and-film-premiere?

Second Nurture Community Gathering in loving memory of Donald and Janice Silverman Sharing the Work of Second Nurture

We are honored to be featured alongside our beloved L.A. Voice partners in the recent The New York Times article about ! https://www.nytimes.com/2024/04/27/business/affordable-housing-religious-organizations.html?smid=url-share

BIG thanks to The New York Times for profiling Inglewood First United Methodist Church and , a WIN from our campaign with PICO California! We're also thrilled to see comment from IKAR alongside John Oh, head of our program on the importance of building affordable housing on faith lands!

Read the piece here: https://buff.ly/4aUNHgC

Verses To Live by: A deep dive into a single verse from this week's parashah with Rabbi Deborah Silver - Friday, April 26, 2024 - A Kavanah for the end of Pesah

…and the Israelites went into the sea on dry ground, the waters forming a wall for them on their right and on their left. - Shemot 14:22

Rabbi Nehorai expounded: If an Israelite woman was passing through the sea with her child crying in her arms, she would simply extend her hand and take an apple or a pomegranate from the sea and give it to them, as it is stated: “God led them through the depths, as through the wilderness,” (Psalms 106:9); just as in the wilderness they lacked nothing, so too in the depths they lacked nothing. - Shemot Rabbah 21:10

At this time

both in the past

and in the present

we walk through water.


in awe and disbelief

we watch as every shade

of blue and green and gray

stands to attention.


if we touch the walls

they give way just a little

and some say

we can reach through

to pick the sweetest apples

we have ever tasted.


As once

we walk, chastened,

carefully into the new places


let us try

to find the apples.


may we taste their sweetness

may it sustain us

may they be

our new bread.

Here's what's happening this week at IKAR! Link in the bio for details & to RSVP.