Dear Friends:
Last night I led a discussion of the recent controversy involving Whoopi Goldberg’s statement that the Holocaust was not about race, her subsequent apology, and her two-week suspension from “The View” television program. It was exceptionally well-attended. Most of my “Contemporary Jewish Controversies” classes have between 6 and 10 people attending but last night we had around twenty.
I really prefer the format of these classes rather than to address controversial topics in my sermons or these emails. Our society and to a lesser extent our American Jewish community are deeply fractured and one of the causes of this is the superficiality of much of what passes for discussion of important issues. Twitter and TikTok have their place but there is no possibility of a serious discussion of an issue in 280 characters (Twitter) or three minutes (TikTok). By contrast our discussion last night (and it was a discussion and not merely a lecture) was about an hour and eight minutes and we could have gone on longer if not for the lateness of the hour.
If you weren’t there, or even if you were, I’d encourage you to take the opportunity to watch the video of our discussion:
If you have suggestions for other topics for future discussions, please don’t hesitate to let me know.
As always, if I can do anything for you or you need to talk, please contact me at rabbi@kehilatshalom.org or 301-977-0768 rather than through the synagogue office. Although I am working primarily from home, I am happy to meet you at the synagogue by appointment.
Shabbat Shalom,
Rabbi Charles L. Arian
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