Rabbi Dr. Bradley Shavit Artson, Dean of the Ziegler School of Rabbinic Studies of American Jewish University in Los Angeles, sent us a warm and wonderful story.
“I wanted to share with you the happy photo of some of our incoming new Ziegler students proudly sporting their personal copies of Va-Ani Tefilati, the generous gift of Serene Lazar to each of the incoming students (and a tradition the Ziegler School has maintained since the siddur was first printed)! Now Masorti and their love of Israel will be, literally, the portals for their prayers!”
Rabbi Artson holds the prestigious Roslyn and Abner Goldstine Dean’s Chair at Ziegler and is also a professor of philosophy there. In the video below, he talks about the Torah as an expression of love:
“One of the secrets of the Torah, hidden in plain view, is that God’s relationship with the Jewish people and humanity is not primarily an expression of rules; it’s an expression of love…We teach our students…what resilient Jewish lovingkindness is meant to be.”
What could be a more resilient expression of love than Serene Lazar’s gift of Va-Ani Tefilati to generations of young rabbinic students?
Displayed lovingly above, are photos from Rabbi Artson’s library, including, of course, his own copy of Va-Ani Tefilati. The beautiful rainbow streaming in, filling the study with light, is courtesy of….
