Press
Hear what they’re saying. Want even more IKAR? Get our emails in your inbox. If you have a press or media inquiry, please contact [email protected].
Press
Amid immigration raids and outbreaks of anti-Semitism, Jewish leaders in California call for peaceful protests
Aurora
Read
US faith leaders opposed to ICE raids counsel nonviolent resistance and lead by example
The Associated Press
By Luis Andres Henao and Deepa Bharath
Read
By Luis Andres Henao and Deepa Bharath
California ICE protests spark calls for ‘nonviolence’ from Jewish community leaders
The Jerusalem Post
By Grace Gilson
Read
By Grace Gilson
Immigration raids intensify with hundreds of arrests and tense moments across L.A. area
The Spokesman-Review
By Summer Lin, James Queally, Richard Winton, Hannah Fry and Andrea Castillo - Los Angeles Times
Read
By Summer Lin, James Queally, Richard Winton, Hannah Fry and Andrea Castillo - Los Angeles Times
Outrage ensues after a Long Island high school study guide calls Zionism ‘extreme nationalism’
The Forward
By Hannah Feuer
Read
By Hannah Feuer
Cross-institutional collaboration in Jewish education: An innovative case study
eJewishPhilanthropy
By Rebecca Berger, Lauren Dolinka
Read
By Rebecca Berger, Lauren Dolinka
Rabbi Sharon Brous on MSNBC's All In with Chris Hayes
“What’s happening in these attacks is a painful irony because people are conflating and holding every jew responsible for the actions or decisions of the Israeli government, which most American Jews actually oppose.
Watch
Rabbi Sharon Brous on Finding Her Place in the Jewish Community and Working to Mend Our Broken Hearts and World
The Five Books Podcast
By Tali Rosenblatt Cohen
Listen
By Tali Rosenblatt Cohen
Milken Institute Global Conference 2025 - “What Faith Means to Me”
Milken Institute
By Milken Institute
Watch
By Milken Institute
The Casden Institute for the Study of the American Role in Jewish Life, IKAR, and Thrive LA co-organized a panel, “The Impact of the Housing Crisis on the Los Angeles Jewish Community: How to Make Los Angeles Affordable Again for Future Generations”
Jewish Journal
By Ryan Torok
Read
By Ryan Torok
Over 550 rabbis, cantors sign letter accusing Trump of ‘abusing’ antisemitism issue
The Times of Israel
By JTA and ToI Staff
Read
By JTA and ToI Staff
Antisemitism reaches 45-year high in US. It’s ‘the canary in the coal mine.’
The Christian Science Monitor
By Sophie Hills
Read
By Sophie Hills
Trump’s attack on higher education ‘rings of authoritarianism,’ says American rabbi
CNN - Amanpour
By Christiane Amanpour
Watch
By Christiane Amanpour
Deep Dive with Rabbi Sharon Brous on Hard Conversations
Kelly Corrigan Wonders
By Kelly Corrigan
Listen
By Kelly Corrigan
Some Jewish Americans wrestle with Trump's sweeping crusade against antisemitismThe Trump administration has cited antisemitism as a key reason it has targeted universities and activists. While some Jewish groups have cheered these moves, others have fiercely criticized them.
NBC News
By Daniel Arkin
Read
By Daniel Arkin
IKAR Rabbi jokes that Jews could learn from Cory Booker's record-breaking senate speech - opinion
The Jerusalem Post
By Philissa Cramer
Read
By Philissa Cramer
Trump’s Fight Against Antisemitism Has Become Fraught for Many Jews
American Jews have watched with both alarm and enthusiasm as strong-arm tactics, including arrests of activists, have been deployed in their name.
“This is not going to protect Jews,” Rabbi Brous said in an interview. “We’re being used.”
Read
“This is not going to protect Jews,” Rabbi Brous said in an interview. “We’re being used.”
Cory Booker spoke at a synagogue on Yom Kippur. Its rabbi says Jews should learn from his 25-hour Senate speech.
Senator Booker spoke at IKAR this past Yom Kippur morning— it was 6 minutes of straight fire. Now it’s clear that he could have easily taken us all the way through Neilah without so much as a bathroom break!
In all seriousness, to preach for 25 hours requires not only fierce passion and preternatural endurance, but a true sense of purpose. The physical feat is impressive, but it’s not the point. We’d do well to consider why Sen. Booker felt such prophetic urgency in issuing this call in this moment. Rav Kook wrote that when the heart callouses to cruelty, we must, periodically, suspend the normal. May we all find the fortitude to break through the inertia and hopelessness of our time and take a stand for our democracy and for our shared future.
Read
In all seriousness, to preach for 25 hours requires not only fierce passion and preternatural endurance, but a true sense of purpose. The physical feat is impressive, but it’s not the point. We’d do well to consider why Sen. Booker felt such prophetic urgency in issuing this call in this moment. Rav Kook wrote that when the heart callouses to cruelty, we must, periodically, suspend the normal. May we all find the fortitude to break through the inertia and hopelessness of our time and take a stand for our democracy and for our shared future.
An ‘Amen’ to Empathy: Finding Power in Understanding the ‘Other’
University of St. Thomas
By The Newsroom
Read
By The Newsroom
Remembering My Rabbi - Eli Fink passed away on March 21 in a tragic accident on the Garden Parkway. He was 43.
Jewish Journal
By Jacob Septimus
Read
By Jacob Septimus
Peter Beinart, Rabbi Sharon Borus: Jews blind to their own self-destruction - opinion As of late, there has been no shortage of self-hating Jews; one can only look on in horror and pray they realize the error of their ways."
The Jerusalem Post
By Hayim Leiter
Read
By Hayim Leiter
Ancient Rituals, Modern Impact with Rabbi Sharon Brous
Wisdom & Practice with Simran Jeet Singh
By Simran Jeet Singh
Listen
By Simran Jeet Singh
There’s Nothing They Can’t Sing and Laugh Their Way Through - Marnina Schon and Micah O’Konis, who are now a comedic musical duo called Couplet, lived across town from each other in Los Angeles (which could have been a deal breaker). They went on a date anyway.
The New York Times
By Alix Wall
Read
By Alix Wall
Part 2 - Rabbis of LA | Rabbi Sharon Brous’ Journey: ‘I Fell in Love with Talmud’
Jewish Journal
By Ari Noonan
Read
By Ari Noonan
Westfield Memorial Library and Westfield Clergy Association Initiate Interfaith Book Club: The Amen Effect
TAPintoWestfield
By Roz Giuditta
Read
By Roz Giuditta
Part 1 - Rabbis of LA | Rabbi Sharon Brous’ Path From ‘Functionally Illiterate Jew’ to Ikar’s Spiritual Leader
Jewish Journal
By Ari Noonan
Read
By Ari Noonan
No to Ethnic Cleansing' | Hundreds of U.S. Rabbis, Jewish Celebrities Condemn Trump Gaza Plan in NYT Ad
Haaretz
By Etan Nechin
Read
By Etan Nechin
AND BEHOLD, IT WAS GOOD - The Jewish Emergent Network: From emergence to evolution
eJewishPhilanthropy
By Melissa Balaban, Rachel Cort, Rabbi Rachel Nussbaum, Justin Rosen Smolen
Read
By Melissa Balaban, Rachel Cort, Rabbi Rachel Nussbaum, Justin Rosen Smolen
The exclusive Chautauqua Institution wrestles with antisemitism inside its gates - The elite resort in Western New York has failed to respond to Jewish stakeholders worried about antisemitism in the institution’s senior staff
JewishInsider
By Gabby Deutch
Read
By Gabby Deutch
Heaviness and Hope Can Coexist: Takeaways from the JFNA 2024 General Assembly
Jewish Federation of The Berkshires
By Arlene D. Schiff / President, Jewish Federation of the Berkshires
Read
By Arlene D. Schiff / President, Jewish Federation of the Berkshires
These are all the rabbis who have spoken at US presidential inaugurations
Jewish Telegraph Agency
By JTA Staff
Read
By JTA Staff
Yeshiva University president to represent American Jewish community at Trump inauguration
Jerusalem Post Staff
By The Jerusalem Post
Read
By The Jerusalem Post
‘Home is memory’: How Jews make sense of what they’ve lost in the LA fires and what remains
The Forward
By Rabbi Sharon Brous
Read
By Rabbi Sharon Brous
New book from Rabbi Sharon Brous explores the power of showing up for others
The Globe and Mail
By Erin Anderssen
Read
By Erin Anderssen
IKAR Housing Project Receives $500,000
Providing a template for how faith communities and the government can partner in addressing urgent community needs, U.S. Rep. Sydney Kamlager-Dove (D-Los Angeles) recently presented progressive congregation IKAR with a $500,000 check to support the development of the new IKAR Center and Supportive Housing Center.
This project will build at least 60 units of permanent supportive housing for unhoused people, including seniors, atop IKAR’s campus on South La Cienega Boulevard. It will also include space for supportive services and indoor and outdoor common areas for residents, according to a statement from Kamlager-Dove.
Read
This project will build at least 60 units of permanent supportive housing for unhoused people, including seniors, atop IKAR’s campus on South La Cienega Boulevard. It will also include space for supportive services and indoor and outdoor common areas for residents, according to a statement from Kamlager-Dove.
LA Churches Want To Build Housing That Ends Homelessness. What’s Stopping Them?
Brooke Wirtschafter, Ikar’s director of community organizing, said adding a few stories of affordable housing on top of the project makes sense because the city of L.A. encourages this kind of development through an incentive program called Transit Oriented Communities.
“We're in a transit corridor,” Wirtschafter said. “We should be fully able to build the building that we want to build without having to ask for any special exemptions.”
Read
“We're in a transit corridor,” Wirtschafter said. “We should be fully able to build the building that we want to build without having to ask for any special exemptions.”
Influential L.A. rabbi Sharon Brous wants to heal a ‘world on fire’
Brous then widened the moral lens, urging her followers to understand the breadth of the tragedy. She spoke of the “shattering” loss of Palestinian lives in Gaza.
Read
The Reckoning With Campus Culture After Hamas Response
Society has been tolerant, even accepting, of many of the actions and priorities of the far left on college campuses.
Read
The Jewish News of California: OPINION: My synagogue is building affordable housing — and yours can, too
How should a Jewish community build a sacred home? What should be included in a physical space that will serve as a container for the community members’ shared life?
Read
Hollywood Writers Strike Agreement Gives Writers Guild Most of What It Wanted
Studios and the Writers Guild of America reached a deal on Sunday night, but with actors still on picket lines, much of Hollywood will remain shut.
Read
AI, pluralism and Israel: What North American rabbis spoke about in their High Holiday sermons
Rabbi Debbie Bravo once called the High Holiday sermon “the World Series for rabbis.”
Read
Hollywood strike and High Holy Days: L.A. Jews seek solace amid tough times
The end of summer has long been a season of spiritual accounting for Jews like Sarah Afkami.
Read
LA Churches Want To Build Housing That Ends Homelessness. What’s Stopping Them?
A large white cross fixed to the roof of Crossroads United Methodist Church rises above the church’s property along Wilmington Avenue in Compton.
Read
“American Jews, You Have to Choose Sides on Israel”
Ever since Israel’s founding in 1948, supporting the country’s security and its economic development and cementing its diplomatic ties to the U.S. have been the “religion” of many nonobservant American Jews — rather than studying Torah or keeping kosher.
Read
Israel’s Judicial Overhaul Plan Ignites Debate Among American Jews
Jewish American leaders are denouncing a proposal by the country’s right-wing government to weaken the power of the country’s judiciary, in ways that some call unusually forceful.
Read
What Would the Torah Say About Rent Control? By Louis Sallerson
In the midst of a national housing crisis, California’s Jewish organizations are breaking ground.
Read