Ikar Los Angeles

Join Rabbi Sharon Brous and Dalia Dassa Kaye as they discuss Dassa Kaye's new book, Enduring Hostility - The Making of America’s Iran Policy, "a timely and rigorous analysis of a half-century of American policymakers' shifting perceptions of Iran, and how they have driven US-Iran relations." Dalia Dassa Kaye is a Senior Fellow at the UCLA Burkle Center for International Relations and a former Senior Political Scientist and Director of the RAND Center for Middle East Public Policy.

Are we ready to give sound to the silent beginning at Sinai?

California State Senator Ben Allen, representing Senate District 24, including Beverly Grove, Fairfax, Mid City West, Santa Monica, and West Hollywood, joined Rabbi Sharon Brous in conversation.

The death penalty has no place in a just society. And it has no place in a Jewish society.

An introduction to the Yizkor service

Source Sheet here: https://ikar.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/The-Song-and-The-Star.pdf Judaism greets our most powerful experiences of salvation and redemption with song and music. Using the lens of Franz Rosenzweig’s Star of Redemption, we find music not only passively accompanying our experiences of the Divine, but also actively attuning us toward justice, bringing redemption to others and joy to God.

How do we think about mo’adim, the fixed times in our calendar when we are asked to show up for a meeting with God? Can we treat these occasions as moments of sacred recognition?

We Jews are obsessed with telling stories – as the core of the Passover Seder and beyond.  The obsession to do so is woven into the fabric of Jewish life and practice.  Through interpreting our people’s narrative, we become the story we tell about ourselves and we partner with God in completing creation.

Ezekiel’s prophecy, read on the Shabbat of Passover, challenges us to dream audaciously. You cannot tell a redemption story that leaves some behind. And that includes those amongst our own people who’ve gone terribly astray.

As we approach Pesah, we often consume ourselves with cleaning our houses, but we neglect any spiritual preparation for the holiday. What would happen if we let the search for chametz in our houses lead to a search for something in ourselves? What might we find?

Source sheet: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1YKuYB4tSLePVfl1YytWeZSShpH2kdw4P/view Class #16 | March 24, 2026 This is a recording of Rabbi Morris Brous's session of For the Love of Learning class. Every Tuesday morning, a new story from the Talmud. Taught by your rabbis in a monthly rotation, we’ll dig into the strange and compelling world of the Talmud, exploring the ways ancient dilemmas speak to modern questions. Join us in-person at the Event Space (coffee and nosh provided) or over Zoom (B.Y.O. nosh) for as many sessions as possible… your Tuesday will thank you.

From movement leaders to strongmen, the whole world is reeling from the abuses of men striving for greatness. But it’s never too late for a moral reckoning. Humility and decency must be our new metric for leadership.

Join peacebuilder, activist, Palestinian American neurosurgeon Dr. David Hasan, Founder, President & CEO of The Gaza Children Village, in conversation with Rabbi Sharon Brous Recently featured in The New York Times, The Gaza Children Village provides daily education, nutritious meals, healthcare, and trauma-informed support to orphaned and vulnerable children through their Academies of Hope. Co-Sponsored by NewGround: A Muslim-Jewish Partnership for Change.

Parashat Vayikra This is a recording of Rabbi David Kasher's class The Weekly Parashah from 3.18.2026, co-sponsored by IKAR and Hadar.

Class #15 | March 17, 2026 This is a recording of Rabbi Morris Panitz's session of For the Love of Learning class. Every Tuesday morning, a new story from the Talmud. Taught by your rabbis in a monthly rotation, we’ll dig into the strange and compelling world of the Talmud, exploring the ways ancient dilemmas speak to modern questions. Join us in-person at the Event Space (coffee and nosh provided) or over Zoom (B.Y.O. nosh) for as many sessions as possible… your Tuesday will thank you.

This is a heavy and complicated and confusing time. But we must not respond to the spiritual overload by closing off our hearts. Let us pry our hearts open instead.  Vayak-hel Pekudei 5786

Parashat Vayakhel-Pekudei This is a recording of Rabbi David Kasher's class The Weekly Parashah from 3.11.2026, co-sponsored by IKAR and Hadar.

Class #14 | March 10, 2026 | Click here for source sheet. When the man entered with the boy in his arms, a change came over the place. All of us felt it. Something in the air trembled; a warmth passed through the yard, and we knew that one of the living had come among us. We assembled in small knots, whispering about our former lives. Some remembered their misdeeds, some their triumphs. We debated, we argued, we laughed when the memory allowed it, but always we were together, bound by the strange circumstance of our continued existence. - Lincoln in the Bardo, George Saunders

This is a recording from 3.4.2025 of Rabbi David Kasher's Weekly Parashah class, co-sponsored by Hadar and IKAR. There were technical difficulties in the last 10 minutes of class and Rabbi Kasher had to join from a different device.

Moses has an encounter this week that he never speaks of again. But we can’t seem to stop quoting it. What happened, and what can we learn from Moses’ secret?