Rabbi's Blog

“Is Democracy In Danger?” – Friday, April 4, 7:00 p.m., with UC Berkeley Law School Dean Erwin Chemerinsky. 

RSVP Now For Shabbat Dinner at 6:00 p.m. and “Shabbat Alive” Services at 7:00 p.m. Click here.

We need our superb teacher Erwin Chemerinsky in times like these.  That’s why I invited him to explain the complexities of American law in regard to the crucial issues of democracy and how to preserve this precious gift for us and for future generations.
 
Erwin Chemerinsky became the 13th Dean of Berkeley Law on July 1, 2017, when he joined the faculty as the Jesse H. Choper Distinguished Professor of Law. Prior to assuming this position, from 2008-2017, he was the founding Dean and Distinguished Professor of Law, and Raymond Pryke Professor of First Amendment Law, at University of California, Irvine School of Law. Before that, he was the Alston and Bird Professor of Law and Political Science at Duke University from 2004-2008, and from 1983-2004, he was a professor at the University of Southern California Law School, and the Sydney M. Irmas Professor of Public Interest Law, Legal Ethics, and Political Science. From 1980-1983, he was an assistant professor at DePaul College of Law.
 
Dean Chemerinsky is the author of nineteen books, including leading casebooks and treatises about constitutional law, criminal procedure, and federal jurisdiction. His most recent major books are Worse than Nothing: The Dangerous Fallacy of Originalism (2022) and Presumed Guilty: How the Supreme Court Empowered the Police and Subverted Civil Rights (2021).
 
He is also the author of more than 200 law review articles and a contributing writer for the Opinion section of the Los Angeles Times.  He writes regular columns for the Sacramento Bee, the ABA Journal and the Daily Journal, as well as frequent op-eds in newspapers across the country. He frequently argues appellate cases, including in the United States Supreme Court. 
 
In 2016, Dean Chemerinsky was named a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. In 2024, National Jurist magazine again named Dean Chemerinsky as the most influential person in legal education in the United States and, in 2022, he became the President of the Association of American Law Schools. He received his B.S. at Northwestern University and his J.D. at Harvard Law School.
 
I’m personally very excited to be coming back to lead Shabbat services with our Cantor on April 4.  I’ve missed all of you and I’m especially delighted to be returning for our “Shabbat Alive” jazz and pop service.  I hope that you can be at services so that we can greet and schmooze with each other.
 
As I’ve watched Shabbat services each week on Livestream, I’ve been so delighted to see how Rabbi George Wielechowski has become such an articulate, intelligent, personable and comforting presence in our congregation.  I’ve also enjoyed my meetings with Rabbi George, discussing the past and future of University Synagogue.
 
While our congregation might change over time, our community’s dedication to religious humanism, relevant learning, caring for one another, and tikkun olam/improving the world will always exist.
 
See you on April 4. RSVP by clicking here.
 
Shavua tov/Have a wonderful week,

Rabbi Arnie Rachlis