Right-Wing Rabbi Broadcasts Torah Even to Christians: Lapin Seeks `Accessible Judaism'

Duin, Julia, The Washington Times (Washington, DC)

MERCER ISLAND, Wash. - When Rabbi Daniel Ephraim Lapin moved to this upscale Seattle suburb with his wife, Susan, and seven children five years ago this month, he was without a synagogue. In that time, he created what he calls a more accessible Judaism, in which the rabbi resembles a spiritual director and father of a large family. Gone were the membership fees of a typical synagogue and the duties of a paid rabbi.

Instead, Rabbi Lapin, 50, prefers to call himself a "Torah teacher," holding forth on Jewish law and customs during Saturday afternoon meetings around his dining room table. He started these meetings three years ago with three persons.

A few months ago, 30 Jews are gathered in his dining room. The rabbi is seated at the head of a long dining room table, before him a Bible and stack of commentaries. His listeners snack on slices of pineapple, bowls of chips and salsa, and bottles of wine and vodka. Many of the lights in the house are on; being Orthodox, the rabbi's family holds to a strict reading of the Bible that interprets turning lights on or off as working on the Sabbath.

One of the guests is Michael Medved, host of "Sneak …

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Publication information: Article title: Right-Wing Rabbi Broadcasts Torah Even to Christians: Lapin Seeks `Accessible Judaism'. Contributors: Duin, Julia - Author. Newspaper title: The Washington Times (Washington, DC). Publication date: March 12, 1997. Page number: 2. © 2009 The Washington Times LLC. COPYRIGHT 1997 Gale Group.

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