Yes, I still consider myself an East-Coaster at heart, but every now and then, there are times when I have to say, “it’s pretty cool to live in Los Angeles.”  Most often, these moments are weather-related.  Most other times, it’s a cultural/film business thing.  Friday night, it was a Jewish thing.

C and I have talked about how lucky we are to belong to the synagogue we do.  The community is amazing — smart, young, and progressive — and the rabbi is a real superstar: a fiercely intelligent young woman with a passion for social justice.  Our congregation does Friday night services on the first and third Fridays of each month, and we try to go whenever we can.  On the second Friday of the month, we venture to a larger synagogue for a once-a-month mega-service that is highly musical and presided over by yet another amazing rabbi.  We love this second rabbi because his sermons have the three qualities every religious leader should want to emulate: insightful, funny, and brief.  Both he and our rabbi are widely considered two of the top rabbis in the country, and C and I get to hear them speak every month.  How lucky are we?

And being in Los Angeles, you never know who is going to show up at shul.  On Friday night, Pastor Rick Warren was in the audience.  So was David Gregory.  Fresh from a taping of the Tonight Show, Mr. Gregory looked happy, tired, and very tall.  C and I (along with about 1000 other Jews) sang Mazal Tov to him, to congratulate him on his upcoming debut as the new host of Meet the Press.  Pretty cool, no?

As for MTP, I’m only about 20 minutes through this week’s episode on my TiVo, so it’s way too early for me to pass judgement on Mr. Gregory’s performance.  But I wouldn’t do that anyway — at least not yet.  I don’t think it’s fair to judge a host on his or her first show.  Let’s see how he’s doing in six months, when he’s had a chance to settle into things.  Until then, I wish him luck.