Rabbi Yaakov Menken is the Director of Project Genesis, a Jewish cyber-outreach organization based in Baltimore.

According to a new book from a professor at UCLA, the media's left-wing bias is so overwhelming and pervasive that the few balanced news outlets appear to have a conservative slant.

"It's like concluding that six-three is short just because it is short compared to professional basketball players," writes Professor Tim Groseclose. He asserts that by a neutral standard, Fox News and the Drudge Report are centrist, with perhaps even a minor left-wing tilt -- but due to the steep liberal bias of every other major outlet, "commentators mistake relative bias for absolute bias." From the article:

Groseclose opens his book quoting a well-known poll in which Washington correspondents declared that they vote Democratic 93 percent to 7 percent, while the nation is split about 50-50. As a result, he says, most reporters write with a liberal filter. "Using objective, social-scientific methods, the filtering prevents us from seeing the world as it actually is. Instead, we see only a distorted version of it. It is as if we see the world through a glass—a glass that magnifies the facts that liberals want us to see and shrinks the facts that conservatives want us to see."

If the liberal media tends to "shrink" conservative facts, this is true to a still more extreme degree with anything concerning religion. The Deseret News, the commercial paper of the Mormon Church, recently published a two-part series on news coverage of religion -- or the lack thereof. Journalists not only tend to be much more liberal, but much less religious, then the American population.

A 2002 survey (the most recent data available) of 1,149 randomly selected journalists conducted by the Indiana University found that 34 percent of journalists say they have no religious affiliation, compared with 13 percent among the general population who said the same in a 2002 Pew Research Center survey.

The journalists were also asked how important religion or religious beliefs were to them. Roughly a third (35 percent) said they were “very important.” By comparison, the figure among the general population, as measured that same year by Gallup, was nearly double at 61 percent.

Continue reading "Menken: Bias has consequences" »

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The Rev. Jason Poling is Pastor of New Hope Community Church in Pikesville.

The good citizens of San Francisco have managed to tear themselves away from a crippling state budget crisis long enough to place a ballot measure outlawing circumcision. Being represented by Nancy Pelosi would unbalance me, too, so I don't want to be too judgmental.

Nah, I do.

What is at stake here is nothing less than the choice between the French and American visions of the social good. Liberté or liberty, sometimes the choice is clear. In San Francisco it couldn't be any clearer.

Our revolutions took place within a stone's throw of one another, chronologically. But while the French sought to institute a creedal secularism, we set out a constitutional vision of church protected from state, and vice versa. Our experiment was a lot less bloody, and a lot more successful.

Fast forward to today and in France Muslim girls are prohibited from covering their heads in school. This approach reflects an understanding of secularism as a militant opposition to religion, a strict requirement of conformity to prescribed standards however much said conformity might violate the consciences of citizens.

When our founding fathers pointed us toward a novus ordo seclorum, they had in mind a worldliness that allowed a variety of religious movements to express themselves in virtually any way that wouldn't impinge upon others. So while we don't allow the recreational use of peyote our society allows it as an expression of Native American religious observance. We'll make you take off the veil for your driver's license picture, but we'll let you wear it in class. And we'll allow you to raise your children according to the dictates of your religion, unless doing so presents an imminent threat to the child's physical health.

How is this definition adjudicated? With care, and with great respect -- at least in this country -- for the deeply held religious convictions of the people involved. If there's no overwhelming medical reason to oppose a practice, we're going to defer to the scruples of our fellow citizens. We do so in part because we would want them to do the same to us; we do so in part because most of us have a hard enough time making difficult decisions for ourselves, let alone for others. But mostly we do so because to be American is to be free to exercise, or not, our religious beliefs, and to have that free exercise protected against the prejudices of our neighbors.

Continue reading "Poling: Plus ça change ..." »

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The National Association of Evangelicals is joining Jews and Muslims in opposition to the proposed ban on circumcision of male children in San Francisco.

“Jews, Muslims, and Christians all trace our spiritual heritage back to Abraham. Biblical circumcision begins with Abraham,” Leith Anderson, president of the Christian organization, said Thursday in a statement. “No American government should restrict this historic tradition. Essential religious liberties are at stake.”

Opponents of circumcision have gathered enough signatures to get the ban on San Francisco's city ballot in November. The measure would make circumcision of a male under 18 a misdemeanor punishable by a fine of up to $1,000.

The National Association of Evangelicals says the ban would violate the First Amendment guarantee of the freedom to exercise one’s religious beliefs. The organization says its guiding policy document affirms the principles of religious freedom and liberty of conscience, which it describes as both historically and logically at the foundation of the American experiment.

“While evangelical denominations traditionally neither require nor forbid circumcision, we join Jews and Muslims in opposing this ban and standing together for religious freedom,” Anderson said.

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Associated Press correspondent Victor L. Simpson reports:

A visit to Rome's main synagogue. Diplomatic relations with Israel. A handwritten plea asking forgiveness for Christian persecution left at Judaism's holiest site in Jerusalem.

With his landmark actions, Pope John Paul II strove throughout his 27-year papacy to overcome the tortured two-millennia history of Catholic-Jewish relations.

In a sign of appreciation for those efforts, some in the crowd at his beatification Sunday in St. Peters's Square will be Jews, including an Israeli Cabinet minister who lost most of his family in the Holocaust but was hidden by a Belgium family who raised him as a Christian.

"We have a high respect, a unique respect for John Paul," Yossi Peled, a retired Israeli general, said Friday. "He is not just another pope for us."

The preparations for the beatification — the last formal step before possible sainthood — got under way in an official capacity Friday morning when John Paul's tomb was opened and his sealed casket removed for public viewing starting Sunday in St. Peter's Basilica.

The simple white marble tombstone that had marked John Paul's resting place in the grottoes underneath the basilica will be sent to a new church dedicated to him in Krakow, the Vatican said.

Eighty-seven official delegations have confirmed their presence at the ceremony, including 16 heads of state, six heads of government and members of five royal houses, Vatican spokesman the Rev. Federico Lombardi said.

Peled, a minister in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office, said the participation of an Israeli Cabinet member at what is a religious event — the U.S. delegation is limited to its ambassador to the Holy See and two former envoys — is a sign of the importance given to John Paul's accomplishments.

Continue reading "On eve of beatification, Jews praise John Paul II" »

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In other Obama religious holiday news, the president extended best wishes to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu before the start of Passover, the White House reports.

The weeklong holiday, which marks the biblical story of the Israelites' exodus from Egypt, began Monday night with a traditional seder meal.

Obama hosted a seder at the White House for the third straight year, the Associated Press reported.

White House spokesman Jay Carney said Netanyahu expressed appreciation during their telephone conversation Monday for U.S. funding for a military weapons system that has intercepted several rockets aimed at Israeli communities, the AP rpeorted.

The leaders also discussed cooperation on counterterrorism, the Middle East peace process and violence in the Gaza Strip, Carney said.

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Associated Press correspondent Kathy Matheson reports:

One of the hottest college campuses in the U.S. for Jewish students is also one of the unlikeliest: a small Lutheran school erected around a soaring stone chapel with a cross on top.

In what is being called a testament to word of mouth in the Jewish community, approximately 34 percent of Muhlenberg College's 2,200 students are Jewish. And the biggest gains have come in the past five years or so.

Perhaps equally noteworthy is how Muhlenberg has responded: offering a kosher menu at the student union, creating a partnership with the Jewish Theological Seminary in New York, and expanding its Hillel House, a social hub for Jews.

"What makes us stand out is that we actually enjoy our diversity," said Randy Helm, the college's president, an Episcopalian. "Our close-knit community has embraced differences rather than pulling into its shell or fracturing along religious, ethnic or other lines."

Many major universities — including some of the country's most highly selective schools — have large proportions of Jewish students, far bigger than the 2 percent of the U.S. population that is Jewish. But how, one might ask, did this come to pass at Muhlenberg, a liberal arts school little known outside Pennsylvania?

Muhlenberg graduate Ben David, now a rabbi on New York's Long Island, said it is a question worthy of Malcolm Gladwell's best-selling book "The Tipping Point," which analyzes how trends develop.

"Jews are like nothing else in terms of word of mouth," said Patti Mittleman, director of Muhlenberg's Hillel House. "There are so many Jews at Muhlenberg who are having a positive experience at Muhlenberg. That gets talked about in the synagogue and in youth group and in summer camp and in all of those ways that Jews meet each other and talk to each other."

Continue reading "Lutheran college hot among Jewish students" »

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Associated Press correspondent Nicole Winfield reports:

Pope Benedict XVI has made a sweeping exoneration of the Jewish people for the death of Jesus Christ, tackling one of the most controversial issues in Christianity in a new book.

In "Jesus of Nazareth-Part II" excerpts released Wednesday, Benedict explains biblically and theologically why there is no basis in Scripture for the argument that the Jewish people as a whole were responsible for Jesus' death.

Interpretations to the contrary have been used for centuries to justify the persecution of Jews.

While the Catholic Church has for five decades taught that Jews weren't collectively responsible, Jewish scholars said Wednesday the argument laid out by the German-born pontiff, who has had his share of mishaps with Jews, was a landmark statement from a pope that would help fight anti-Semitism today.

"Holocaust survivors know only too well how the centuries-long charge of 'Christ killer' against the Jews created a poisonous climate of hate that was the foundation of anti-Semitic persecution whose ultimate expression was realized in the Holocaust," said Elan Steinberg of the American Gathering of Holocaust Survivors and their Descendants.

The pope's book, he said, not only confirms church teaching refuting the deicide charge "but seals it for a new generation of Catholics."

Continue reading "Pope: Jews as whole not responsible for Jesus' death" »

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Sarah Palin is drawing condemnation from some Jewish leaders for her use of the phrase “blood libel” to describe criticism leveled against her following the Arizona shooting attack on Rep. Gabrielle Giffords.

The former Alaska governor and Republican vice presidential nominee used the phrase Wednesday morning in her most expansive comments yet on the attack that left six dead and 14 more, including Giffords, wounded.

In the aftermath of the shootings, Palin’s opponents revived criticism of the violent imagery she used during the 2010 congressional campaign, when she urged supporters, “Don’t Retreat, Instead – RELOAD!” and posted a map of the United States with crosshairs over Democratic congressional districts, including Giffords’.

In a video released Wednesday, Palin deplored “the irresponsible statements from people attempting to apportion blame for this terrible event.”

"Journalists and pundits should not manufacture a blood libel that serves only to incite the very hatred and violence that they purport to condemn,” she said.

“Blood libel” most commonly refers to the claim, dating to Medieval Europe, that Jews used the blood of Christians in their rituals.

“Unless someone has been accusing Ms. Palin of killing Christian babies and making matzoh from their blood, her use of the term is totally out-of-line,” said Simon Greer, president of Jewish Funds for Justice.

“The term ‘blood libel’ is not a synonym for ‘false accusation,’ " Greer said. "It refers to a specific falsehood perpetuated by Christians about Jews for centuries, a falsehood that motivated a good deal of anti-Jewish violence and discrimination ...

“The fact that Rep. Giffords is Jewish and Ms. Palin is Christian makes the accusation even more grotesque.”

Continue reading "Palin drawing new criticism for use of 'blood libel'" »

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Associated Press correspondent Amy Teibel reports:

Three dozen top Israeli rabbis threw their support Tuesday behind a religious ruling barring Jews from selling or renting homes to non-Jews — an indication of growing radicalism within the rabbinical community at a time of mounting friction between Israeli Arabs and Jews.

The action by the clerics — chief rabbis in some of Israel's largest cities and influential among the devout — fueled charges of racism.

The religious opinion first became a focus of controversy last year when the chief rabbi of Safed — a town in northern Israel that has a large concentration of devout Jews — urged that it be applied specifically to Arabs.

Nitai Morgenstern, an aide to Safed's chief rabbi, Shmuel Eliahu, said the town has "a problem of a lot of people renting and selling to Arabs, and that destroys the city's social fabric."

Recently, a group of ultra-Orthodox Jews asked other chief rabbis to express their support for the ruling to prove it has widespread backing, Morgenstern said Tuesday. Thirty-seven rabbis signed it. The Associated Press obtained a copy of the ruling with their signatures attached on Tuesday.

Mordechai Nagari, chief rabbi of Maaleh Adumim, a large West Bank settlement outside Jerusalem, defended the letter, which he signed. "The rabbinical ruling is that you cannot sell houses to gentiles, and its purpose is to protect the Jewish identity of the state of Israel," he told AP Television News.

Morgenstern said he understood how this attitude could cause friction with the Arab minority, which accounts for one-fifth of Israel's population of 7.6 million.

"But people have to see the other side," he said.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu denounced the initiative. "Israel categorically rejects these words" against its Arab citizens, Netanyahu said in a speech Tuesday evening in Jerusalem. "This must not happen in any democratic nation, and certainly not in the Jewish and democratic state" of Israel.

Continue reading "Israeli rabbis: Don't sell, rent property to non-Jews" »

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The Rev. Jason Poling is pastor of New Hope Community Church in Pikesville. He is traveling in Israel with the Maryland Clergy Initiative, sponsored by the Baltimore Jewish Council and the Institute for Christian & Jewish Studies.

JERUSALEM – I don’t know what I was expecting, but somehow it wasn’t what I expected.

Earlier this week I walked on the Temple Mount, the site where the first and second Temples stood. Today it houses the Al-Aqsa Mosque and the Dome of the Rock. For all the controversy that surrounds it, the Temple Mount is a very peaceful place – it’s a broad plaza populated by tourists, most of them apparently on organized tours.

For years I’ve studied various biblical passages about the events that took place on this site; I’ve looked at pictures and satellite images and helicopter flyovers to try to get something useful in my mind’s eye. It looked from a distance about how I thought it would, but the feeling of walking on it was the feeling of walking on an alien world. That’s not all too unusual, as that’s what walking through the rest of Jerusalem felt like too. But whatever connection I may have with the place spiritually, theologically … I don’t know that any connection was an experiential reality for me.

Some of this disconnect may come from the fact that I know enough about the history of the place to know that there is virtually no place one can stand that is as it was in the first century. Jerusalem has changed hands a number of times since then, and as we walked through the tunnels next to the Western Wall of the Temple Mount we learned about the ways successive administrations carried out massive building projects that would be impressive today but are stunning in scope for a pre-industrial age. The result of these building projects, though, is that streets in the neighborhood aren’t at the same levels they were two thousand years ago. So in a couple of days when we walk the Via Dolorosa, the path of Jesus’ journey carrying his cross, we will not be walking the same stones he walked.

Continue reading "Poling: A mountaintop experience…maybe" »

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The Rev. Jason Poling is Pastor of New Hope Community Church in Pikesville.

This week I have the privilege of joining two dozen of my colleagues on an interfaith clergy trip to Israel. Rabbis, ministers, scholars, priests and a bishop ... we have the makings of unlimited jokes as well as deep theological intercourse.

This trip, called the Maryland Clergy Initiative, is being co-sponsored by the Baltimore Jewish Council and the Institute for Christian & Jewish Studies. In addition to visiting major sites in Jerusalem and Galilee, we will meet with several of the leading voices on both sides of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

I look forward to posting to In Good Faith as often as our schedule and wireless connections allow. My colleagues will also be contributing on the MCI trip blog.

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The Associated Press reports:

The Anti-Defamation League is criticizing remarks by Fox News Channel's Glenn Beck about billionaire financier George Soros and the Holocaust.

The conservative pundit described Soros this week as a "Jewish boy helping send the Jews to the death camps."

But he also said he can't imagine what it must have been like trying to survive.

Soros survived the Nazi occupation of Hungary and donates to liberal causes.

ADL National Director Abraham Foxman says Beck's remarks about Soros' childhood were "inappropriate, offensive and over the top."

Foxman later told Salon.com that he still believes Beck is a strong supporter of Israel and the Jewish people.

A Beck spokesman cited an Oct. 22 letter from Foxman praising Beck as a "friend of Israel." The letter was posted Friday on Beck's website.

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The following is a dispatch from Jeff and Martha Landaw. Jeff Landaw is a copy editor at The Baltimore Sun.

The “modern” Orthodox community, Rabbi Daniel Sperber says, “is becoming less ‘modern’ and more Orthodox.”

Sperber, who left his native Wales at age two, is the rabbi of a congregation in the Old City of Jerusalem and chair of Talmud and Jewish history at Bar-Ilan University, Israel’s Orthodox institution of higher learning. He has written many books, including a history of Jewish customs, and scores of articles on Jewish history, language and halacha, or Jewish law. He represents the Israeli rabbinate in interfaith organizations and won the Israel Prize in 1992.

He spoke Monday night at Netivot Shalom, a modern Orthodox congregation in Pikesville, on “21st Century Halacha: Obligations, Opportunities in Hazards.”

The 20th and 21st centuries, Sperber told an audience of about 45, brought “tremendous changes to the world of Judaism” in science and technology, where halacha “to a certain extent has been able to face up to the new challenges;” in social affairs such as the role of women and in ideological matters such as the establishment of a Jewish state run as a democracy: What happens, he asks, if Israel’s majority decides to do something that violates halacha?

The Orthodox world has dealt with the “uncertainty” and “perplexity” brought on by these changes in two ways, Sperber says. One is to “retreat behind the walls,” condemning all change as a threat to “the nostalgic picture of what Judaism was.” The haredi, or ultra-Orthodox, community, and “the so-called right wing of modern Orthodoxy,” take their cue from the 18th- and 19th-century Talmudist and teacher known as the Chatam Sofer, who ruled that “chadash assur min ha-Torah,” or, “Innovation is forbidden by the Torah.” That began, Sperber says, as a technical point about the laws of the harvest; was applied “out of context” to Orthodoxy’s conflict with the new Reform movement in Germany and Hungary (and even among the Orthodoxc, Sperber says, it was considered “a very extreme statement”) and finally became a universal rule.

Continue reading "Sperber: Less modern, more Orthodox" »

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Associated Press writer Samantha Gross reports:

An Orthodox rabbi says he's withdrawing his endorsement of New York gubernatorial candidate Carl Paladino because the Republican apologized for comments he made about gays.

Rabbi Yehuda Levin, who represents an umbrella organization of ultra-Orthodox clerics, accused Paladino on Wednesday of bowing to political pressure when he apologized for a speech in which he said children shouldn't be "brainwashed" into thinking homosexuality is acceptable.

Levin — speaking in New York City in front of St. Patrick's Cathedral — says he can't support Paladino's campaign "until such time as he straightens out."

Paladino spokesman Michael Caputo said in an e-mail that the rabbi and Paladino "agree on many things and disagree on some, too. He's entitled to his opinion."

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The Associated Press reports:

Former White House correspondent Helen Thomas acknowledges she touched a nerve with remarks about Israel that led to her retirement. But in a radio interview, she says the comments were "exactly what I thought," even though she realized soon afterward that it was the end of her job.

"I hit the third rail. You cannot criticize Israel in this country and survive," Thomas told Ohio station WMRN-AM in a sometimes emotional 35-minute interview that aired Tuesday. It was recorded a week earlier by WMRN reporter Scott Spears at Thomas' Washington, D.C., condominium.

Thomas, 90, stepped down from her job as a columnist for Hearst News Service in June after a rabbi and independent filmmaker videotaped her outside the White House calling on Israelis to get "out of Palestine." She gave up her front row seat in the White House press room, where she had aimed often pointed questions at 10 presidents, going back to Dwight D. Eisenhower.

She has kept a low profile since then.

It was "very hard for the first two weeks," Thomas said. "After that, I came out of my coma."

Rabbi David Nesenoff, who runs the website rabbilive.com, said he approached Thomas after he'd been at the White House for Jewish Heritage Day on May 27. He asked whether she had any comments on Israel.

"Tell them to get the hell out of Palestine," she replied.

"Remember, these people are occupied and it's their land. It's not Germany, it's not Poland," she continued. Asked where they should go, she answered, "They should go home."

"Where's home?" Nesenoff asked.

"Poland, Germany and America and everywhere else," Thomas replied.

"I told him exactly what I thought," she told Spears.

Continue reading "Helen Thomas on anti-Semite charge: 'Baloney!'" »

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Six rabbis from West Bank settlements have taken a step to defuse tension over the burning of a West Bank mosque, apparently by extremist settlers — they presented 20 new Quran books to replace those damaged in the blaze, the Associated Press reports.

During their visit to the mosque in the village of Beit Fajjar, Palestinian residents held charred pages of the burned Quran books.

Israeli politicians rushed to condemn the attack. It came as Israeli and Palestinian negotiators try to salvage peace talks by working out a deal over Israeli settlement construction in the West Bank.

Rabbi Menachem Froman, who led Tuesday's reconciliatory visit, said those who committed the attack "oppose peace."

The attackers left Hebrew slogans on the mosque walls. Israeli police are investigating.

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The Rev. Jason Poling is the Pastor of New Hope Community Church in Pikesville.

Her tragic death notwithstanding, the career of Anna Nicole Smith delighted plastic surgeons, dieters and reality TV fans, not to mention readers of Playboy magazine and patrons of strip clubs. It was one of these last, J. Howard Marshall II, who became Mr. Anna Nicole Smith in the waning years of his life.

The facts are well-known to most readers: Ms. Smith, then 26, married Mr. Marshall, then 89, in 1994. Upon Marshall’s death 13 months later, his son E. Pierce Marshall contested Ms. Smith’s claim to half of his estate; the case ultimately wound up in the Supreme Court, which decided in Ms. Smith’s favor in 2006. Although both Ms. Smith and Mr. Marshall are now deceased, Mr. Marshall’s estate continued to pursue the matter, and the Supreme Court has announced that it will once again hear the case.

Oddly enough, this turn of events presents us once again with the reality that for a brief, shining moment, Ms. Smith replaced Michael Schiavo as the poster child for family values.

Obviously the disposition of a will can involve complicated decisions, and family tension is by no mean unknown in this sort of situation. Probate lawyers can explain all of the variables to anyone who’s interested in them, but the basic principle of law and the clear message of the Supreme Court’s 2006 ruling is this: If the choice is between a spouse and another family member, the spouse wins.

Much the same conflict was operative in the Schiavo case: Ultimately the courts decided that when Terry Schiavo’s husband and parents disagreed over her medical care, it was her husband’s right as her spouse to make decisions for her despite her parents’ disagreement with his choices.

Continue reading "Poling: Two Cheers for Anna Nicole Smith" »

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On Rosh Hashanah, Baltimore County Police Chief James W. Johnson has sent the local Jewish community a message of peace – and thanks.

In the video message, Johnson credits groups such as Shomrim, a citizens patrol organization formed five years ago by area Orthodox Jews, with contributing to a decline in crime.

“In the Pikesville precinct alone, for example, we have seen decreases in burglaries, robberies and auto thefts throughout this year compared to previous years,” Johnson says in the message, which appears on the website www.theyeshivaworld.com. “Participation in groups like Shomrim greatly contributes to the potential suppression of crime, making our streets safer.”

Rosh Hashanah began at sundown on Wednesday and continues through sundown Friday. The first of the High Holidays, it marks the start of the year in the Hebrew calendar.

City police have announced increased surveillance and patrols in the Jewish neighborhoods of Northwest Baltimore during the holiday after swastikas and other messages were spray-painted last month onto cars on Strathmore Avenue, Clarinth Road and Labyrinth Road.

Continue reading "On Rosh Hashanah, thanks from county police" »

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The University of California, Irvine has upheld its decision to suspend a campus Muslim group after some of its members disrupted a speech by the Israeli ambassador at a campus event, the Associated Press reports.

However, the university said last week it would lift the suspension of the Muslim Student Union on Dec. 31 instead of enforcing it for a full year.

In addition, the group will be on probation for two years instead of one, and members must complete 100 hours of community service.

Eleven students were arrested in February for disrupting Michael Oren's speech.

Hadeer Soliman, the group's interim vice president, says the punishment will affect hundreds of Muslims who regularly attend prayer meetings and socialize together.

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The EU's trade chief apologized Friday for blaming Jews and the "Jewish lobby" in Washington for blocking Mideast peace as the embarrassed EU head office quickly distanced itself from his comments, the Associated Press reports.

Karel De Gucht, 56, said he did not mean to stigmatize Jewish people and stressed in a statement that "anti-Semitism has no place in today's world." The remarks in a Thursday radio interview came as the U.S. formally convened the first direct negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians in nearly two years.

The European Jewish Congress, an umbrella group, had demanded a retraction of De Gucht's remarks in which he maintained that Israel frustrates U.S.-led peace efforts and warned not to "underestimate the Jewish lobby on Capitol Hill."

"That is the best organized lobby that exists there," the former Belgian foreign minister said in the interview with the Dutch-speaking VRT radio network.

"Don't underestimate the opinion ... of the average Jew outside of Israel," he said. "There is, indeed, a belief, I can hardly describe it differently, among most Jews that they are right. So it is not easy to have a rational discussion with a moderate Jew about what is happening in the Middle East. It is a very emotional issue."

Jewish groups warned that De Gucht's comments were part of a growing wave of anti-Semitism in Europe. Germany's central bank said Thursday it will ask a board member to step down for stereotyping Muslims and Jews. The official, Thilo Sarrazin said in a book published this week that Muslim immigrants in Europe cannot or will not integrate. He also has cited studies he says prove that "all Jews share a certain gene" — ideas he stressed in recent interviews.

Continue reading "EU official apologizes for comment on 'Jewish lobby'" »

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The Mormon church says it has changed its genealogical database to better prevent the names of Jews killed in Nazi concentration camps from being submitted for posthumous baptism by proxy, the Associated Press reports.

In a joint statement issued Wednesday, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and a coalition of Jewish leaders said a new computer system and policy changes related to the practice should resolve a yearslong disagreement over the baptisms.

Mormons believe posthumous baptism by proxy provides an opportunity for deceased persons to receive the Gospel in the afterlife. Baptisms are performed in Mormon temples with members immersing themselves in a baptismal pool as proxies for others. The names used in the ceremonies are drawn from a church-run genealogical database.

Faithful Mormons use the practice primarily to have their ancestors baptized into the 180-year-old church and believe the ceremonies reunite families in the afterlife.

But the practice also includes proxy rites for others around the world from all faith traditions. The church also believes departed souls can accept or reject the baptismal rites in the afterlife and contends the offerings are not intended to offend anyone.

Jews are offended by the idea that Mormons are trying to alter the religion of Holocaust victims, who were murdered because of their religion.

Continue reading "Mormons, Jews tackle proxy baptisms" »

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It is "unethical, insensitive and inhumane" to oppose the planned mosque near ground zero, more than 50 leading Muslim organizations said Wednesday as they cast the intense debate as a symptom of religious intolerance in America, the Associated Press reports.

The imam behind the project, meanwhile, was preparing to return to the U.S. after a taxpayer-funded good will tour to the Mideast, where he said the debate is about much more than "a piece of real estate." Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf sidestepped questions about whether he would consider moving the $100 million mosque and Islamic community center farther from where Islamic terrorists flew two planes into the World Trade Center. Instead, he stressed the need to embrace religious and political freedoms in the United States.

Leaders of the Majlis Ash-Shura of Metropolitan New York, an Islamic leadership council that represents a broad spectrum of Muslims in the city, gathered on the steps of City Hall to issue a statement calling for a stop to religious intolerance and affirming the right of the center's developers to build two blocks north of the site of the 2001 terrorist attacks.

"We support the right of our Muslim brothers who wish to build that center there," said Imam Al Amin Abdul Latif, president of the Majlis Ash-Shura. "However, the bigger issue and the broader issue is the issue of ethnic and religious hatred being spread by groups trying to stop the building of mosques and Islamic institutions across the country."

This is the first time that the council as a body has spoken out on the weeks-old debate over the proposed center.

Continue reading "N.Y. Muslims decry hostile atmosphere" »

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American Muslim leaders who recently returned from visiting Dauchau and Auschwitz have released a statement condemning Holocaust denial and anti-Semitism, the Associated Press reports.

The trip earlier this month was led by Rabbi Jack Bemporad of the Center for Interreligious Understanding in New Jersey, and co-sponsored by the Konrad Adenauer Foundation of Germany.

The Muslim leaders said that denying or justifying the Holocaust violates Islamic ethics.

"We condemn anti-Semitism in any form," the leaders wrote. "No creation of Almighty God should face discrimination based on his or her faith or religious conviction."

The leaders pledged to fight prejudice against Jews, Muslims and all people based on their religion, race or ethnicity.

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The Simon Wiesenthal Center criticized Israeli President Shimon Peres on Friday for thanking Romania for saving Jews, saying he should have condemned the Romanian state for the tens of thousands of Jews who were killed there during World War II, the Associated Press reports.

On Thursday, Peres publicly thanked Romania for helping 400,000 Romanian Jews emigrate to Israel during the communist regime that ended in 1989. Peres did that while making the first visit to Romania by an Israeli head of state since 1948 when Israel was formed.

Peres was speaking at a news conference with Romanian President Traian Basescu, who said that Romania would be a loyal partner of Israel and NATO, if there was a conflict with Iran. During that event, Peres did not mention Romania's role in the Holocaust.

In 2004, a historical commission set up to study the Holocaust in Romania found the country was responsible for the deaths of 280,000 Jews and 11,000 Roma during the Second World War under the regime of pro-Nazi Marshal Ion Antonescu.

On Friday, Efraim Zuroff, the Israel director of the Simon Wiesenthal Center, issued a statement essentially saying Peres should have mentioned this.

"His failure to condemn the horrific crimes of the Antonescu regime against the Jewish people are likely to have very dire consequences, especially in Romania and elsewhere in Eastern Europe, where there is a growing tendency in post-Communist societies to deny or minimize the highly significant role played by local Nazi collaborators in the annihilation of the Jews," said Zuroff, who also is a Holocaust historian.

Continue reading "Jewish center criticizes Israeli president's comment" »

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Russia has rejected a U.S. court ruling to turn over a Jewish library to a Hasidic group in New York, the Associated Press reports.

A U.S. judge last week ruled against the Russian government for its refusal to return thousands of manuscripts that once belonged to a Chabad-Lubavitch rabbi. The library was seized by Red Army in Nazi Germany as war booty.

Russia's Foreign Ministry said late Wednesday that the ruling is a "rude violation" of international law.

It said the library was nationalized because its owner, Rabbi Joseph Isaac Schneersohn, had no heirs. Schneersohn was forced to leave Russia in 1927.

The ministry said the library is available for scientific study and worship.

Chabad-Lubavich said it feared some manuscripts were headed to the black market.

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Writer, public health professional and attorney J. Samia Mair of Baltimore is the author of the children’s books Amira’s Totally Chocolate World and The Perfect Gift.

According to the Council on American-Islamic Relations, several mosques in the United States have been targeted either by anti-Muslim protests or by hate crimes. Some speculate that it is due to the controversy over the proposed building of the Cordoba House, a few blocks from Ground Zero. For example, a children’s playground was torched at a Texas mosque and the parking lot had obscene graffiti, defiling the name of God.

There also have been protests against a Kentucky mosque and California mosque. A Florida mosque was recently bombed, which officials described as terrorism.

On Friday, angry protesters from the group Operation Save America accosted worshipers at the Bridgeport Islamic Society in Connecticut. Among them was a 13-year-old who held up a sign stating “Islam is a Lie.” One protestor shouted “murderers” as he apparently shoved a placard at a group of young Muslim children.

The Anti-Defamation League calls itself “America’s prime resource for information on and responses to bigotry.”

According to its website, “The immediate object of the League is to stop, by appeals to reason and conscience and, if necessary, by appeals to law, the defamation of the Jewish people. Its ultimate purpose is to secure justice and fair treatment to all citizens alike and to put an end forever to unjust and unfair discrimination against and ridicule of any sect or body of citizens" (emphasis added).

To meet these ends, ADL states that it:

• probes the roots of hatred
• fosters interfaith/intergroup relations
• mobilizes communities to stand up against bigotry

Where is the ADL in fulfilling its stated mission to combat bigotry in this case? The answer should surprise you. In a recent statement, ADL took the unbelievable stand that although legal, it is wrong to build the Cordoba House near Ground Zero.

Continue reading "Guest Post: Ground Zero bigotry: The ripple effect" »

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A group of Jewish activists and community leaders voiced their support for a planned mosque near ground zero and said opponents, including the nation's leading Jewish civil rights group, are perpetuating misunderstandings about Islam, the Associated Press reports.

Rabbi Arthur Waskow, of the Philadelphia-based Shalom Center, joined about 30 other religious leaders and Jewish activists Thursday at the spot where the Cordoba Initiative hopes to build an Islamic center that will include a mosque, an athletic center, a culinary school and art studios. Waskow says the mosque will help people learn more about Islam.

"Whenever there has been bloodshed allegedly in the name of one tradition or another, it's necessary to say, 'That's not what that tradition is about,'" Waskow, 76, said. "The Cordoba Initiative will keep saying that is not what Islam is about."

The mosque and community center would be located two blocks from the site of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. SoHo Properties, a partner in the effort, purchased the property for nearly $5 million. Early plans call for a 13-story, $100 million Islamic center, of which the mosque would be a part.

Big-name Republicans including former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich have criticized the plan, saying it is provocative for a mosque to be built so close to a spot where Islamic terrorists killed thousands. Former Rep. Rick Lazio, a Republican running for governor of New York, has questioned where funding for the project is coming from.

The Anti-Defamation League, a Jewish civil rights group known for advocating religious freedom, also opposes the project.

"This is not a question of rights, but a question of what is right," the ADL said in a statement. "In our judgment, building an Islamic center in the shadow of the World Trade Center will cause some victims more pain — unnecessarily — and that is not right."

Continue reading "Jewish activists support Ground Zero mosque" »

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A new Iranian website that denies and mocks the Holocaust with anti-Semitic cartoons is provoking outrage in Israel, the Associated Press reports.

Israel's Holocaust memorial Yad Vashem said the site — which features sketches of long-nosed Jews conspiring to create "the great lie" of the Holocaust — is yet another example of Iran's continued contempt of the Nazi genocide of 6 million Jews.

The semiofficial Iranian Fars news agency reported that cartoonist Maziar Bijani launched the site and said it is financed by a non-governmental cultural foundation. The site has English, Arabic and Farsi versions.

"The vulgar and cynical approach of the website, a combination of Holocaust denial and distortion, illustrated with anti-Semitic caricatures, further illustrates Iran's disregard for reality and truth vis-a-vis the Holocaust, Jews and Israel," Yad Vashem said.

It called it "the latest salvo emanating from Iran that denies the facts of the Holocaust and attempts to influence those who are ignorant of history."

Iranian authorities would have had to approve the creation of the new site, but not necessarily its content and there was no indication the government was connected to it.

However, the views are in line with the government, which has repeatedly questioned or denied the Holocaust. Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has repeatedly called the Holocaust a "myth," and Iran has also hosted a conference endorsing Holocaust denial.

Continue reading "Iranian Holocaust-denying site angers Israel" »

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A federal judge has issued a judgment against the Russian government for its refusal to return a library of historic books and documents to a Jewish group, the Associated Press reports.

Royce Lamberth, the chief judge of U.S. District Court in Washington, ruled that taking the material was discriminatory, not for a public purpose and occurred without just compensation to the Jewish religious organization that is suing, Chabad-Lubavitch.

At issue are 12,000 religious books and manuscripts seized during the Bolshevik revolution and the Russian Civil War from 1917 to 1925 and 25,000 pages of handwritten teachings and other writings of religious leaders stolen by Nazi Germany during World War II.

The documents seized by the Nazis were transferred by the Soviet Red Army as trophy documents and war booty to the Russian State Military Archive.

Last year, lawyers for the Russian government argued that judges have no authority to tell the country how to handle the sacred Jewish documents.

Under the U.S. Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act, a sovereign nation is not immune to lawsuits in cases where property is taken in violation of international law.

Lamberth found that the religious group had established its claim to the material, which he said is "unlawfully" possessed by the Russian State Library and the Russian military archive.

Continue reading "U.S. judge rules against Russia on Jewish papers" »

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A special coin issued by Romania's central bank to commemorate a prime minister and religious leader who stripped Jews of their citizenship before World War II has drawn protests from Romanian Jews as well as a director at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, the Associated Press reports.

Radu Ioanid, who runs the museum's international archives, said he was "shocked" by the bank's decision to mint the coin depicting late Patriarch Miron Cristea, who led the Romanian Orthodox Church from 1925 to 1939 and was prime minister from 1938 to 1939.

The patriarch was responsible for revising the citizenship law, stripping about 225,000 Jews — or 37 percent of the Jewish population — of their Romanian citizenship, Ioanid said.

"I can't understand how the patriarch managed to pass through the filter," said Robert Schwartz, representative for Romanian Jews in the city of Cluj. "It is known there are black stains connected to his attitude towards the Jews." Schwartz said there were other Romanians, such as the patriarch's contemporary Queen Maria, who had done much for Jews and should have been honored.

Continue reading "Holocaust museum to Romania: Scrap 'racist' coin" »

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The nation's leading Jewish civil rights group has come out against the planned mosque and Islamic community center near ground zero, saying more information is needed about funding for the project and the location is "counterproductive to the healing process," the Associated Press reports.

The Anti-Defamation League said it rejects any opposition to the center based on bigotry and acknowledged that the group behind the plan, the Cordoba Initiative, has the legal right to build at the site. But the ADL said "some legitimate questions have been raised" about funding and possible ties with "groups whose ideologies stand in contradiction to our shared values."

"Ultimately this is not a question of rights, but a question of what is right," the ADL said in a statement. "In our judgment, building an Islamic center in the shadow of the World Trade Center will cause some victims more pain — unnecessarily — and that is not right."

The director of the Cordoba Initiative, Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf, was in Malaysia, where the group has offices, on Friday and could not be reached. His wife, Daisy Khan, who is a partner in the project, said the center will be a space for moderate Muslim voices. She noted Cordoba had previously worked with the ADL to fight prejudice against Jews and Muslims.

"We believe it will be a place where the counter-momentum against extremism will begin," Khan said Friday. "We are committed to peace."

Continue reading "Jewish rights group opposes Ground Zero mosque" »

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Amare Stoudemire already knows some Hebrew phrases and sports a Star of David tattoo. Now he's gone to Israel to explore what might be his Jewish heritage, the Associated Press reports.

The five-time NBA All-Star who recently signed with the New York Knicks is on a weeklong visit to learn about Israel, its language and religions. He believes he has "Hebrew roots" through his mother, Carrie.

"She studied the scriptures and history and she believes she is a Hebrew," he told The Associated Press on Friday in Jerusalem. "I grew up in a very spiritual home. It's not about religion, it's about spirituality for me."

Stoudemire said he was "soaking up the culture," with his girlfriend and a few other friends from home.

He has long suspected his Jewish lineage — Judaism is passed down through the mother's side. Stoudemire's agent, Happy Walters, said his client is a "student of history" and is "exploring religions in general." He added that Soudemire may turn to a genealogist when he returns to New York to dig deeper.

The 6-foot-10 forward signed a five-year, $100 million contract with the Knicks three weeks ago. He will now be playing in the city with the largest Jewish population in the United States.

The NBA features two Jewish players: Israeli Omri Casspi of the Sacramento Kings and Jordan Farmar of the New Jersey Nets. When Farmar joined the Los Angeles Lakers in 2006, he became the NBA's first Jewish player since Danny Schayes — son of Hall of Famer Dolph Schayes — retired in 1999.

Continue reading "NBA star Stoudemire in Israel to trace Jewish roots" »

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Thousands of Israelis marched calmly Thursday in Jerusalem's longest gay pride parade despite opposition from anti-gay demonstrators, the Associated Press reports.

The subdued march from Jerusalem city center to the parliament building contrasted with flamboyant gay pride parades elsewhere in the world. Organizers said they were adjusting to the city's religious character and using it to promote their political agenda.

Carrying rainbow banners, several thousand demonstrators walked along the 1.5 mile (2.5 kilometer) route. Absent were standard features of many such parades — multicolor floats carrying scantily and provocatively dressed participants, loud music, wild costumes and explicit public examples of homosexual activity.

Even so, a few dozen black-suited ultra-Orthodox Jewish protesters at the beginning and end of the route held signs denouncing homosexuals, with slogans like "Gays Play in Hell, Not Jerusalem." Many ultra-Orthodox Jews consider homosexuality to be an abomination.

Marchers said such opposition has forced Jerusalem's gay community underground in most parts of the city.

"In a religious society, a lot of people still don't realize we actually exist," said Sarah Weil, 26, who helps run an organization for lesbians who are also Orthodox Jews.

Continue reading "Gay Israelis march on anniversary of shootings" »

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Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton on Tuesday urged Jewish groups to help persuade Cuba to release a Maryland man detained on the communist island for seven months without charge, the Associated Press reports.

Clinton told representatives of the American Jewish community that they should add their voices to calls for Cuba to release Alan P. Gross, a U.S. Agency for International Development contractor who was helping members of Cuba's small Jewish community use the Internet to stay in contact with each other and with similar groups abroad.

"Alan was providing information and technology that would assist this community to be better connected," Clinton said at a State Department reception in honor of Hannah Rosenthal, the Obama administration's special envoy to monitor and combat anti-Semitism. Gross' wife, Judy, attended the event.

"Our government works every single day through every channel for his release and safe return home," Clinton said. "But I am really making an appeal to the active Jewish community here in our country to join this cause ... because this family deserves to be reunited and each and every one of us should do everything we can to make it clear to the Cuban government that Alan Gross needs to come home."

Gross, a 60-year-old native of Potomac, Md., was working in Cuba for a firm contracted by USAID when he was arrested as a suspected spy in Havana on Dec. 3. He has been held without charge in the capital's high-security Villa Marista prison since.

Continue reading "Clinton asks Jewish help to release Md. man" »

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Liberal Jewish groups were angered Monday after a parliamentary committee in Israel approved a bill that would give Orthodox rabbis more control over the sensitive issue of conversions to Judaism, the Associated Press reports.

The Reform and Conservative movements, which are the largest Jewish denominations outside Israel but wield little clout inside the Jewish state, fear the new bill could increase the influence of Orthodox rabbis at their expense and undermine their own legitimacy and connection to Israel.

Nathan Sharansky, the former Russian political prisoner who now heads the Jewish Agency organization responsible for Israel's relations with Jews abroad, said he had received angry calls from Jewish leaders.

"The meaning of this is a split between the state of Israel and large portions of the Jewish people," he told Israel Radio.

Continue reading "Ire in Israel over changes to Jewish conversions" »

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Hawaii's governor on Tuesday vetoed legislation that would have permitted same-sex civil unions, ending months of speculation on how she would weigh in on the contentious, emotional debate, the Associated Press reports.

The action of Republican Gov. Linda Lingle, who had sought advice from rabbis on either side of the debate, came on the final day she had to either sign or veto the bill, which the Hawaii Legislature approved in late April.

"There has not been a bill I have contemplated more or an issue I have thought more deeply about during my eight years as governor than House Bill 444 and the institution of marriage," Lingle said at a news conference. "I have been open and consistent in my opposition to same-gender marriage, and find that House Bill 444 is essentially marriage by another name."

Had Lingle not vetoed it, the measure would have granted gay and lesbian couples the same rights and benefits that the state provides to married couples. It also would have made Hawaii one of six states that essentially grant the rights of marriage to same-sex couples without authorizing marriage itself. Five other states and the District of Columbia permit same-sex marriage.

Lingle's decision is expected to be the last say on the proposal this year, because state House leaders have said they won't override any of Lingle's vetoes.

She said voters should decide the fate of civil unions, not politicians.

"The subject of this legislation has touched the hearts and minds of our citizens as no other social issue of our day," Lingle said. "It would be a mistake to allow a decision of this magnitude to be made by one individual or a small group of elected officials."

Continue reading "Hawaii governor vetoes same-sex unions" »

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The pope has named a Swiss bishop with experience dealing with Orthodox and Lutheran churches to head the Vatican office responsible for relations with other Christians and Jews, the Associated Press reports.

Archbishop Kurt Koch replaces Cardinal Walter Kasper as head of the Pontifical Council for Christian Unity. Kasper, 77, is retiring.

Koch, 60, has been Basel's bishop for nearly 15 years, and has served as a member of the pontifical council since 2002. In a statement Thursday, he said a "credible and sincere" ecumenical dialogue had long been close to his heart.

Kasper had headed the office since 2001, and was often put in the position of defusing Vatican standoffs with Jews such as when the pope lifted the excommunication of a Holocaust-denying bishop.

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The following was written by J. Samia Mair, Sister Eileen Eppig, and Ted Chaskelson on behalf of the Muslim-Christian-Jewish Dialogue Group of Baltimore.

In the fall of 2007, Muslims and Christians from the Baltimore area established an interfaith group to learn more about each other’s religion and to promote understanding and peace on a wider scale. Later realizing that the discussion would benefit tremendously with the addition of the Jewish perspective, members of the Jewish community were invited to join.

Our participation in this dialogue has resulted in increasing appreciation of one another and our respective religious traditions; in praying for and otherwise supporting one another, and in raising our awareness of events that we might not have otherwise noticed.

Sadly, it is senseless killings that are the events that come -- more and more -- to the notice of the entire world. All three of our member religions are aware that a responsibility rests on all of them. None can say that such killings are problems for other religions, but not for us. The burden of responsibility rests on Jews, Christians and Muslims, to do what we can to end such killings. For this reason we have submitted a Jewish, Christian and Muslim perspective showing that all three religions call for an end to this violence.

Continue reading "Guest post: Interfaith perspectives on violence" »

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A hidden-camera video showing Jews being harassed on the street in a Moroccan neighborhood of Amsterdam has led Dutch authorities to consider combating hate crimes with "decoy Jews" — undercover police officers wearing yarmulkes, the Associated Press reports.

Enthusiasm for the unusual idea is a sign of the ongoing tension between the Muslim minority and the rest of the Dutch population over issues of immigration and crime.

The idea of using "decoy Jews" to detect and arrest bigots has been embraced by both a prominent Moroccan politician and by Amsterdam's acting mayor, who is Jewish. Law enforcement officials say the idea is feasible but would only be of limited practical use due to entrapment concerns.

"It's important that it not provoke any intent to commit a criminal act that wasn't there in the first place," Justice Minister Ernst Hirsch Ballin told parliament in a debate Thursday night on how to combat discrimination.

Of course "it would be wrong to consider wearing a yarmulke itself a provocation," he said.

Continue reading "Authorities consider using 'decoy Jews' to fight hate" »

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A Jewish dance group was attacked with stones by a group of children and teenagers during a performance at a street festival in the Germany city of Hannover, police said Thursday. One dancer suffered a leg injury and the group then canceled their performance, the Associated Press reports.

The teenagers also used a megaphone to shout anti-Semitic slurs during the Saturday afternoon attack, Hannover police spokesman Thorsten Schiewe said.

Police said the incident is under investigation and that they do not have an exact number of attackers yet. Schiewe said there were several Muslim immigrant youths among the attackers.

Two suspects, a 14-year-old and a 19-year-old, were being questioned, he said.

Alla Volodarska, whose Progressive Jewish community of Hannover group held the performance, told The Associated Press in an interview that members were still in shock.

"What happened is just so awful," Volodarska said. "The teenagers started throwing stones the moment our dance group was announced, even before they started dancing."

Continue reading "In Germany, youths attack Jewish dance group" »

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For every hurricane, earthquake or flood, there is help: food, bottled water, crews of volunteers nailing shingles to brand new roofs.

What even grateful recipients of that aid might not realize, the Associated Press reports, is that much of it comes from an unlikely hodgepodge of religious groups who put aside their doctrinal differences and coordinate their efforts as soon as the wind starts blowing.

Southern Baptists cook meals from Texas to Massachusetts. Seventh-day Adventists dispense aid from makeshift warehouses that can be running within eight hours. Mennonites haul away debris, Buddhists provide financial aid and chaplains with the Billy Graham Rapid Response Team counsel the traumatized and grieving.

This "juice and cookies fellowship," as one organizer calls it, is mostly invisible to the public, but it provides interfaith infrastructure for disaster response around the country that state and federal officials could scarcely live without.

"Think of us as the United Nations of disaster relief," said Diana Rothe-Smith, executive director of National Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster, the main umbrella group for coordinating emergency response from private agencies.

Continue reading "The 'United Nations of disaster relief'" »

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Israel agreed Thursday to ease its three-year-old land blockade of the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip, hoping to quell international outrage over its deadly raid on a flotilla bound for the Palestinian territory, the Associated Press reports.

In one of the major changes, Israel will allow in more desperately needed construction materials for civilian projects, provided those projects are carried out under international supervision, government and military officials said. Israel has barely allowed in goods such as cement and steel, fearing Hamas militants could use them to build weapons and fortifications. The policy has prevented rebuilding thousands of homes and other buildings damaged in Israel's war with Hamas last year.

An Israeli military official told The Associated Press all foods would be allowed in to the impoverished territory, effective immediately. Authorities had previously allowed a short and constantly changing list of foods in, but the list has been growing incrementally in recent months.

Israel is maintaining its naval blockade intended to keep weapons shipments out of the hands of Hamas.

"This is a step in the right direction," said Cristina Galach, spokeswoman for the European Union presidency.

However, Hamas was not satisfied.

"We want a real lifting of the siege, not window-dressing," said Hamas lawmaker Salah Bardawil.

Continue reading "After flotilla raid, Israel to ease Gaza blockade" »

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Tens of thousands of black-clad ultra-Orthodox Jews staged mass demonstrations on Thursday to protest a Supreme Court ruling forcing the integration of a religious girls' school, the Associated Press reports.

Protesters snarled traffic in Jerusalem and another large religious enclave, crowded onto balconies in crowded city squares, and waved posters decrying the court's decision and proclaiming the supremacy of religious law. There were no reports of violence.

The showdown shined a spotlight on a wide array of social issues Israel has been grappling with for years, including discrimination inside the Jewish community, the disproportionate clout of the country's ultra-Orthodox minority and the precarious state of the country's education system.

Parents of European, or Ashkenazi, descent at a girls' school in the West Bank settlement of Emanuel don't want their children to study with schoolgirls of Mideast and North African descent, known as Sephardim.

The Ashkenazi parents insist they aren't racist, but want to keep the classrooms segregated, as they have been for years, arguing that the families of the Sephardi girls aren't religious enough.

Continue reading "Ultra-Orthodox Jews protest school integration" »

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Israel will significantly ease its bruising land blockade of the Gaza Strip on Wednesday, officials said, in an effort to blunt the widespread international criticism that has followed a deadly Israeli commando raid on a blockade-busting flotilla.

Senior Cabinet ministers were meeting to limit restrictions on what gets into Gaza — materials Israel says militants could use in their battle against the Jewish state — to a short list of goods, some of them desperately needed by Gaza civilians, the Associated Press reports.

But the Israeli naval blockade that was at the root of the deadly raid that prompted the international outcry will remain intact.

It also wasn't clear whether key raw materials for industry would be permitted to enter again and whether Israel would end its ban on Gazan exports.

The three-year-old embargo has shuttered hundreds of Gazan factories, put tens of thousands of people out of work and brought the territory's fragile economy to a standstill. Travel restrictions that confine most of Gaza's 1.5 million people to the territory are also likely to remain in effect.

Israel, with Egypt's cooperation, has blockaded the Palestinian territory by land and sea ever since Hamas militants, with a violent anti-Israel agenda, seized control of Gaza in 2007.

Continue reading "Israel to vote on easing Gaza blockade" »

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A University of California, Irvine, disciplinary committee ruled that a Muslim student group should be suspended for at least a year because of a protest that disrupted a talk by Israel's ambassador and led to the arrest of 11 students, according to documents released Monday.

The letter from a student affairs disciplinary committee to Muslim Student Union leaders said the group was guilty of disorderly conduct, obstructing university activities, furnishing false information and other violations of campus policy, the Associated Press reports.

University spokeswoman Cathy Lawhon said the committee's decision will be a binding recommendation to the campus' office of student affairs if a planned appeal by the group does not succeed.

MSU attorney Reem Salahi said the committee relied on evidence relied that was "inadequate and problematic" but declined to outline the group's challenge in detail. She said the decision, if sustained, would leave Muslim students without an organization representing their interests.

"It really does have very lasting constitutional implications," she said. "It's a chilling effect for Muslims on campus and their right to associate."

Israeli Ambassador Michael Oren was repeatedly interrupted and called "murderer" and "war criminal" by pro-Palestinian students as he was giving a talk on the Middle East peace process in February.

Eleven students were cited on charges of disrupting a public event after they were requested to refrain from heckling but did not.

Continue reading "Muslim group faces suspension for Israel protest" »

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Rabbis Itchel Krasnjansky and Peter Schaktman hail from different branches of Judaism and hold starkly contrasting views on whether same-sex couples should be permitted to form civil unions in Hawaii.

What they have in common, the Associated Press reports, is the ear of Republican Gov. Linda Lingle, who has until June 21 to announce whether she may veto the only pending civil unions legislation in the nation.

Lingle, in the final months of her second and last term, faces a momentous decision that carries political and legal implications, AP correspondent Herbert A. Sample writes. For the rabbis, with whom the governor has consulted on the issue, her choice is about much more.

Krasnjansky, who heads the Orthodox community group Chabad of Hawaii, said the Torah teaches that homosexuality, and by extension same-sex marriage, "is not something that should be condoned or should be legalized," he said.

But Schaktman, who leads the Reform Temple Emanu-El, insists Judaism teaches that all people regardless of sexual orientation are and should be treated as "children of God," and thus should not face discrimination.

"Civil unions are a legal arrangement," he said. "Therefore, anyone who uses religion to oppose civil unions is purely using religion to further homophobia."

Continue reading "Governor consults rabbis on same-sex unions" »

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Shaukat Malik is a Muslim-American Certified Public Accountant from Potomac. A native of Pakistan, he arrived in the United States in 1980.

The flotilla incident is an unfortunate accident born out of Israel’s need to maintain its naval blockade of Gaza and the activists' objective of breaking Israel’s blockade. Instead of abseiling from helicopters onto the lead ship, which resulted in the loss of innocent lives, Israeli patrol boats could have escorted the flotilla to port.

Hamas’s non-recognition of Israel and demanding the return of Palestinians to a pre-1967 Jerusalem is undiluted rhetoric and must be treated as such. Declaring Hamas as terrorists, naval blockades and tit-for-tat bombings have not yielded any positive results. They have effectively derailed the peace process. Gaza has essentially become an internment camp.
Blockades leave unhappy memories. We should not forget the British blockade of Palestine in 1945 that forced flotillas carrying Jewish immigrants from Europe to turn back.

We must remember that Hamas won the 2006 elections in Palestine. Hamas won 76 of the 132 parliamentary seats, giving the party the right to form the next cabinet under the Palestinian Authority's president, Mahmoud Abbas, the leader of Fatah. A reason for their victory was the corruption of the Fatah government.

In today’s unsettled world, beset by recession and America’s economy destroyed by Wall Street robbers and the BP oil spill, it is extremely important for Israel to take the lead in peace efforts. A peaceful Middle East is extremely important for winning America’s war on terror. Terrorist recruiters are celebrating the flotilla incident.

Continue reading "Guest post: An opportunity for peace" »

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A coalition of religious and conservative leaders is trying to stop a proposed Comedy Central cartoon that puts Jesus Christ in a modern-day context — before it even gets started, the Associated Press reports.

The newly formed Citizens Against Religious Bigotry said Thursday that it believes the "JC" series would be offensive. They accuse Comedy Central of a double standard in mocking Christian figures and beliefs while recently refusing to let "South Park" depict the Prophet Muhammad for fear of offending Muslims.

"You don't have to be a Christian to be offended by this," said Brent Bozell, head of the watchdog Media Research Center.

Comedy Central said last month that "JC" is one of two dozen series it has in development. The concept is to depict Christ as a "regular guy" who moves to New York to "escape his father's enormous shadow."

Network spokesman Tony Fox noted that "JC" is nothing more than an idea now, without even a completed script. In television, only a minority of projects in development ever make it on the air.

Fox said the groups should save their energy for when a decision is made about whether the series will ever be completed.

Continue reading "Conservatives trying to stop Comedy Central series" »

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The Rev. Jason Poling is Pastor of New Hope Community Church in Pikesville.

Amid the many difficulties faced by anyone writing about the events in the Middle East of the past few days is what to call those aboard the Gaza flotilla. Many news outlets have referred to these “passengers” as “pro-Palestinian activists.” In its plainest sense, the term denotes someone advocating a political or social cause by means of deliberate “action.” But in common parlance the term connotes a particular type of action -- namely, non-violent action. (We do not refer to the 9/11 terrorists as “activists,” though they certainly were taking deliberate action to advocate a political cause.)

For those aboard five of the six boats, this name makes some sense. According to reports from both sides, the passengers on these boats did not offer violent resistance to the Israeli armed servicemen who boarded their ships. Their ships were commandeered and sent to the Israeli port of Ashdod, where the humanitarian goods on board were unloaded and prepared for shipment to Gaza. The activists were processed to ensure they did not present a terror risk, and released.

This, I submit, is exactly what John Lewis would have done if he had planned the mission.

Most readers will remember that John Lewis, currently a Democratic congressman from Georgia, was among the “Freedom Riders” who through their fearless activism brought down legal segregation in the Southern states. Though he was arrested and beaten on multiple occasions, he held unswervingly both to his political goal and to his nonviolent principles. For good reason President Obama gave him a signed picture from his Inauguration declaring, “Because of you, John.”

Now, I do not know anything about Congressman Lewis’ position on the State of Israel beyond the fact that he co-sponsored a resolution congratulating Israel on its 60th anniversary (along with over half of his House colleagues, including Roscoe Bartlett, Albert Wynn and some 264 others in between). His few public statements on the Middle East have stressed the need for peace in the region, and urged all parties involved to seek nonviolent resolutions of their differences. I had the privilege of taking a class on the civil rights movement in college with Julian Bond, whom Lewis defeated in a 1986 Democratic primary to win that House seat; Bond had a number of things to say about Lewis but I don’t recall that any of them involved Israel. So I could be wrong about this, and I will gladly clarify if the Congressman or his staff say so.

The point of the Freedom Rides, as with all nonviolent action in the civil rights era, was to demonstrate the injustice of Jim Crow laws by firmly, respectfully and nonviolently breaking them, then suffering the consequences. The idea was that by receiving unjust punishment for breaking unjust laws, they would shame the nation into upholding the civil rights of all its citizens.

Many trace this strategy to the Sermon on the Mount, in which Jesus says that if someone tries to sue you for the shirt off your back you should give him your pants, too (Matt. 5:40, my (broad) translation) – standing there naked, the interpretation goes, will demonstrate how outrageously you are being treated and shame your persecutor (or a just judge) into ensuring that the basics of human survival aren’t wrested from you in a parody of justice.

Continue reading "Jason Poling: WWJLD?" »

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Categories: International, Islam, Jason Poling, Judaism, People, Politics
        

Pro-Palestinian activists sent another boat to challenge Israel's blockade of the Gaza Strip on Tuesday and Egypt declared it was temporarily opening a crossing into the Palestinian territory after a raid on an aid flotilla that ended with Israeli soldiers killing nine activists, the Associated Press reports.

The raid provoked ferocious international condemnation of Israel, raised questions at home, and appeared likely to increase pressure to end the blockade that has deepened the poverty of the 1.5 million Palestinians in the strip. Turkey, which unofficially supported the flotilla, has led the criticism, calling the Israeli raid a "bloody massacre."

Amid the increasing tensions, the Israeli military said it carried out an airstrike in Gaza on Tuesday, and an Islamic militant group said three of its members were killed after firing rockets into southern Israel. Israeli authorities say the rockets landed in open areas and caused no injuries.

Two militants infiltrating into Israel from Gaza were killed in a separate incident Tuesday, the military said.

The pro-Palestinian flotilla had been headed to Gaza with tens of thousands of tons of aid that Israel bans from Gaza. After days of warnings, Israel intercepted the flotilla under the cover of darkness early Monday, setting off a violent melee that left nine activists dead and dozens of people, including seven soldiers, wounded. Most of the dead were believed to be Turks.

Continue reading "Pro-Palestinian activists sending another boat" »

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Although this year's homicide totals continue to be on a slower pace a year ago, Earl El-Amin said he and his faith-based brethren have grown tired of the violence, Baltimore Sun colleague Brent Jones reports.

"We're called to be keepers of peace," said El-Amin, of the Muslim's Community Central of Baltimore and a member of Baltimore's Interfaith Coalition. "That is essentially our mission. When you study history, all the great sages that came, they came to establish peace in environments that were out of sync."

El-Amin and about 50 other religious leaders, along with representatives from the city state's attorney office, announced an anti-violence initiative Thursday that will use money collected from religious services to fund activities for children.

Organizers of the program, called "Fifth Sunday: Violence to Virtue," are asking the more than 1,200 churches, mosques and synagogues in Baltimore to take up an offering every fifth weekend and donate the money to a local nonprofit, which in turn would disburse the funds to individuals or organizations that work with kids.

It is the first major program under the newly organized Baltimore Interfaith Coalition, which formed last spring after several religious leaders met with police Commissioner Frederick H. Bealefeld III, who called upon the faith-based community to help curb violence.

"We've challenged ourselves to break down barriers among ourselves and work for the greater good of the people in Baltimore," said BIC co-chairman Bishop Douglas I. Miles, pastor of Koinonia Baptist Church in Northeast Baltimore. "This is a means of funding small operations that may not have [nonprofit] status but are doing great things in our community — like people who work with marching bands, people who do mentoring on the weekends — something so they have means of getting funding to help advance their work."

Read the rest of the story at baltimoresun.com.

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In politics, as elsewhere, it's a sport that's almost as popular as people-watching: Guest-list watching.

And this week, Associated Press national writer Jocelyn Noveck reports, it's the Jewish community in Washington and beyond that's buzzing over who'll be on the list when Barack and Michelle Obama host the first-ever White House reception marking Jewish Heritage Month.

The White House won't divulge the guest list for Thursday afternoon's event in the East Room. But those with knowledge of the list say it's an eclectic and interesting one — and markedly different from past Jewish-themed events like the president's annual Hanukkah party.

Where that event brings established Jewish community leaders to the White House, Thursday's reception is meant to honor American Jews who have made contributions in the arts, music, sports, the space program and other fields.

The most prominent guest on the list, according to several people familiar with it: former baseball great Sandy Koufax, the left-handed Hall of Fame pitcher for the Dodgers who famously refused to pitch in a World Series game on Yom Kippur, the holiest day in Judaism. (Koufax, now 74, could not be reached to confirm his plans.)

Names also mentioned by members of the Jewish community: Olympic swimmer Dara Torres, author Judy Blume, and a young woman who was wounded in a 1999 shooting at a Los Angeles Jewish center, Mindy Finkelstein.

But the list also includes a number of younger Jewish activists involved in interesting initiatives. One of them, Shawn Landres, heads Jumpstart, which he calls a "thinkubator for sustainable Jewish innovation." He's traveling to Washington from Los Angeles.

"There's been excitement about this, people posting on Facebook and talking about who's coming," says Landres.

"In the past," he adds, "when there were Jewish events at the White House, they tended to go to the same well of people — big Jewish organizations, the usual suspects. What I've noticed here is a commitment to go beyond that. The administration is trying to engage the Jewish community in different ways."

Of course, it's no secret that tensions have surfaced between the administration and some elements of the Jewish community over its policy toward Israel, particularly regarding construction of Jewish settlements in east Jerusalem.

Continue reading "White House party to celebrate Jewish culture" »

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A federal judge in Wisconsin ruled last month that the law that directs the president to proclaim a National Day of Prayer in unconstitutional, and for the second year, President Barack Obama has declined to host an event marking the day, as President George W. Bush and others did.

Still, U.S. District Judge Barbara Crabb stayed her ruling, pending appeals, including one by the Obama administration. And last week, the president issued a proclamation marking the day:

THE WHITE HOUSE

NATIONAL DAY OF PRAYER, 2010

BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

A PROCLAMATION

Throughout our history, whether in times of great joy and thanksgiving, or in times of great challenge and uncertainty, Americans have turned to prayer. In prayer, we have expressed gratitude and humility, sought guidance and forgiveness, and received inspiration and assistance, both in good times and in bad.

On this day, let us give thanks for the many blessings God has bestowed upon our Nation. Let us rejoice for the blessing of freedom both to believe and to live our beliefs, and for the many other freedoms and opportunities that bring us together as one Nation. Let us ask for wisdom, compassion, and discernment of justice as we address the great challenges of our time.

We are blessed to live in a Nation that counts freedom of conscience and free exercise of religion among its most fundamental principles, thereby ensuring that all people of goodwill may hold and practice their beliefs according to the dictates of their consciences. Prayer has been a sustaining way for many Americans of diverse faiths to express their most cherished beliefs, and thus we have long deemed it fitting and proper to publicly recognize the importance of prayer on this day across the Nation.

Let us remember in our thoughts and prayers those suffering from natural disasters in Haiti, Chile, and elsewhere, and the people from those countries and from around the world who have worked tirelessly and selflessly to render aid. Let us pray for the families of the West Virginia miners, and the people of Poland who so recently and unexpectedly lost many of their beloved leaders. Let us pray for the safety and success of those who have left home to serve in our Armed Forces, putting their lives at risk in order to make the world a safer place. As we remember them, let us not forget their families and the substantial sacrifices that they make every day. Let us remember the unsung heroes who struggle to build their communities, raise their families, and help their neighbors, for they are the wellspring of our greatness. Finally, let us remember in our thoughts and prayers those people everywhere who join us in the aspiration for a world that is just, peaceful, free, and respectful of the dignity of every human being.

NOW, THEREFORE, I, BARACK OBAMA, President of the United States of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and laws of the United States of America, do hereby proclaim May 6, 2010, as a National Day of Prayer. I call upon the citizens of our Nation to pray, or otherwise give thanks, in accordance with their own faiths and consciences, for our many freedoms and blessings, and I invite all people of faith to join me in asking for God’s continued guidance, grace, and protection as we meet the challenges before us.

Today

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this thirtieth day of April, in the year of our Lord two thousand ten, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and thirty-fourth.

BARACK OBAMA

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Rabbi David Forman, founder of Rabbis for Human Rights, a prominent group defending Palestinians, has died, the Associated Press reports.

Forman was 65. He died Monday in a hospital in Dallas, Texas, where he was undergoing treatment, said Rabbi Arik Ascherman, current leader of the human rights group.

Forman founded Rabbis for Human Rights in 1988 and led it until 1992. He served as its chairman again from 2002-2003.

A Reform Jewish rabbi, he was director of the Israel office of the Union of American Hebrew Congregations, the Reform umbrella group. He moved to Israel in 1972.

"Rabbi Forman was a mentor and a moral compass for several generations of rabbis and Jews around the world" through his work in human rights, Ascherman told The Associated Press.

Rabbis for Human Rights leads regular protests against the demolition of Palestinian homes and uprooting of olive trees in the West Bank.

Forman is survived by his wife and four children. His funeral is set for Thursday in Israel.

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Moshe Hirsch, an American-born anti-Zionist rabbi and close associate of the late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, has died in Jerusalem, the Associated Press reports. He was 86.

Hirsch was a leading figure in Neturei Karta, a tiny ultra-Orthodox sect that opposes Israel's existence as a Jewish state and has embraced its enemies. He was born in New York and attended a rabbinical academy in New Jersey.

Arafat, who died in 2004, appointed Hirsch his adviser on Jewish affairs.

The group is known for its members' 2006 trip to Iran, where they embraced the President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad at a Holocaust-denying conference. It also supports Gaza's Hamas rulers and the Lebanese Hezbollah militants.

These alliances have drawn criticism even from other anti-Zionist Jewish groups, which believe that only the Messiah can establish a Jewish state.

Neturei Karta, which is Aramaic for "Guardians of the City," was founded some 70 years ago in Jerusalem by Jews who opposed the drive to establish the state of Israel. Estimates of the group's size range from a few hundred to a few thousand. Hirsch was the son-in-law of the group's founder, Rabbi Aharon Katzenelbogen.

Continue reading "Controversial anti-Zionist rabbi dies in Jerusalem" »

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Israel must recognize that the world will not put up with decades more of Israeli rule over the Palestinian people, the country's defense minister said in unusually frank remarks Monday, the Associated Press reports.

Ehud Barak's comments came against the backdrop of severe friction between the U.S. and Israel's hawkish government over an impasse in peacemaking.

Last week, President Barack Obama issued a surprisingly pessimistic assessment of peacemaking prospects, saying the U.S. couldn't force its will on Israelis and Palestinians if they weren't interested in making the compromises necessary to end their decades-old conflict.

Barak spoke to Israel Radio on the occasion of Israel's Memorial Day, dedicated to the nearly 23,000 fallen soldiers and civilian victims of terror attacks. The day is observed with a two-minute nationwide siren when people stand at attention, traffic is halted and everyday activities come briefly to a standstill.

At sundown Monday, the somber Memorial Day switched into Israel's 62nd Independence Day celebrations. At Mount Herzl, Israel's national cemetery, thousands watched an elaborate program of songs and folk dance while fireworks popped overhead.

Both dates are traditionally a time for introspection. This year, Israelis are dwelling on issues such as the country's growing isolation over its policies toward the Palestinians, the growing rift with the U.S. and the failure to relaunch peace talks.

Continue reading "Israeli Defense Minister: Occupation must end" »

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A German court convicted ultraconservative British Bishop Richard Williamson on Friday of denying the Holocaust in a television interview, the Associated Press reports.

A court in the Bavarian city of Regensburg found Williamson guilty of incitement for saying in a 2008 interview with Swedish television that he did not believe Jews were killed in gas chambers during World War II.

The court ordered Williamson to pay a fine of euro10,000 ($13,544).

The Roman Catholic bishop was barred by his order from attending Friday's proceedings or making statements to the media.

His lawyer, Matthias Lossmann, told The Associated Press after the court ruling that Williamson has yet to decide whether he would appeal.

Denying the Holocaust is a criminal offense in Germany.

Continue reading "SSPX bishop convicted of denying Holocaust" »

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The publisher of the Baltimore Jewish Times, to which we have often referred on this blog, is filing for bankruptcy protection Wednesday afternoon after stumbling financially when it lost a major lawsuit to a printing company, Baltimore Sun colleague Gus Setementes reports.

Gus writes that Baltimore-based Alter Communications Inc., which also publishes Style and Chesapeake Life magazines and other publications, plans to file Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in the U.S. District Court of Maryland in Baltimore:

The bankruptcy filing will not affect the company's day-to-day operations for employees, readers and advertisers, the company said. The Jewish Times and the other publications will continue to be published, the company said in a statement.

"Here's the headline: we're not going anywhere," said Andrew Alter Buerger, president, publisher and chief executive of Alter Communications said. "Our family and our company have been deep in the fabric of this community for five generations, and we are committed to continuing that relationship."

For less than a dollar per week, the Jewish Times has been a fixture for news coverage of the Jewish community in the Baltimore area for years. Maryland residents receive the weekly paper, which averages 120 pages, for an annual subscription of $46.59. The paper is distributed to a readership of more than 50,000, according to its Web site.

Read the story at baltimoresun.com

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Rabbi Yaakov Menken is the Director of Project Genesis, a Jewish cyber-outreach organization based in Baltimore.

The Passover break gave me an opportunity to catch up on some reading, and I came across an article in Commentary Magazine (by Andrew Ferguson, a senior editor at the Weekly Standard) about the NY Times' Caricature of the Tea Party Movement. It is an interesting read, exploring the methodologies employed by a purportedly unbiased media to subtly -- and not-so-subtly -- discredit, and even demonize, a wave sweeping across the American political landscape.

This is a particularly compelling topic, because the media's campaign has apparently been surprisingly effective -- and come to think of it, I haven't been immune. I acquired a dim view of these Tea Partiers through media reports, and still don't know enough about them. So please don't come away thinking I am a supporter of anything other than accuracy and impartiality in the media.

There is a strange disparity between how people perceive the views of the Tea Partiers, and how they perceive the movement itself. In a recent Rasmussen poll, respondents were asked whether the views of the president or the average tea party member were closer to their own. 48 percent went for the Tea Partiers, vs. only 44 percent for the president.

Especially given that 44 percent is within a couple points of the president's approval rating, one might expect that roughly half of Americans have a favorable opinion of the Tea Party movement -- and one would be wrong. In fact, whereas in December a WSJ/NBC poll found the Tea Party movement was held in higher esteem than either the Democratic or Republican Party, a recent Fox News poll shows just the opposite is true today.

It wasn't until the ninth paragraph of the Commentary piece that I recognized how relevant all of this was to the Orthodox Jewish community, which, though relatively conservative politically, is not well represented at the tea parties. That's when I encountered this sentence: "It was difficult to find a story mentioning the Tea Partiers in which the words fear or anger didn’t figure prominently." That sounded all too familiar -- after all, when is the last time you read an article about a conflict involving Orthodox Jews, especially charedim, "in which the words fear or anger didn’t figure prominently?" Typical are these words from a Conservative Rabbi: "Since the death of Rabbi Moshe Feinstein, the Haredi community has become more radicalized because of their hatred and fear of modernity in general and especially egalitarianism." Revisiting Ferguson's list of the methods used to discredit the Tea Party Movement, I was struck by the parallels.

Continue reading "Guest post: Tea Partiers and Orthodox Jews" »

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Shaukat Malik is a Muslim-American Certified Public Accountant from Potomac. He left his native Pakistan in 1972 and has been living in the United States since 1980.

People of all faiths have fought each other in the past but that does not mean that animosity must survive in perpetuity. This is madness. Christians of the inquisition era victimized Jews and Muslims in Europe, but that has not stopped Jews and Christians from building bridges of understanding and sharing common values that promote the well being of everyone.

The whole world knows about the Palestinian problem, yet that has not stopped some Muslim countries from dealing and having diplomatic relations with Israel. This engagement and recognition has yielded peace dividends and allowed these states to focus on economic development and the well-being of their peoples.

Why has Turkey recognized Israel? The answer is not that complicated. Proud Turkey boasts the second largest army in NATO. It analyzed its own self-interest in joining the European Common Market and determined that recognizing Israel would help Turkish interests. Turkish people as Muslims are equally concerned about the plight of Palestinians, but this concern has not stopped Turkey from doing what is best for Turkey.

In its efforts to meet constitutional and legal requirements for membership in the European Union, the Islamic party in Turkey long viewed with suspicion by Turkey’s guardians of secularism – namely, the Turkish army – has emerged as a champion of democracy and reform. They have succeeded in presenting a brand of secular Islam that allows for separation of church and state with complete freedom of religion. This action does not mean that Turkey has lost its cultural identity or abolished Islam; on the contrary, it has given more freedoms to Turkish citizens to practice their cherished faiths.

This transformation has weakened the hands of autocratic forces led by adventurous generals who have toppled elected governments in the past. Turkey’s success can be used as a benchmark for all Muslim countries in different phases of democratization.

Like Turkey, Pakistan has a history of military intervention by adventurous generals who have in the past exploited a weak judiciary and an undereducated elected assembly to seize power. Through this process, Pakistan has been denied the economic and political success enjoyed by its neighbor and birth twin, India.

Why have many Muslim countries not recognized Israel?

Continue reading "Guest post: Children of Abraham" »

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Archbishop Edwin F. O'Brien has apologized for the comments of the Vatican priest who likened criticism of Pope Benedict XVI and the Catholic Church in the sexual abuse scandal with anti-Semitism and "collective violence" against Jews.

O'Brien, spiritual leader of the area's half million Catholics, called the remarks of the Rev. Raniero Cantalamessa during the Good Friday Mass at St. Peter's Basilica "reprehensible and unfortunate," and apologized to "our friends in the Jewish community, to victims of clergy sexual abuse, and to anyone offended by Father Cantalamessa's personal views."

O'Brien's statement, in full:

Father Cantalamessa’s words on Good Friday, somehow linking the Catholic Church's sexual abuse scandal with anti-Semitism, were unfortunate and reprehensible. They pose harm to Catholic-Jewish relations in Baltimore and around the world and I personally denounce them. Rightly upset and embarrassed as we are by the scandal we are enduring as Catholics, as frustrated as we are by the sometimes unfair coverage in certain elements of the press, nothing justifies this insensitive, harmful and regrettable comparison. On behalf of the Catholic Church in Baltimore, I offer apologies to our friends in the Jewish community, to victims of clergy sexual abuse, and to anyone offended by Father Cantalamessa’s personal views.

Cantalamessa, personal preacher to Benedict, said he was inspired by a letter from an unidentified Jewish friend who was upset by the "attacks" against Benedict.

Cantalamessa said Jews "know from experience what it means to be victims of collective violence and also because of this they are quick to recognize the recurring symptoms."

Quoting from the letter, Cantalamessa said his Jewish friend was following "with indignation the violent and concentric attacks against the church, the pope and all the faithful of the whole world."

"The use of stereotypes, the passing from personal responsibility and guilt to a collective guilt remind me of the more shameful aspects of anti-Semitism," he said, quoting from the letter.

Note: O'Brien issued the statement on Saturday; we were alerted to it by a story in The Baltimore Jewish Times.

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The Associated Press has moved an evocative Good Friday dispatch from Jerusalem:

The cobblestone alleyways of Jerusalem's Old City became moving forests of wooden crosses as Christian pilgrims and clergymen commemorated the day of Jesus' crucifixion, Good Friday.

Black-robed nuns filed past metal barriers erected by police as dozens of tourists in matching red baseball hats held up digital cameras. Some pilgrims carried elaborately carved crucifixes, while others had crude crosses made of two planks held together with tape.

Good Friday rituals center on the ancient Church of the Holy Sepulcher, where Christian tradition says Jesus was crucified and buried before his resurrection on Easter Sunday.

While Catholics and Orthodox Christians follow different calendars, this year their Easters coincide and the churches are commemorating Good Friday together.

Watching as hundreds pressed through the narrow Jerusalem street called the Via Dolorosa — the "Way of Suffering," tracing Jesus' final steps — was Katy Fitzpatrick, 24, of Spokane, Washington. She said the event was both "exciting" and "a little overwhelming."

"It's a little intimidating, and the riot gear is a little intimidating too," she said of the heavy presence of green-clad Israeli police deployed to keep the peace.

Continue reading "Christians converge on Jerusalem for Good Friday" »

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At a solemn Good Friday service, Pope Benedict XVI's personal preacher likened the tide of allegations that the pontiff has covered up sex abuse cases to the "more shameful aspects of anti-Semitism," the Associated Press reports.

But within hours, facing a storm of criticism at the comparison, the Vatican felt it necessary to distance the pope from the preacher's remarks, the AP reports.

Both Jewish and victims' groups responded that it was inappropriate to compare the discomfort being experienced by the church leadership in the sex abuse scandal to the violence that culminated in the Holocaust. The Vatican has been on the defensive in recent days, saying the church has been singled out and collectively stereotyped for the problem of pedophilia, which it says is a society-wide issue.

Invoking any comparison with anti-Semitism was particularly sensitive on Good Friday, itself a delicate day in a decades-long effort by Jews and Catholics to overcome a legacy of mistrust. There was a long-held Catholic belief that Jews were collectively responsible for executing Christ, and a landmark achievement of the Second Vatican Council of the 1960s was a declaration stating the Jews should not be blamed for the crucifixion.

As the pope listened in a hushed St. Peter's Basilica, the Rev. Raniero Cantalamessa likened accusations against the pontiff and the Catholic church in sex abuse scandals in Europe, the U.S. and elsewhere to "collective violence" suffered by the Jews.

Benedict, 82, looked weary as he sat near the central altar at the early evening prayer service.

Continue reading "Pope's preacher likens accusations to anti-Semitism" »

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President Barack Obama plans to mark the start of Passover with a private Seder in the executive mansion, the Associated Press reports.

Obama and first lady Michelle Obama invited friends and White House aides to mark the Jewish holiday with a meal on Monday. The Obama aides started the tradition during 2008's primary campaign in Pennsylvania; Obama made a surprise stop to meet with staffers who were sharing an impromptu meal in a hotel basement.

The event continued last year at the White House with a small group of aides and advisers.

Posted by Matthew Hay Brown at 1:47 PM | Permalink | Comments (36)
Categories: Christianity, Faith Practices, Holidays, Interfaith, Judaism, People, Politics
        

Facing financial difficulties, Yeshivat Rambam is trying to sell its Park Heights Avenue campus, Baltimore Sun colleague Robbie Whelan reports.

Officials at the Orthodox Jewish day school said Thursday the school would remain open through the end of the academic year, helped in part by short-term financing from the Associated: Jewish Community Federation of Baltimore. After this year, however, the school will have to relocate.

In a letter to parents this week, officials referred to "perennial rumors of insolvency" and said the sale of the campus at 6300 Park Heights Ave. was inevitable.

The school's "debt made cash flow very tight and negatively impacted mission execution," they wrote. "Much time and many resources were being diverted from building Rambam's future and were, instead, being used to finance past debt."

Read the story at baltimoresun.com.

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Israel's Chief Rabbinate is warning Israeli citizens to be on the lookout for pirate matzah and Jews are worried, the Associated Press reports.

A week before the start of the holiday of Passover, Israeli police raided a warehouse containing a 7-ton stockpile of matzah with fake kosher certificates, according to a statement from the rabbinate.

"I can't believe that someone would do something like that," Roy Wolf, manager of a leading matzah factory in Israel, told the AP after receiving calls from concerned customers.

Matzah is the flat, unleavened bread Jews eat during the weeklong holiday instead of regular bread. Matzah is made of flour and water and must be baked according to strict religious instructions, under supervision of a rabbi, to ensure that it does not rise like bread.

The unleavened bread is a main feature of the weeklong Passover holiday, commemorating the biblical exodus of the Israelites from slavery in Egypt. The Bible says the fleeing people did not have time to bake ordinary bread, making do with flat, unleavened bread instead.

The rabbinate published color photos of the fake matzah packages ordering local rabbis to post the statement in synagogues and other prominent places to warn Orthodox Jews to avoid the faked product.

Continue reading "Israeli Chief Rabbinate warns against fake matzah" »

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 The Associated Press has an interesting feature about the Jewish origins of Curious George.

A new museum exhibit illustrates the development of the beloved children's character by a Jewish couple as they fled wartime Europe for the United States.

The story by Ann Levin begins:

Ever wonder why Curious George is so curious? Or why the monkey hero of the "Curious George" children's books is so fond of travel, so prone to mischief, yet always narrowly escapes disaster?

A new exhibit at New York's Jewish Museum suggests that curious readers need look no farther than the real-life adventures of the intrepid husband-and-wife team who created the beloved character.

H.A. and Margret Reys — he changed the name from Reyersbach — were German Jews living in Paris on the eve of the Nazi invasion, increasingly concerned about finding safe haven. Two days before the Germans marched into Paris, they fled on bicycles carrying drawings for their picture books, including one about a mischievous monkey then called Fifi.

Curator Claudia Nahson explains that Hans and Margret created the monkey character that is always on the run while they themselves were on the run. The recurring motif of the monkey's narrow escape from danger is another autobiographical detail.

Continue reading "Out of Europe, with a beloved monkey" »

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Baltimore Sun colleague Ed Gunts has a story on the restoration of the historic Lloyd Street Synagogue:

Baltimore's historic Lloyd Street Synagogue was almost torn down in the late 1950s to make way for a parking lot. An architect was hired to prepare scale drawings of the structure, so there would be a record of it after it was gone.

Now the 1845 building is bustling with activity, after a $1 million restoration and the opening of a lower-level gallery designed to extend its reach as a center of education and tourism.

The Jewish Museum of Maryland, which now owns the synagogue, opened the gallery Sunday as the latest addition to its Herbert Bearman campus. Hundreds of visitors came to hear a concert in the sanctuary and tour "The Synagogue Speaks," a $300,000 exhibit that traces the history of the building at 11 Lloyd St., Maryland's first synagogue and the third-oldest synagogue still standing in the country.

The exhibit opening was the culmination of a series of events held to mark the end of the restoration project and the 50th anniversary of the museum, established in 1960 to save the synagogue from the wrecking ball. It followed a formal rededication of the building on Thursday that drew dignitaries from Maryland's religious, political and business communities, including Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake and Cardinal William Keeler, the former archbishop of Baltimore.

The synagogue is "a living testament to Baltimore's Jewish history and Maryland's history of religious freedom and tolerance," Rawlings-Blake said. "It is also a great attraction for heritage tourism."

Read the story at baltimoresun.com.

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Lawmakers in Florida have voted to advance legislation to allow organized prayer at school-sponsored events. Josh Hafenbrack, a statehouse reporter for Baltimore Sun sister paper the Sun-Sentinel, has the story:

Students could lead prayers at school functions such as football games and the senior prom, under a controversial bill advanced by a Florida House committee Wednesday.

Despite objections from Democrats and civil liberties groups who called the effort "patently unconstitutional," the House PreK-12 Education Committee approved the prayer bill (HB11) on a largely party line, 10-3 vote.

Students would be allowed to initiate and lead prayers at assemblies and extracurricular events. The bill bans teachers, administrators and school boards from "discouraging or inhibiting the delivery of an inspirational message," which includes a "prayer or invocation."

Opponents said the prayer-in-school bill would subject students from minority religions, such as Jewish and Muslim students, to majority Christian views.

"When we start breaking down the First Amendment, it is the breaking of our fabric," said Rep. Kevin Rader, D-Delray Beach. Rader, who is Jewish, recalled sitting uncomfortably during team prayers while he was a high school student-athlete. "I remember it like it was yesterday."

Supporters, however, cast the bill as a free-speech issue for students who want to pray at school functions.

"That's the reason we have to have this bill – to protect people's First Amendment rights," said Rep. Greg Evers, R-Baker. "This is not necessarily a prayer bill. It's a rights bill."

Continue reading "Florida lawmakers advance school prayer bill" »

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Egypt canceled the inauguration of a restored synagogue on Sunday citing objections to Israel's treatment of Muslims in the occupied territories as well as alleged excesses during an earlier ceremony, the Associated Press reports.

Egypt's Supreme Council of Antiquities spent seven months restoring the ruined Ben Maimon synagogue in Cairo's ancient Jewish quarter and had been set to unveil it to the press Sunday, a week after its rededication in a private ceremony, according to the AP.

Council head Zahi Hawass called off Sunday's event following criticism in the press of the synagogue's rededication ceremony, which was attended by Israeli diplomats as well the American ambassador. The cancellation was largely symbolic as the restoration is complete and the synagogue has been reopened.

"This cancellation comes after what happened during the inauguration by the Jewish community who engaged in activities considered provocative to the feelings of hundreds of millions of Muslims around world, including dancing and drinking alcohol," Hawass said in the statement.

He added that "Muslim sanctuaries in occupied Palestine are subject to aggression by the occupation authorities," citing in particular Israeli security actions on the Temple Mount, known as the Aqsa compound to Muslims, in Jerusalem.

Officials with Cairo's Jewish community had no comment about Hawass' statement.

The March 7 dedication ceremony at the synagogue, named after the 12th century rabbi and intellectual Maimonides, was closed to media and included half a dozen Egyptian Jewish families that long ago fled the country. No Egyptian officials attended the ceremony.

A group of about 11 Hassidic Chabad-Lubavitch rabbis also came to Cairo from the United States and Israel and sang at the event. Attendees also said toasts were made.

Egypt's Jewish community, which dates back millennia and at its peak in the 1940s numbered around 80,000, is down to several dozen, almost all of them elderly. The rest were driven out decades ago by mob violence and persecution tied in large part to the Arab-Israeli conflict.

Continue reading "Egypt cancels Cairo synagogue unveiling" »

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A Reform Jewish task force on intermarriage said Monday that the movement should do more to encourage mixed-faith couples to be active in Jewish life, including creating special blessings for major life events such as weddings and funerals, the Associated Press reports.

The panel proposed no changes in the movement's policy on officiating at interfaith weddings. Reform Judaism formally opposes the practice but allows each rabbi to decide, according to the AP.

Instead, the panel proposed other steps, including educating rabbis on how they can engage intermarried families, and creating blessings for ceremonies that involve a non-Jewish spouse.

Leaders of the task force said their two-year study represents a shift away from trying to prevent intermarriage and toward encouraging mixed-faith couples to create Jewish homes.

The intermarriage rate for U.S. Jews has been above 40 percent since at least the 1990s. Slowing the trend has become one of the biggest concerns of the Jewish community.

The Conservative and Orthodox movements bar rabbis from presiding at interfaith weddings. The Reconstructionist movement also opposes officiating but gives rabbis individual discretion.

The task force was created by the Central Conference of American Rabbis, which represents nearly 2,000 Reform clergy. The report was released at an assembly in San Francisco. The Reform movement is the largest branch of American Judaism.

Read the Associated Press story.

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Associated Press religion writer Rachel Zoll has a story about the faith elements of the upcoming wedding and marriage of Chelsea Clinton and Marc Mezvinsky.

Clinton has a Christian background; Mezvinsky is Jewish. Zoll writes about the interfaith issues ahead, beginning with the wedding:

The bride and groom have a range of choices, including conversion or a melding their two traditions into one ceremony.

The talk has been strongest in the Jewish community. There has been more rejoicing than lamenting about this interfaith union that brings a former first daughter a step closer to the fold.

Still, they wonder: Has Chelsea been searching for a rabbi along with her gown?

"If they had a Jewish wedding officiated by a rabbi, I think that would be something really positive," said Ed Case, president of InterfaithFamily.com, which supports Jewish outreach to interfaith couples. "It's so important for the Jewish community to have interfaith couples engaging in Jewish life."

Chelsea Clinton grew up attending Methodist church with her mother. Bill Clinton has been close to his pastor in Arkansas, but the Southern Baptist Convention rebuked him years ago over his support for gay relationships and abortion rights.

Last year, Chelsea, a graduate student at Columbia University's School of Public Health, was seen attending Yom Kippur services with Marc at the Jewish Theological Seminary in New York, the flagship for Conservative Judaism, according to news reports.

Continue reading "A Jewish wedding for Chelsea Clinton?" »

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Israeli police entered the flashpoint Al-Aqsa mosque compound on Sunday after Palestinians threw stones at visitors, Agence France-Presse repports.

"Muslim worshippers threw stones at visitors to the site today, and our forces have entered to make arrests," spokesman Micky Rosenfeld told the French news service.

"Around 20 young people are holed up inside the mosque, and as a preventive measure we have decided to limit access to the esplanade to men over the age of 50," as well as women and children, he added.

More from AFP:

Dozens of riot police were deployed throughout the narrow streets of the Old City as loudspeakers on minarets called on Muslims to "save Jerusalem," according to an AFP correspondent.

An official from Jerusalem's Islamic Supreme Committee said the Palestinians threw stones at people they believed to be Jewish extremists intending to pray at the site and upset the delicate status quo.

"They threw rocks because (Israeli) settlers have been surrounding the compound for two or three days and had said they intended to enter on Sunday or Monday to pray at Al-Aqsa," Adnan Husseini told AFP.

Read the Agence France-Presse story.

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An Israeli archaeologist said Monday that ancient fortifications recently excavated in Jerusalem date back 3,000 years to the time of King Solomon and support the biblical narrative about the era, the Associated Press reports.

If the age of the wall is correct, the finding would be an indication that Jerusalem was home to a strong central government that had the resources and manpower needed to build massive fortifications in the 10th century B.C.

That's a key point of dispute among scholars, because it would match the Bible's account that the Hebrew kings David and Solomon ruled from Jerusalem around that time.

While some Holy Land archaeologists support that version of history — including the archaeologist behind the dig, Eilat Mazar — others posit that David's monarchy was largely mythical and that there was no strong government to speak of in that era.

Speaking to reporters at the site Monday, Mazar, from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, called her find "the most significant construction we have from First Temple days in Israel."

"It means that at that time, the 10th century, in Jerusalem there was a regime capable of carrying out such construction," she said.

Read the Associated Press story.

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Bash Pharoan brings his campaign for recognition of Muslim holidays in the Baltimore County Public Schools to a meeting Monday of the school board’s calendar committee.

The president of the Baltimore chapter of the Arab American Anti-Discrimination Committee issued an action alert over the weekend inviting supporters to the meeting:

The road towards recognition in a democracy is paved with hard work, persistence and community support. This is the 7th consecutive year that ADC Baltimore appeals the BCPS board of education for inclusion of the two Islamic holidays as school closing days, equal to the Jewish holidays. The school system closes on the Jewish holidays for religious reason and not a secular one. The calendar committee this year is the first stop in the making of school calendar. The committee members are educators and school supporters. They are members of the community and do respond to citizens requests. The school system needs to know that discrimination based on religious belief or national origin is wrong and is illegal. Your appearance Monday evening in support of granting the Islamic holidays as school closure days will be vital in the process of recognition.

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A Chicago man who was ordered by a judge not to take his three-year-old daughter to church now faces jail after he invited reporters to accompany them to a Catholic Mass, WBBM-TV in Chicago reports.

The faith of Ela Reyes has become a battleground for her estranged parents, Joseph and Rebecca.

Rebecca Reyes says Joseph agreed to raise their daughter in the Jewish faith before they separated. After the split, Joseph Reyes had Ela baptized in a Catholic church and sent a photograph to Rebecca.

Rebecca Reyes turned to the Cook County Circuit Court, where a judge issued a restraining order barring Joseph Reyes from taking the girl to non-Jewish religious services.

Joseph Reyes says he never agreed to raise Ela Jewish. He told WBBM-TV reporter Mike Puccinelli that he did not violate the order when he took her to Mass at Chicago’s Holy Name Cathedral in January.

"I think that Christianity and moreover Catholicism in particular is a radicalized form of Judaism and there are theologists that would agree with me on that point," he said.

Reyes was charged Tuesday with criminal contempt.

"It doesn't feel good that's for certain,” he said, according to WBBM-TV. “I'm really doing nothing more than being the best dad I can to my daughter. And that somehow it resulted in criminal charges is demoralizing and a bit insulting."

Rebecca Reyes was not in court. Her lawyer spoke for her.

"Our client has confidence in the judicial system and she wants to try her case in court and not in the media,” Laura Ashmore said, according to WBBM-TV.

Read the story at cbs2chicago.com.

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The Vatican plans to make some of its World War II archives available on the Internet soon to calm down the controversy over Pope Pius XII's actions during the Holocaust, the Associated Press reports.

The Vatican's newspaper said the plan would "render service to the historic truth," and officials told AP writer Victor Simpson Tuesday that the material would be accessible soon.

The move comes amid Jewish anger at the recent decision of Pope Benedict XVI to move Pius closer to sainthood. The church says the wartime pope helped to save Jews and others during the Holocaust, but some Jews and others say he should have done more.

The Vatican's daily newspaper L'Osservatore Romano said Gary Krup, an American who heads the Pave the Way Foundation, which seeks to strengthen Catholic-Jewish relations, was behind the online initiative. It quoted him as saying that the Pius XII papacy "has become a source of friction."

During a visit to Rome's main synagogue last month, the AP reports, Benedict said the Vatican "itself provided assistance, often in a hidden and discreet way" to Jews during the war. Benedict said Catholics acted courageously to save Jews during World War II.

Read the Associated Press story.

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Apologies, real and imagined, Part II

The Rev. Jason Poling is the pastor of New Hope Community Church in Pikesville.

On Wednesday we Christians begin the season of Lent. Starting with Ash Wednesday, we enter into a time of reflection, of self-examination, of confession, of penitence.

Or at least some of us do. Some are so put off by religious rigmarole that they will have no part of irrelevant rituals. Others think themselves above this sort of morbid negativism; they could not imagine singing along with Augustus Toplady’s classic hymn “Rock of Ages:”

Nothing in my hand I bring
Simply to the cross I cling
Naked, come to thee for dress
Helpless, look to thee for grace
Foul I to the fountain fly
Wash me, Savior, or I die.

Naked? Helpless? Foul? No, they say, I don’t think I’m that bad off. I’m not the best person, but I’m pretty good, and I don’t think I really need anybody else’s help.

But traditionally the Church has taken quite a different view: We are sinful from birth, we are sinful by our own choices, we are sinful by ingrained habit and that’s no surprise since everyone around us is too. We live in a world where the effects of sin are seen all around us, where the very institutions that sustain us are thoroughly shot through with human frailty at best, Infernal evil at worst.

As the great 20th century theologian Reinhold Niebuhr put it, “Religion is very easily used to obscure rather than to reveal the primitive forces which control so much of human nature. Religion without a constantly replenished force of penitence easily becomes a romance which brutal men use to hide the real sources of their actions from themselves and from others.”

Therefore our church, like many others, will begin Lent with an Ash Wednesday service during which we will be reminded that we are dust, and to dust we will return. We will wear ashes on our foreheads as a reminder of our mortality. Mindful of the fact that our life is but a vapor, we will confess to God and to one another that when it comes to examining our consciences during the six weeks of Lent none of us will run out of material that ought to provoke repentance.

Of course, Christianity is not the only religion to focus the attention of devout on the reality of human depravity (original sin being, in the words of the great Roman Catholic apologist G. K. Chesterton “the only part of Christian theology which can really be proved” by the obvious reality of human experience). Our Jewish neighbors recite during Yom Kippur (day of atonement) services the Al Het, a prayer of confession arranged in acrostic format so as to accomplish the work of admitting sins “from A to Z.”

The Al Het is an impressive piece of liturgical work. In the Book of Common Prayer, we Christians are led to confess “that we have sinned by our own fault, in thought, word, and deed, by what we have done, and by what we have left undone.” Oftentimes we will allow for a period of silent confession after mentioning a few specifics. But in the Al Het the worshipper begs God’s forgiveness for “the sin we have sinned before You under duress or freewill, and for the sin we have sinned before You in hardness of heart” — and then likewise for 22 other pairs of sins.

So I was struck by the news that during Chanukah Jimmy Carter had offered an Al Het. President Carter has been an outspoken critic of Israel, and has been accused of anti-Semitism by many not ordinarily prone to throwing such a term around lightly. Most recently, his book Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid drew a furious response from Jewish leaders in Israel and America for likening the government of Israel to the racist government of South Africa under the National Party.

Continue reading "Jason Poling: Jimmy Carter and the Jews" »

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Does God cause earthquakes? What is the Jewish response to natural disasters?

Following the devastaton in Haiti, Baltimore Jewish Times executive editor Phil Jacobs puts the questions to local rabbis – and finds some common themes among the different branches of Judaism.

Rabbi Dr. Tzvi Hersh Weinreb, executive vice president emeritus of the Orthodox Union and former spiritual leader of Baltimore’s Congregation Shomrei Emunah, advises Jews to set aside the question of whether or why God allows earthquakes to in favor of what God requires in response. The answer, he says: “see, feel, act.”

Rabbi Elissa Sachs-Kohen of Baltimore Hebrew Congregation, a Reform synagogue, tells Jacobs she doesn’t think that God “does things like earthquakes and plagues and illnesses.”

“I don’t believe that if we prayed hard enough, there would not have been an earthquake,” she says. “But I do believe that through learning our Jewish tradition, we learn of responsibility for one another. Those who have skills that are useful should be employing those skills in a helpful way.”

Rabbi Steve Schwartz of Beth El Congregation in Pikesville, a Conservative synagogue, says supernatural explanations for natural disasters are unnecessary.

“The rules and laws of physics are set up, and the world moves along, and God is not intervening in history on a regular basis and deciding that such-and-such a person should be saved or such-and-such a person should be punished,” he says. “We know why earthquakes happen. Plates shift—it’s not a big mystery."

Continue reading "The Jewish response to natural disasters" »

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A Jewish cemetery in eastern France was desecrated Wednesday, with at least 18 gravestones marked with swastikas and overturned, the Associated Press reports.

The desecration in a Strasbourg cemetery came on the 65th anniversary of the liberation of the detah camp at Auschwitz, now observed internationally as Holocaust Remembrance Day.

France's main Jewish organization, CRIF, said at least 18 tombstones at the Cronenbourg cemetery were found Wednesday marked with swastikas and 13 of them were overturned. The CRIF's Marc Knobel said the inscription "juden raus" (Jews out) was found on one tomb.

A statement from the office of President Nicolas Sarkozy said he "firmly condemns this unbearable act, the expression of odious racism." It asked that those responsible be quickly identified and their acts "treated with the severity called for."

France is home to western Europe's largest Jewish and Muslim populations, and there are occasional attacks on their schools, cemeteries or places of worship, the AP reports.

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On the 65th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz, Pope Benedict XVI on Wednesday denounced the "horror" of the Shoah and the "unprecedented cruelty of the extermination camps created by Nazi Germany."

The German-born pontiff, who has drawn criticism from Jewish leaders for moving wartime Pope Pius XII closer to sainthood, made his remarks at the conclusion of his weekly audience. The Vatican press office provides the translation:

Today we celebrate "Holocaust Remembrance Day," to recall all the victims of those crimes, and especially the planned annihilation of the Jews, and to honour those who, at the risk of their own lives, protected the persecuted and sought to oppose the murderous insanity. Deeply moved, our thoughts go to the countless victims of that blind racial and religious hatred, who suffered deportation, imprisonment and death in those abhorrent and inhuman places.

May the memory of those events and in particular the drama of the Shoah which struck the Jewish people, arouse ever greater respect for the dignity of each person, so that all mankind may feel itself to be one large family. May omnipotent God illuminate hearts and minds, that such tragedies never happen again.

After a period of relative harmony during the pontificate of Pope John Paul II, Catholic-Jewish relations have been strained under Benedict.

Benedict sparked outrage among some Jewish groups by signing a decree on Pius' heroic virtues, paving the way for him to be beatified once a miracle attributed to his intercession is confirmed.

Continue reading "Benedict: 'Horror' of Holocaust 'unprecedented'" »

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We posted on Monday about the "pledge campaign" launched by the National Jewish Democratic Council in what it described as an attempt to rid politics of Holocaust rhetoric and anti-Semitic language. The NJDC cited the use of Holocaust imagery by Republicans and conservatives in arguing against the Democrats' efforts to overhaul health care.

We now have a response from Republican Jewish Coalition executive director Matt Brooks:

NJDC's "campaign" doesn't pass the laugh test. First, if they were serious about keeping inappropriate Holocaust references out of political campaigns, they would have reached out to their counterparts on the Republican side - the RJC - to do it on an evenhanded, non-partisan basis. After all, the RJC is on record denouncing the misuse of Holocaust language and imagery on either side of the political aisle.

Second, the language of the pledge statement includes a distorted and partisan account of the recent history of Holocaust references in politics. The NJDC conveniently forgot to include in its account the remarks of Rep. Alan Grayson (D-FL) who likened our health care system to the Holocaust, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's reference to swastikas at town hall meetings, and Rep. Brian Baird's (D-WA) reference to town hall protesters as "brownshirts" last summer. Grayson's remarks were so egregious that he was admonished publicly by the Anti-Defamation League.

And in eight years of vile Holocaust comparisons aimed at President Bush, we almost never heard leading Democrats or the NJDC speak out against the use of those words and images, whether at demonstrations, online at DailyKos and Huffington Post, or by Democratic elected officials. "Bushitler" was used as a sitting President's name in public forums; where was the NJDC's outrage then?

Democrats are running scared after recent Republican victories and polls that show that the American people don't want ObamaCare, don't want more stimulus packages, and don't approve of how Obama, Reid, and Pelosi are handling the serious problems America faces. The NJDC is trying to divert attention from the administration's missteps on foreign policy, national security, and the economy. Jewish voters won't be fooled by such cheap and desperate tactics.

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After a season in which Republicans and at least one Democrat invoked Nazis and the Holocaust to characterize political opponents in the health debate, a national Jewish Democratic organization has launched a "pledge campaign" to demand that candidates condemn and refrain from "abusive Holocaust rhetoric and anti-Semitic language."

The National Jewish Democratic Council is starting with candidates in the Illinois election for U.S. Senate, but organization officials say they plan to expand around the country in the coming weeks.

"In the current toxic political environment, an increasing number of voices have employed inappropriate Holocaust and outright anti-Semitic rhetoric to score political points," Ira N. Forman, chief executive officer of the council, said in a statement. "At an official House Republican press conference before 'Tea Party' activists in November, for example, political rhetoric opposing health insurance reform invoked disgusting Holocaust imagery and outright anti-Semitism. Top political leaders including House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-OH), House Republican Whip Eric Cantor (R-VA) and House Republican Conference Chairman Mike Pence (R-IN) stood before a crowd that held a banner displaying a stack of dead bodies at Dachau, titled 'National Socialist Health Care Plan, Dachau, Germany - 1945.' Yet another sign suggested that 'Obama takes his orders from the Rothchilds' [sic].

"This is just one of many vile examples that rabbinic movements and other national organizations have taken a stand against. This is not a partisan issue and such speech is simply not acceptable to the Jewish community. Republican and Democratic candidates alike must disavow such rhetoric. Starting in Illinois and expanding around the country, NJDC will call upon candidates for federal office in 2010 to pledge to renounce anti-Semitic and abusive Holocaust language by any supporter."

The NJDC release does not mention Rep. Brian Baird, the Washington state Democrat who described outbursts by critics of Democratic health care legislation at town hall meetings last summer as “close to Brown Shirt tactics.”

Continue reading "Jewish Democrats want end to Holocaust rhetoric" »

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A teenage airplane passenger using a Jewish prayer object caused a misunderstanding that led the captain to divert a Kentucky-bound flight to Philadelphia and prompted a visit from a bomb squad, the Associated Press reports.

A 17-year-old boy on US Airways Express Flight 3079 from New York to Louisville was using tefillin, a set of small boxes containing biblical passages that are attached to leather straps, said Philadelphia police Lt. Frank Vanore.

When used in prayer, one box is strapped to the arm while the other box is placed on the head.

"It's something that the average person is not going to see very often, if ever," FBI spokesman J.J. Klaver said.

Read the Associated Press story.

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Americans are more than twice as likely to express prejudice against Muslims than they are against Christians, Jews or Buddhists, according to a report to be released Thursday by the Gallup World Religion Survey. While nearly two-thirds of Americans say they have little or no knowledge of Islam, a majority say they have an unfavorable view of the faith.

Associated Press religion writer Rachel Zoll breaks down the results:

Just over half of Americans said they felt no prejudice against Muslims. However, 43 percent acknowledged at least "a little" prejudice against Muslims, a significantly higher percentage than for the other four faiths in the survey.

About 18 percent of respondents said they had some level of prejudice against Christians, while the figure was 15 percent toward Jews and 14 percent toward Buddhists.

Asked about knowledge of Islam, 63 percent of Americans say they have "very little" or "none at all." A large majority of respondents believe most Muslims want peace. Yet, 53 percent of Americans say their opinion of the faith is "not too favorable" or "not favorable at all." By comparison, 25 percent of Americans say they have unfavorable views of Judaism, while 7 percent say they have "some" or "a great deal" of prejudice toward Jews.

Personally knowing a Muslim is not linked to a lower level of prejudice, although not knowing a Muslim is related to the greatest level of bias. The authors of the report say this finding underscores the need for better education on what Islam teaches.

"What really seems to impact one's perception of a group much more than knowing an individual is having a positive opinion of that group's distinguishing characteristic, which in this case is their faith," said Dalia Mogahed, senior analyst and executive director of the Gallup Center for Muslim Studies. "That one person being nice enough could simply be explained as that person being an exception."

Respondents who say they attend religious services more than once a week are significantly more likely to have a favorable view of Muslims. Mogahed said people who are more religious generally consider prejudice a moral evil and often have respect for the devout of other faiths.

Researchers also found a link between prejudice against Jews and Muslims. Americans who acknowledged "a great deal" of bias toward Jews were much more likely to feel the same about Muslims. The survey results could not explain why the two prejudices are linked. Mogahed said bias against both groups should be tracked and studied together to understand the dynamic.

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Christian, Jewish and Muslim leaders will lead an interfaith vigil next week against violence in the city, the Archdiocese of Baltimore announced.

The vigil, sponsored by the Baltimore Interfaith Coalition, will also include prayers and a collection for Haiti.

“Haiti is in the midst of what we call a natural disaster, but here in Baltimore, violence perpetuates what we could call an unnatural disaster,” Auxiliary Bishop Denis J. Madden, urban vicar of the Archdiocese of Baltimore and co-chair of the coalition, said in a statement. “Violence in Baltimore keeps our city from reaching its potential and limits our ability to focus on the poverty of places like Haiti.”

In a joint letter to area clergy this month, Madden and Bishop Douglas I. Miles of Koinonia Baptist Church, said “We have the opportunity to make a profound statement … that people of faith will not sit idly while violence destroys our neighborhoods.”

The Baltimore Interfaith Coalition, formed after a meeting last spring between local faith leaders and Police Commissioner Frederick H. Bealefeld III, has announced plans to “mobilize faith communities through joint service projects that promote healing and hope to those who are affected by violence.”

“This is the first time since the Civil Rights Movement that Baltimore has seen an interfaith movement of this scale,” Miles said.

Continue reading "Interfaith vigil against violence, for Haiti" »

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A high-level delegation of Roman Catholic bishops has criticized Israeli policies in Arab sectors of Jerusalem and called for more contacts between ordinary Israelis and Palestinians, the Associated Press reports.

The group says violence, insecurity, home demolitions, the route of Israel's West Bank separation barrier and other policies threaten peace prospects.

The group of eight bishops from North America and Europe issued a statement at the end of its annual visit on Thursday. It says Israel's policies also endanger the dwindling Christian presence in the Holy Land.

The bishops called for the establishment of a Palestinian state alongside Israel and said a lack of dialogue between Israelis and Palestinians undermines the hopes for peace.

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Pope Benedict XVI should be welcomed when he visits Rome's main synagogue, but he should halt moves to beatify wartime pontiff Pius XII, a former chief rabbi of Israel said Tuesday, the Associated Press reports.

Israel Meir Lau, a Holocaust survivor and now chief rabbi of Tel Aviv, said Benedict's synagogue visit Sunday would be "appreciated and blessed." But in an interview with Italy's Sky TG24 television, he said he was "surprised" by Benedict's decision last month to move the controversial World War II-era pope closer to sainthood.

Benedict sparked outrage among some Jewish groups by signing a decree on Pius' heroic virtues, paving the way for him to be beatified once a miracle attributed to his intercession is confirmed.

Some Jews and historians have argued that Pius, pope from 1939-1958, was largely silent on the Holocaust and should have done more to prevent the deaths of 6 million Jews at the hands of the Nazis and their collaborators.

The Vatican insists Pius used quiet diplomacy to try to save Jews and that speaking out more forcefully would have resulted in more deaths.

It said last month the decree on his heroic virtues wasn't so much a historical assessment of his pontificate as a confirmation that he had led a deeply Christian life.

Continue reading "Rabbi: Pope should stop Pius beatification" »

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Shaukat Malik is a Muslim-American Certified Public Accountant from Potomac. A native of Pakistan, he arrived in the United States in 1980.

We cannot name one country with Islamic laws that is a functioning democracy or a benchmark for life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness except Turkey.

Muslim majority countries such as Pakistan have a history of thousands of years of customs and folklore shared with India that already plays havoc with the largely uneducated population in the rural areas. Unofficial patriarchal village juries made up of illiterate villagers will hand out and execute primitive punishments along the lines of a tooth for a tooth and an eye for an eye. Add to this outdated Islamic laws and punishments for, for example, adultery, blasphemy and women’s rights and you have created a living hell for women and minorities.

Because of the Islamization in Pakistan, carried out behind the veil of training Mujahedeen to fight the Soviet infidel, Pakistan has a large number of Madrassas and religious charities that share and support Saudi Arabia’s brand of Orthodox Islam. This was on display during the Lal-Masjid standoff against the Pakistan army in July 2007. These Madrassas and charities openly support the Taliban and al Qaida. It is interesting to note that a majority of the terrorists in prison have received their training in Pakistan.

The recent unrest in Malaysia over the use of the name “Allah” by Christians when referring to God has more to do with fear over losing members of the congregation to the Christian church than to Muslim sensibilities. Separate Sharia laws for Muslims, who make up 60 percent of the population, could open doors for al Qaida types to make inroads into Malaysia’s Muslim population.

The conflict in interpretation between the bible and the Quran over the holy trinity and the oneness of God as stated in the Quran is exploited by Muslim clerics to foment prejudice against Christians. It is clearly stated in the Quran that there is no compulsion in religion and that there must be complete freedom of religion. Muslims Jews and Christians are all children of Abraham and people of the book. A believing Muslim must submit to the will of God. It is God’s will that decides our religion at birth.

Continue reading "Guest post: Sharia laws have become a weapon" »

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Over at The Baltimore Jewish Times, executive editor Phil Jacobs has written a nice remembrance of Rabbi Murray Saltzman.

The longtime senior rabbi of Baltimore Hebrew Congregation, a civil rights marcher alongside the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. who became a member of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, died last week at 80.

Jacobs writes:

For Jewish Times staff, he was more often than not our go to rabbi when questions came up of ethics, social justice or even for perspective on how government sometimes interacts with of Judaism.

He was on our speed dial for spiritual, social and ethical direction and comment.

There was always time to stop in his Park Heights Avenue office, take a break from the craziness of a day, and go away with knowledge and perspective.
They just don’t make many Rabbi Saltzmans any longer.

President Gerald R. Ford appointed him to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights. In 1983, he was fired from that commission for speaking out against President Ronald Reagan’s administration’s civil rights policies.

It is no irony that Baltimore Hebrew Congregation is the place where in recent memory, Orthodox and Reform teens have come together to discuss their differences and similarities. It’s no irony that Baltimore Hebrew opened itself up to people of color to worship, to congregants of diversity to worship.

It’s all no coincidence.

It is the legacy of a great man, Rabbi Murray Saltzman.

Read the rest at jewishtimes.com.

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The 89-year-old man charged with the deadly shooting at Washington's Holocaust museum last June has died, the Associated Press is reporting.

At Butner federal prison in North Carolina, spokeswoman Denise Simmons announced that James von Brunn died shortly before 1 p.m. Wednesday.

Simmons said the suspect had "a long history of poor health which included chronic congestive heart failure and sepsis." She said he was pronounced dead at a local hospital.

Von Brunn's lawyer, A.J. Kramer, called the death "a sad end to a tragic situation," but declined further comment.

The elderly suspect had been awaiting trial for the killing of security guard Stephen T. Johns at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum on June 10. Von Brunn had been wounded by return fire.

Officials at the prison hospital had previously said chronic medical problems had complicated a psychiatric evaluation for the suspect, a white supremacist who prior to the shooting had written racist and anti-Semitic screeds on the Internet.

Continue reading "Alleged Holocaust museum shooter dies" »

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Har Sinai Congregation has elected Rabbi Benjamin Sharff unanimously to become its 14th rabbi since its founding in 1842. He will assume the spiritual leadership of the Reform congregation in Owings Mills on July 1.

“One of the main goals of my rabbinate is to help others to understand the beauty and complexity of our religion, our people and our tradition,” Sharff said in a statement circulated by Har Sinai. “I also believe in the evolving tradition of Torah and want to help others discover the beauty, and insights contained in our texts, literature, traditions, customs and liturgies. I am committed to lifelong learning and helping others raise their own Jewish literacy and knowledge. I am excited to share these goals with Har Sinai’s congregants and the Baltimore Jewish community.”

Sharff comes to Baltimore from Temple Emanu-El in Tuscon, Ariz., where he has been associate rabbi since 2005.The son of a Reform rabbi, he earned a bachelor’s degree in psychology from the University of Texas at Austin and his rabbinic ordination and a master’s degree in Hebrew letters from the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in Cincinnati in 2004.

At Temple Emanu-El, according to a release by Har Sinai, Sharff coordinated and taught adult and youth education programs and communal outreach programs, engaged in interfaith activities and discussions and participated in the larger Tucson Jewish community, spearheading the drive to increase Temple Emanu-El’s presence in northwest Tucson. He served as editor of The Comic Book Siddur as a unique outreach to Jewish youth. Additionally, he conducted both traditional and creative worship services and ministered to the congregants’ spiritual, personal and religious needs.

“We were impressed by Rabbi Sharff’s presence, his warmth, his success with youth programs and his ability to engage all members of the congregation,” Har Sinai President Louise Zirretta said. “We are absolutely thrilled to welcome Rabbi Sharff to our congregation.”

Continue reading "Har Sinai elects new rabbi" »

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A small group of Haredi Jews were preparing Friday to celebrate the Jewish Sabbath in Gaza, in an unlikely show of support for Palestinians in the Hamas-run coastal territory, the Associated Press reports.

Bearded and wearing black hats and coats, the four members of a tiny Jewish group vehemently opposed to Israel's existence were a rare sight in the poverty-stricken Palestinian territory.

Members of the Neturei Karta group have expressed support for the Iranian regime and for others who oppose the Jewish state, which they believe was established in violation of Jewish law. They made a similar visit to Gaza last year.

"It's crucial that the people of Gaza understand the terrible tragedy here is not in the name of Judaism," said one of the men, Rabbi Yisroel Dovid Weiss of New York City, as the four prepared to observe the Sabbath at a Gaza City hotel.

Gaza is still recovering from Israel's devastating military offensive a year ago, which was aimed at halting rocket fire from the territory. Thirteen Israelis and almost 1,400 Gazans were killed in the three-week war.

The four men are American and Canadian citizens. Israel bans its citizens from visiting the blockaded territory. Weiss and his comrades entered Gaza through a border crossing with Egypt.

Neturei Karta, Aramaic for "Guardians of the City," was founded seven decades ago in Jerusalem by Jews who opposed the drive to establish the state of Israel, believing only the Messiah could do that.

Considered marginal even among Haredi Jews, the group's size is estimated at between a few hundred to a few thousand people.

Read the Associated Press story.

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In no particular order, as selected by the brain trust at In Good Faith world headquarters, and barring any unforeseen developments in the hours that remain. Comments?

Jewish Community Center opens on Saturdays, over objections of Orthodox community

Maryland priest becomes first lesbian Episcopal Bishop

Baltimore Hebrew University closes; reopens at Towson University

Muslims meet in Baltimore, denounce terror

Episcopal nuns join Catholic Church en masse

Catholic Diocese of Wilmington declares Bankruptcy

Death of Rabbi Mark Loeb

Towson Catholic High School closure surprises students, parents

Ecumenical Patriarch, head of Orthodox Christianity, visits Maryland

City Council passes first-in-nation regulations on faith-based crisis pregnancy centers

Atheists target Baltimore, ask: Are you good without God?

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Historic St. Ignatius Church, just up the street from The Baltimore Sun, will hold its annual New Year's Eve interfaith service on Thursday.

Jews, Christians and Muslims will gather for the 17th annual service at 8:30 p.m. at the Catholic church at the corner of Calvert and Madison Streets.

The Right Rev. Eugene Taylor Sutton, bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Maryland, will deliver the sermon. Gov. Martin O'Malley and Mayor Sheila Dixon are expected to attend.

A musical program will begin at 8 p.m. A reception will follow the service. Tickets for the free event may be reserved calling 410-727-3848 or sending an email to parish@st-ignatius.net.

Posted by Matthew Hay Brown at 8:27 PM | Permalink | Comments (14)
Categories: Catholicism, Christianity, Events, Interfaith, Islam, Judaism, People, Politics
        

The Baltimore Jewish Council has joined in the growing opposition to the BDS movement, which aims to punish Israel for what organizers characterize as decades of oppression of Palestinians, the Baltimore Jewish Times reports.

The council board voted unanimously to endorse a push for a "national and community-based strategy” to counter what it described as an effort to "delegitimize and demonize" the Jewish state, the Jewish Times reports.

“We’re reacting to a particularly assiduous type of activity, which is essentially anti-Israel and often anti-Semitic in nature here in the United States and around the world,” Abba Poliakoff, chair of the council's Israel Awareness and Advocacy Committee told fellow board members. “The BDS movement is a strategic, organized campaign that targets Israel.”

The resolution came to the BJC through the Jewish Council for Public Affairs, the Jewish Times reports. The national coordinating body of Jewish community relations councils wants local community groups to endorse the resolution, which it hopes will be adopted at its annual national plenum in February.

Read the story at jewishtimes.com.

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It survived Hitler, Stalin, the decision to make Hebrew the official language of the State of Israel and the adoption of English by immigrants to the United States.

Now Yiddish, for 1,000 years the everyday language of European Jews, is facing another threat: budget cuts.

We have a story in Monday's Baltimore Sun about the dim future for Yiddish at the University of Maryland, one of the few schools in the nation that has consistently offered intruction in the Germanic tongue (Harvard, Columbia, Michigan and UCLA are others.)

The recent announcement that the Joseph and Rebecca Meyerhoff Center for Jewish Studies would be dropping it in the fall shocked area Yiddishists. The center now has cobbled together the money to pay its longtime instructor through the next academic year. But after that, director Hayim Lapin says, it is unlikely to continue funding a full-time faculty member dedicated to the language.

"This is not about Yiddish," says Lapin, whose parents spoke and taught the language. "What this is about is responding to the budget crisis and actually cutting back on just about all of our visiting faculty and programming, So we have less Bible than we had. We have less history than we had. We have less or no Yiddish."

Professor Miriam Isaacs, who has taught elementary and intermediate Yiddish at Maryland for 15 years, worries about a future without the language.

"It's not just at Maryland that I'm concerned," says Isaacs, born in postwar Germany, where Yiddish was her first language.

"We're at a critical point in that the generation of Holocaust survivors, my parents, they're not around anymore," she says. "Or if they're around, they can't do a lot of translating. So if nobody learns it, you know, the Holocaust Museum archive is full of Yiddish materials. The University of Maryland has been acquiring Yiddish books galore. Who is going to read them? Who is going to be able to have access to them?"

Read the story at baltimoresun.com.

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In the months since we started In Good Faith, we've attracted readers and commenters from all over the world. Ties to the Baltimore area will be helpful in spotting some familiar faces in the video above (the list appears at the end).

I wanted to take a moment to say a sincere thank you to all who have stopped by, and particularly to those who have joined in the spirited debate taking shape on these pages. During this holiday season, we wish the very best to everyone of every faith, and no faith at all.

I expect to be posting only lightly over the next few days as I take time off to spend with my family. As my father would say: Talk amongst yourselves.

Best,
Matt

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Former President Jimmy Carter is offering the Jewish community an apology for any of his "words and deeds" that may have upset them, the Associated Press reports.

Carter writes in an open letter to the Jewish community this week that he hopes the new year will bring peace between Israel and its neighbors, according to AP writer Greg Bluestein. He says "we must not permit criticisms for improvement to stigmatize Israel."

He adds: "I offer an Al Het for any words or deeds of mine that may have done so."

Al Het is a prayer said on Yom Kippur, the Jewish Day of Atonement. It signifies a plea for forgiveness.

Carter has been criticized by some in the Jewish community who contend his 2006 book "Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid" unfairly compared Israeli treatment of Arabs in the West Bank and Gaza to the legalized racial oppression that once existed in South Africa.

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The surprise decision of Pope Benedict XVI to move Pope Pius XII closer to sainthood has drawn questions and criticism from Jewish leaders.

Pius was one of 17 Catholics found by Benedict on Saturday to have had "heroic virtues" in life. He is now "venerable," and is a candidate for beatification, the step before canonization.

Just what the World War II-era pontiff did and did not do in the face of the Holocaust have long been a source of contention among Catholics and between Catholics and Jews. A joint Vatican-Jewish commission has been studying the historical record -- which led some Jewish leaders to wonder why Benedict took this step now.

"As long as the archives of Pope Pius about the crucial period 1939 to 1945 remain closed, and until a consensus on his actions -- or inaction -- concerning the persecution of millions of Jews in the Holocaust is established, a beatification is inopportune and premature," World Jewish Congress President Ronald S. Lauder said in a statement.

"While it is entirely a matter for the Catholic Church to decide on whom religious honors are bestowed, there are strong concerns about Pope Pius XII's political role during World War II which should not be ignored."

Paddy Agnew describes the contoversy for The Irish Times: "For most of the last 60 years, many Jewish groups have argued that Pius, who was pope from 1939 to 1958, was guilty not only of not publicly condemning Hitler’s Nazi-Fascist regime but also of doing little or nothing to prevent the death of an estimated six million Jews in the Holocaust."

The Jerusalem Post sums up the position of the pontiff's defenders: "Vatican authorities, along with some Catholic and Jewish scholars, have claimed that precisely through his silence, Pius XII was able to work quietly to rescue as many Jews as possible. While he never publicly condemned the Nazi persecutions, many Catholic institutions, and many individual priests and nuns, opened their doors at personal risk to save Jewish lives. Doubtless, the pope was informed of this; the as yet unanswered question is whether he had given orders for this activity."

Agnew rounds up more reaction:

Pope Benedict’s announcement prompted immediate criticism from the worldwide Jewish community. In Italy, the president of the Association of Italian Rabbis, Giuseppe Laras, said the decision “is a sad one because I cannot help but think of what happened during the Shoah. The figure of this pope is a controversial one because he did not shout out loud his outrage and his opposition to the Shoah and against the extermination of people whose only crime was that of being Jewish.”

Continue reading "'Heroic virtues' decree for Pius draws criticism" »

Posted by Matthew Hay Brown at 11:37 AM | Permalink | Comments (7)
        

Polish police found the infamous "Arbeit Macht Frei" sign that was stolen from the gate of the former Nazi death camp of Auschwitz after an intensive three-day hunt and arrested five suspects, police told the Associated Press early Monday. The sign was found cut into three pieces.

Police spokeswoman Katarzyna Padlo said the sign was found Sunday night in northern Poland, the other end of the country from the southern Polish town where the Auschwitz memorial museum is located and where it disappeared before dawn Friday.

Padlo said police detained five men between the ages of 25 and 39 and took them for questioning to Krakow, which is the regional command of the area that includes the Auschwitz museum.

Another police spokesman, Dariusz Nowak, said the 16-foot sign, made of hollow steel, was found cut into three pieces, each containing one of the words. The cruelly ironic phrase means "Work Sets You Free" and ran completely counter to the purpose of Auschwitz, which began as a concentration camp for political prisoners during the Nazi occupation of Poland and evolved into an extermination camp where Jews were gassed to death in factory-like fashion.

Posted by Matthew Hay Brown at 5:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
        

Pope Benedict XVI has moved Pope John Paul II one step closer to possible beatification, the milestone before sainthood, the Associated Press reports from the Vatican.

Benedict on Saturday approved a decree attesting to John Paul's heroic virtues, the AP reports. Benedict still must sign off on a miracle attributed to John Paul's intercession before the late pope can be beatified. There are several possible candidates, most prominently a French nun who says she was cured of Parkinson's disease with the help of the late pontiff.

Benedict put his predecessor on the fast track for sainthood just weeks after his April 2, 2005 death, waiving the customary five-year waiting period and allowing the investigation into John Paul's virtues to begin immediately.

More controversially, Benedict also approved a decree on the heroic virtues of Pope Pius XII, despite opposition from Jews who say the World War II-era pope didn't do enough to stop the Holocaust.

Posted by Matthew Hay Brown at 7:58 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)
        

The Nazis' infamous iron sign declaring "Arbeit Macht Frei" — German for "Work Sets You Free" — was stolen Friday from the entrance of the former Auschwitz death camp, the Associated Press reports.

The 16-foot-long, 90-lb. iron sign at the Holocaust memorial site in southern Poland was unscrewed on one side and torn off on the other, police spokeswoman Katarzyna Padlo said.

The theft from the entrance to the camp -- where more than 1 million people, mostly Jews, died during World War II -- brought immediate condemnation worldwide.

"The theft of such a symbolic object is an attack on the memory of the Holocaust, and an escalation from those elements that would like to return us to darker days," Yad Vashem Chairman Avner Shalev said in a statement from Jerusalem.

"I call on all enlightened forces in the world who fight against anti-Semitism, racism, xenophobia and the hatred of the other, to join together to combat these trends."

AP photo

Posted by Matthew Hay Brown at 9:48 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
        

Congregation Beth Simchat Torah of New York, which bills itself as the world's largest synagogue for people of all sexual orientations and gender identities, announced on Tuesday that its Senior Rabbi, Sharon Kleinbaum, had accepted an invitation from President and Mrs. Obama to attend the White House Hanukkah reception on Wednesday.

"I am delighted to represent the gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgendered and queer communities at the White House in celebrating this holiday of freedom and liberation with President and Mrs. Obama,” Kleinbaum said in a statement. "The lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer community knows what it is to fight for equality and freedom and we are looking to President Obama to exercise leadership in this struggle. I am honored to be included and look forward to inviting the President and Mrs. Obama to CBST.”

In a release, Congregation Beth Simchat Torah said it is “committed to the idea that gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender Jews are wholly legitimate members of the Jewish people, are equally legitimate members of civil society, and have a unique and essential contribution to make to the life of Judaism and society. It is this commitment to social justice and gender equality that has also attracted straight and even non-Jewish adults to our community.”

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With the Senate working on the healthcare overhaul, Sen. Benjamin L. Cardin enlisted a group of liberal faith leaders Tuesday to discuss what he called the “moral imperative” of providing coverage to every American.

“We are fortunate to live in the wealthiest nation in the world that has been a beacon of hope and human rights for millions,” the Maryland Democrat said. “Our objective in health care reform is to bring down escalating costs; provide affordable, quality health care for every American; and to do so in a fiscally responsible way. But America is the only industrialized nation in the world that does not provide health care to its citizens. The leader of the free world should provide universal health coverage to every American. This is a moral imperative and that’s what this bill does.”

“Our traditions demand better,” said Rabbi Saperstein, director of the Religious Action Center for Reform Judaism. “Our nation seeks better. God's children deserve better. This Congress can do better. Dr. King’s call of the fierce urgency of now should animate the decisions each senator will make in ensuring universal health coverage. We pray and advocate that they will do better – for all Americans and for our nation’s future.”

“Authentic health care reform has been delayed by insurance companies seeking to protect vast profits and grotesquely inflated executive salaries,” said James Winkler, General Secretary of United Methodist Church. “Health care is a human right. It cannot and should not be denied in favor of profit. Now is the moment of decision. Now is the time for moral courage in the face of money and power.”

“We call on our representatives solve the immoral situation in our country where people go without health insurance,” said Sister Simone Campbell, Executive Director of NETWORK, A National Catholic Social Justice Lobby. “This is a faith and civic challenge: we need accessible, quality, affordable healthcare for all.”

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A top Israeli rabbi invoked the Holocaust on Monday as he deplored an arson attack against a mosque in the occupied West Bank blamed on hardline Jewish settlers, Agence France-Presse reports.

"Seventy years ago, the Holocaust, the biggest tragedy of our history, began with the torchings of synagogues during Kristallnacht," Yona Metzger, the Ashkenazi chief rabbi of Israel, said as he stood in front of the mosque in this village in the northern West Bank.

Kristallnacht, the night of broken glass, was the 1938 pogrom during which Germans ransacked synagogues and Jewish-owned businesses.

Metzger had come to Yasuf to protest against the vandalism of the village mosque on Friday, when assailants, suspected to be hardline settlers angry over a temporary moratorium on settlement construction, sprayed hate messages in Hebrew and burned Korans, AFP reports.

He expressed hope that his visit would help to ease tensions. But as he spoke, protected by Palestinian police forces, AFP reports, dozens of protesters blocked the entrance to the mosque, chanting "No peace with settlements."

Read the rest of the story by Agence France-Presse.

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Dozens of people led by an Orthodox priest smashed a menorah in Moldova's capital on Sunday, using hammers and iron bars to remove the candelabra during Hanukkah, the Associated Press reports.

The five-foot-tall ceremonial candelabrum was retrieved, reinstalled and is now under police guard, according to the AP.

Police said they were investigating the Sunday attack but there was no official reaction from Moldova's Orthodox Church, which is part of the Russian Orthodox Church and counts 70 percent of Moldovans as members.

The Jewish community was thriving before World War II but there are now estimated to be just 12,000 Jews in the former Soviet Republic. Twenty years ago there were 66,000 Jews. Many emigrated to Israel.

The national government said in a statement that "hatred, intolerance and xenophobia" are unacceptable. The U.S. Embassy and the Chisinau city government also condemned the attack. City officials called on the church to investigate.

Jewish leader Alexandr Bilinkis called on the Orthodox Church to take a position over the priest's actions. The head of the church, Bishop Vladimir Cantarean, was at his mother's funeral in Ukraine on Monday and was expected to make a statement when he returns, the church said.

Posted by Matthew Hay Brown at 5:30 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
        

Chabad Lubavitch will celebrate Hanukkah on Monday with a parade of cars carrying menorahs and playing music.

The procession, which is set to include a fire truck, a mitzvah tank and more than 70 cars, leaves from Rambam Yeshiva, across the street from Baltimore’s famed Hanukkah House. The private residence, which for decades has attracted visitors with lights, placards and decorated figurines during the holiday, has been put up for sale.

The parade leaves Rambam Yeshiva at 6:30 p.m. and winds through Park Heights toward the Festival at Woodholme Shopping Center on Reisterstown Road, where a storefront houses Chabad’s Hanukkah Wonderland.

Organizers suggest the Atrium on Smith Avenue, where the procession is expected to pass at about 7 p.m., as a good vantage point.

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A judge has ordered a Chicago man against taking his daughter to church, CBS station WBBM-TV reports.

The unusual restraining order was issued Friday after Joseph Reyes, 35, had his daughter baptized in a Catholic church and sent his estranged wife a picture of the ceremony, the station reports. The order bars Reyes from taking their child to any house of worship that is not Jewish.

Rebecca Reyes says her soon-to-be ex-husband had agreed to raise their daughter Jewish, the station reports. Joseph Reyes says Rebecca Reyes is “mistaken regarding that conversation.”

In her petition for the temporary restraining order, the station reports, Rebecca Reyes says raising their daughter in any faith other than Judaism will cause the child irreparable harm.

Joseph Reyes' divorce attorney told the station he “almost fell off [his] chair” when he read the petition.

"I thought maybe we were in Afghanistan and this was the Taliban,” attorney Joel Brodsky said. “This is America. We have a First Amendment right of freedom of religion."

Brodsky says he will appeal the order, the station reports.

The restraining order asks the judge to bar Joseph from taking his daughter to church. According to the petition, failure to restrain him will "continue to the emotional detriment of the child."

Rebecca and her attorneys declined to go on camera but they did release the following statement: "We stand by our petition. We feel the judge will do whatever is best for the child."

Read the rest of the story here.

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Israel's justice minister called this week for Jewish law to become binding in Israel, causing a stir that has cut to the heart of the country's simmering secular-religious divide, the Associated Press is reporting.

Yaakov Neeman's office tried to contain the uproar Tuesday by saying his words were taken out of context and that he had no intention of replacing Israel's current legal system, the AP reports. But his comments touched a raw nerve among secular Israelis wary of what they consider to be religious coercion by the Orthodox Jewish minority.

From the story:

Neeman, an observant Jew, told a rabbinical conference on Monday that the Bible contains "a complete solution to all the things we are dealing with."

"Step by step we will bestow religious law upon the citizens of Israel and transform religious law into the binding law of the state," he said. Israeli newspapers said the rabbis attending the conference applauded him wildly, but some lawmakers later attacked his remarks as antidemocratic.

Secular Jews make up about 80 percent of the Jewish population. While many participate in some religious observances, only the Orthodox adhere to Judaism's strict regimen of rules, including praying three times a day and not driving on the Sabbath.

Opposition lawmaker Haim Oron warned of a "troubling process of Talibanization" in Israel.

In the wake of the commotion, Neeman's office put out a statement Tuesday saying he spoke only "in broad terms" about "the importance of Jewish law in the life of the state."

The minister's remarks did not imply "a call to replace state laws with religious laws, either directly or indirectly," the statement said.

Read the Associated Press story.

Posted by Matthew Hay Brown at 10:22 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
        

Maher Kharma is president of the Islamic Society of Annapolis.

Living in America, people came to realize one great thing that entices them to favor life in America over other places: the prevalence of the law of the land. When many countries around the world suffer corruption, bribery, inefficiency, the citizens of union see the super power of the law to be a protective gatekeeper of their rights, and a source of guidance that they can use when they go around taking care of their earthly business.

The dialogue that has erupted following the rise of the billboards carrying the statement “Are you good without God? Millions are,” has led many to think about the role that religion plays in our lives, and even to think if faith has a role in it. In looking back at the three Abrahamic religions, many commonalities arise: the claim of the followers that those religions are divine, moral-based systems, and a vehicle that followers are to use in order to secure peace of mind after death.

In recalling a recent discussion with a friend, he spoke about the days when people had to travel across the country without using maps or GPS systems. Thousands of miles of roads lay ahead of a traveler, from which one has to choose the one correct direction. Now, thanks to available technology, traveling has become much more convenient as it is no more a hit-or-miss kind of an experience. In the same manner, religions are intended to provide a road map for life. While humans do not land on earth with a manual, the manufacturer of humans provided the holy books to assure success and continuity of humankind in best possible format.

In attempting to encompass what religions provide humanity, it appears that much of known faith-based scriptures are intended to act as a platform for clarifying the rights of people on one another, obligations and responsibilities towards others, towards their wealth, life, intellect, as well as towards the most sacred resource humanity has, environment.

Continue reading "Guest post: God or no God" »

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The Baltimore Hebrew Institute, the successor to Baltimore Hebrew University established this year at Towson University, is introducing itself to the greater community on Sunday with a lecture on the Dead Sea Scrolls.

Lawrence H. Schiffman, chairman of the Skirball Department of Hebrew and Judaic Studies at New York University, will present “Decoding Early Judaism: Reflections on the Contributions of Dr. Joseph Baumgarten” at 4 p.m. Sunday in Room 4110 of the new liberal arts building atTowson. The event is free and open to the public.

Baumgarten, a scholar at Baltimore Hebrew College and rabbi at Bnai Jacob Congregation, wrote extensively on the Dead Sea Scrolls. More than 800 texts were found in caves on the northwest shore of the Dead Sea during the 1940s and ’50s. Dating from the second century B.C. through the first century A.D., the scrolls include the oldest known remnants of the Old Testament, along with previously unknown psalms, commentaries and other writings.

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Rabbi Yaakov Menken is the Director of Project Genesis, a Jewish cyber-outreach organization based in Baltimore.

Nofrat Frenkel made the news two weeks ago -- by getting herself arrested. In violation of an Israeli court order, she took out a Torah scroll in the area of the Western Wall consecrated for women's prayer, and prepared to read it.

Why is such an apparently benign, religious act against the law, worthy of arrest? When it isn't a religious act at all, but rather a political one, aimed to disrupt the prayers of those around her and to confront them with her agenda.

Frenkel begins her essay by speaking movingly, poetically, about the fervent religious sentiment of those praying at the Western Wall. She presents her case as if her wish were merely to join them. "The atmosphere at the Kotel, the feeling that all those women praying around me were also turning to G-d and pouring out their hearts to Him, inspires me with the joy of Jewish fraternity. Here is one place in which, shoulder to shoulder, all the hearts are calling to G-d."

Eventually, though, she exposes her true colors. "The Kotel," she writes, "is not a Haredi synagogue, and the Women of the Wall will not allow it to become such" [emphasis added]. In other words, she was not there to join sincere and pious women in universal Jewish fraternity, but to participate in a tiny group whose goal was to confront those sincere and pious women with their political message, and to deny them their place of traditional worship. She demonstrates a complete lack of the very "tolerance" for which she begs -- and inverts every relevant fact in order to make her argument.

Continue reading "Guest Post: The right to disrupt your prayers" »

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The Baltimore Jewish Council, the advocacy arm of The Associated: Jewish Community Federation of Greater Baltimore, has issued a Thanksgiving message of gratitiude for the state's leaders:

"In the days leading up to Thanksgiving, we reflect on these difficult times, and give thanks for all that we have. In doing so, we ask you to take a moment to thank Governor Martin O'Malley and the Board of Public works for all they are doing to protect Maryland's most vulnerable citizens," the council says Tuesday in an action alert to supporters.

"In particular, we want to thank our state's leaders for maintaining current funding levels for the Developmental Disabilities Administration. We also commend them for minimizing budget cuts to the Mental Hygiene Administration."

The council asks supporters to e-mail their thanks to O'Malley and his administration "for making these tough decisions with care and thoughtfulness."

Posted by Matthew Hay Brown at 8:31 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
        

The American Civil Liberties Union, known as a watchdog for the separation of church and state, wants to make sure that prisoners have access to religious material.

In a letter sent last week to the U.S. Department of Justice’s Office of Information and Privacy, the ACLU demanded that the federal Bureau of Prisons release records related to alleged attempts by prison officials to purge religious material from prison chapel libraries.

The demand follows what the ACLU says was an inadequate response by prison officials to a Freedom of Information Act request by a California graduate student writing a thesis on the censorship of religious materials in federal prisons.

According to the ACLU Joshua C. Harris, a master’s degree candidate in religion at Claremont Graduate University, is writing a thesis on the 2007 implementation of the Standardized Chapel Library Project, which authorized BOP officials to purge from prison chapel libraries any material that was not on a list of “acceptable” publications that the libraries could maintain. Among those titles banned at the time, the ACLU says, was Maimonides’ “Code of Jewish Law.”

“The refusal of prison officials to provide a full accounting of their rationale for banning religious material is just the latest example of an ongoing effort to secretly and unconstitutionally censor material they consider to be unacceptable,” David Shapiro, a staff attorney with the ACLU National Prison Project, said in a statement. “To deny prisoners their constitutional right to access religious materials is bad enough. But to attempt to do so in a way that skirts transparency and prevents the public from knowing what they are doing is entirely unacceptable.”

Harris filed a FOIA request in April asking for “any/all documents that detail the reasoning behind, and implementation of” the Standardized Chapel Library Project, according to the ACLU. The prison bureau gave him four documents.

Continue reading "ACLU demands prison records" »

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Categories: Church and State, Education, Judaism
        

As he steps down as moderator of Jewish affairs for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, Cardinal William Keeler has some advice for his successor: Keep your ears open.

“I saw this most recently on a conference call that we had with Jewish and Catholic leaders on the document “Covenant and Mission,” he tells The Baltimore Jewish Times. The statement by the bishops’ Committee for Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs initially characterized interfaith exchange with Jews as an opportunity to proselytize the Jews.

“We agreed that we would change the two sentences from that which were a concern” Keeler tells the Jewish Times. “Put that into historical context and I just have to say that the relationships are superb and that we are making progress all the time.”

Keeler says he told Pope Benedict XVI that Archbishop Timothy Dolan of New York was “the ideal person” to succeed him. He also discusses his appreciation of his faith’s Jewish roots:

I say the Psalms every day and I’m very conscious of their Hebrew authorship. I also think of the Church’s document on the Hebrew Scriptures that was prepared by the present pope and the introduction that he wrote for it is important and something that we live by.

I read every day from this book, “The Liturgy of the Hours,” as all priests are supposed to do. We read Psalms. Not all of them. There are a few that are so angry that they are omitted from the office, which is what we call the book — “The Divine Office of The Office Of Prayer.” It’s a marvelous source. Right now we’re reading from the Second Book of Maccabees.

Read the story at jewishtimes.com.

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Ten area Jewish organizations have received $250,000 in federal homeland security grants, the Baltimore Jewish Council announced.

The Associated: Jewish Community Federation of Baltimore, of which the Baltimore Jewish Council is an agency, will receive $45,000. Talmudical Academy of Baltimore in Pikesville will receive $15,000 and the Jewish Federation of Howard County will receive $2,999.

The rest of the money is to be divided among seven area synagogues: Avodas Yisroel Machzikei Torah, Beit Yaakov Congregation, Har Sinai Congregation, Ohr Hamizrach Congregation, Shaarei Tfiloh Congregation, Shearith Israel Congregation and Bnos Yisroel of Baltimore.

"Keeping our community safe is a critical part of the work done by the Baltimore Jewish Council," Jimmy Berg, chairman of the Associated board, said in a statement. " Maryland was the first state in the nation to provide federal funds to enhance security at Jewish institutions. The Baltimore Jewish Council continues to advise and lobby state and federal officials about the security concerns of our community's synagogues, schools and other organizations."

Posted by Matthew Hay Brown at 11:22 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
        

The Baltimore Jewish Times this week has a couple of stories interesting both in and of themselves and in juxtaposition.

The first reports that the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has filed a federal lawsuit on behalf two Baltimore-area brothers alleging anti-Semitism in the workplace. Scott and Joey Jacobson say they were physically and verbally harassed because of their religion. According to The Jewish Times, they were subjected to such slurs as “dirty Jew,” “stupid Jew,” “f—-ing Jew” and “dumb Jew.”

In addition, The Jewish Times reports, Scott Jacobson said a red swastika was taped to his vehicle, water was poured on him, and he was forced into a dumpster and tied to a fence. He was also shot at with a BB gun. The Jacobsons said their supervisors failed to correct the “hostile” workplace climate.

The lawsuit names Conn-X LLC, a Florida cable corporation with an office in Edgewood, and the Houston-based Administaff Inc. as defendants.

The second story announces that two area men, one of them a former Baltimore County police supervisor, have formed a security firm that specializes in safeguarding synagogues and Jewish gatherings.

Defender One founders Jon Krieger and Scott Wendell, both members of Beth El Congregation, plan to use active and retired police officers from area departments for the security details.

Continue reading "Anti-Semitism and synagogue security" »

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The Los Angeles office of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, an outfit best known for calling attention to attacks on Muslims in the United States, has condemned the shooting of two worshippers Thursday morning at a North Hollywood synagogue.

“We condemn this attack near the Adat Yeshurun Valley Sephardic Orthodox synagogue in the strongest possible terms and offer our prayers for the victims and their families,” CAIR-LA Executive Director Hussam Ayloush said in a statement.

“No worshiper -- whether Jewish, Muslim, Christian, Buddhist, Sikh, or other -- should be made to feel unsafe or intimidated at a house of worship. We also appreciate the LAPD’s investigation and enhanced security in response to the attack.”

The two victims, each of whom was shot in the leg, were in good condition at local hospitals, according to Baltimore Sun sister The Los Angeles Times. Los Angeles Police are investigating the shooting as a hate crime.

The Times describes Adat Yeshurun as “the heart of the San Fernando Valley's Orthodox Jewish community,” within walking distance of kosher markets and other synagogues. Los Angeles police have alerted area synagogues about the shooting and stepped up patrols outside Jewish institutions, The Times reports.

Read more on the shooting at latimes.com.

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The Vatican began talks on Monday with the Society of St. Pius X, the traditionalist faction whose leaders were excommunicated 20 years ago after consecrating their own bishops without the consent of Pope John Paul II.

The effort got off to a rough start earlier this year when one of the four bishops whose excommunication was lifted by Pope Benedict XVI turned out to be a Holocaust denier. There have been conflicting reports about whether the Vatican was aware of comments by British Bishop Richard Williamson, who told Swedish television last year that the evidence was “hugely against 6 million Jews having been deliberately gassed” by the Nazis during World War II.

In any event, negotiations are expected to take years, the Associated Press reports.

"In the best case, humanly speaking, we have several years of discussions ahead of us," the society's delegation leader, Bishop Alfonso de Galarreta, said in a recent interview posted on the society's Web site. De Galarreta is one of the other bishops whose excommunication was rescinded in January.

The AP has a useful summary of the split between the church and the Society of St. Puis X, also known as Lefebvrists, after founding Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre:

Lefebvre founded the society in 1969, opposed to Vatican II's reforms, which included outreach to Jews and other Christians and the celebration of Mass in the vernacular rather than Latin.

The society's opposition to Vatican II, particularly its teachings on ecumenism and religious freedom, remains at the heart of the dispute with Rome and is the focus of the talks beginning Monday with officials from the Vatican's Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.

Benedict has for two decades tried to bring the society back into the Vatican's fold, first as head of the doctrine office and later as pope — part of his aim of uniting the church and putting a highly conservative stamp on it. ...

In the case of the society, Benedict has risked relations with Jews and liberal Catholic alike to reintegrate Lefebvre's followers even after it emerged that one of the society's four bishops denied the full extent of the Holocaust.

Read the rest of the AP story.

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American Jews who have participated in a 10-year-old program that provides a free trip to Israel have a strengthened connection to the Jewish state, a greater sense of belonging to the Jewish people and an increased interest in building Jewish families, according to a study at Brandeis University.

The study released on Monday by the Cohen Center for Modern Jewish Studies at Brandeis sought to document the impact on participants of the Taglit-Birthright Israel experience, which has granted a free, 10-day trip to 220,000 Jews aged 18 to 26 since 2000. It was co-sponsored by Taglit-Birthright Israel.

“In ten short years, Taglit-Birthright Israel has inspired a generation of young Jews to reconnect with Israel and the Jewish community,” said Gidi Mark, CEO of Taglit-Birthright Israel. “With tens of thousands on our waiting list, we are well on our way to establishing an educational trip to Israel as a rite of passage in the Jewish life cycle. That’s going to be the story of our second decade.”

Among key findings:

● Forty-five percent of participants felt the trip was “very much” and 28 percent "somewhat" a life-changing experience

● Participants were 23 percent more likely than non-participants to report feeling “very much” connected to Israel.

● Participants were 24 percent more likely than non-participants to “strongly agree” with the statement, “I have a strong sense of connection to the Jewish people.”

● Married, non-Orthodox participants were 57 percent more likely to be married to a Jew than non-Orthodox non-participants.

● Participants were 30 percent more likely than non-participants to view raising Jewish children as “very important.”

Read the study at brandeis.edu.

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More interesting, perhaps, then the fact that Houda Ezra Ebrahim Nonoo is the first Jewish ambassador from the Persian Gulf state of Bahrain is that the 45-year-old diplomat rose to her post despite being one of only three dozen Jews in the Arab nation.

The Baltimore Jewish Times has a story about Nonoo’s visit this month with a group of Baltimoreans visiting Washington as part of the Jewish Muslim Dialogue coordinated by the Baltimore Jewish Council.

“We have a visible Jewish community in that we have 36 people and we are all related,” said the British-educated Nonoo, the Bahraini ambassador to the United States.

She says her family’s history in Bahrain goes back more than a century, when her grandfather arrived from Iraqi to start a financial business. She described a climate of relative harmony among Jews and Muslims.

“During the festivals, we go to each others houses and our non-Jewish friends come to wish l’shanah tova,” she said. “We wish them well and visit their houses on the Muslim Eid Festival, too.”

Bahrain does not recognize the State of Israel. Nonoo says her country’s role in resolving the conflict is limited.

“We are inviting Israeli journalists to Bahrain, but being a small country we can’t take that first step of making peace,” she said. “It’s going to take a long time.”

Read the rest of the story at jewishtimes.com.

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Over at Read Street, the Baltimore Sun books blog, they're giving away a copy of The Book of Genesis Illustrated by R. Crumb.

The jacket copy describes the anatomically comprehensive work by the underground comic artist as "THE FIRST BOOK OF THE BIBLE GRAPHICALLY DEPICTED! NOTHING LEFT OUT!" And there's a warning on the cover: "ADULT SUPERVISION RECOMMENDED FOR MINORS."

Sun colleague Nancy Johnston says: "It's gorgeous, graphic and much more seriously handled than you might expect from the irreverent Crumb." Details on how to win are at Read Street.

Posted by Matthew Hay Brown at 12:43 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Christianity, Culture, Interfaith, Islam, Judaism, People
        

A multi-year study hosted by the University of Maryland and including several area groups concludes that faith-based organizations can better weather an economic downturn by building stronger ties with the ministries the congregations that support them.

From a release issued on Thursday:

Particularly during an economic downturn, faith-based organizations tied only to one or two congregations, especially if those were not thriving congregations, had the most trouble raising resources and some shut down. While single-congregation support of a program might be considered more authentic, faith-based organizations supported by a wider umbrella or an interfaith base fared better.

“We compared everything from small food pantries directly connected to a congregation to national hospital systems and their local affiliated hospitals,” said Maryland Associate Professor Jo Anne Schneider, who led the project. “Congregation-focused models work well for mainline Protestants, Quakers and African American churches, but only if several congregations provide support or the sponsoring congregation is sufficiently active with enough resources to support the nonprofit. Jewish and Catholic systems rely on their communities as a whole with the Jewish Federation, Archdiocese, or Order providing centralized support. Some thriving evangelical organizations rely on networks with no formal connections to congregations.”

Other key findings of the report, entitled “Faith and Organization Project: Maintaining Vital Between Faith Communities and their Organizations:”

* A new breed of evangelical organizations has emerged with a different understanding about how to develop an organization to do a specific mission that is firmly based in a particular set of beliefs but that focuses on personal relationships to provide services rather than sharing their faith as a means to improve the lives of those served.

Continue reading "UMD study stresses ties for faith-based ministries" »

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Rabbi Yaakov Menken is the Director of Project Genesis, a Jewish cyber-outreach organization based in Baltimore.

I am honored that Professor David Neipert, one of the faculty members who initiated the EEOC complaint against Belmont Abbey College, saw fit to respond to my earlier article on this topic. Given his personal involvement in this case, it is obvious that he begins with a far greater knowledge of its particulars, and I appreciate his sharing his perspective of the facts.

Here are the key points that he has made, to the best of my understanding:

1. The status of Belmont Abbey College as a religious institution is questionable. This is buttressed by the fact that the college "advertised itself as an equal opportunity employer and freely accepted funding that was not available to religious institutions." Additionally, the majority of its faculty, staff, students, and alumni are not Catholic.

2. The college offered coverage for these services for 26 years, "indicating that this was a change of a deliberate policy." It was then done immediately, unilaterally, and without discussion, and the college refused to negotiate.

3. It is not the eight faculty members, but the school, that is attacking religious freedom. "Forcing us to abide by a Catholic approved health plan makes no more sense than prohibiting a Catholic plumber from eating a Pork sandwich for lunch if he works at a Jewish hospital." Professor Neipert was assured that he would "not be expected to adopt Catholic practices and that not being Catholic would not affect my career in any way."

Let us address each of these in turn.

Continue reading "Guest post: Belmont Abbey, continued" »

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On the eve of an event honoring local veterans of the Israel Defense Forces, the Baltimore Jewish Times has an interesting feature profiling five local men who served.

Shlomo Cohen, 58, speaks of capturing mountaintops in Syria during the 1973 Yom Kippur War. Uzi Merles, 32, recalls the absurdity of stopping respectful older Palestinains at checkpoints while watching others in the distance using trails to slip into the towns.

Michael Field, 48, concluded from his service that Israel has no choice but to find a way to make peace with the Palestinians, because the only way to win the conflict would be to commit genocide.

The Maryland Chapter of Friends of the Israel Defense Forces will honor local veterans at 6 p.m. Thursday at Chizuk Amuno Congregation in Stevenson. Former Ambassador John Bolton will speak; tickets are required. More information is available by calling 410-486-0004 or e-mailing Charlie.levine@israelsoldiers.org.

Read more at jewishtimes.com.

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We were going to post the video in which Sarah Silverman proposes that the pope solve world hunger by selling the Vatican. Then we watched it.

There's a question of taste.

Still, the video is interesting in part for the thoughtful reaction it has provoked from the Rev. James Martin over at America magazine. We can excerpt from an Associated Press story that summarizes both the video and the response:

In a new profanity-laced monologue making the rounds on YouTube in time for U.N. World Food Day on Friday, Silverman suggests that it's time for the pope to "move out of your house that is a city" and use the proceeds to feed the world's poor.

"On an ego level alone you will be the biggest hero in the history of ever!" she exclaimed. "Sell the Vatican. Feed the world."

The Vatican clearly has no plans to follow suit. On Thursday, a spokesman declined to comment. But the Catholic League, the U.S. Catholic civil rights organization, denounced Silverman and cable broadcaster HBO for her "obscene" and "filthy diatribe."

Continue reading "Silverman to church: Sell Vatican, feed the world" »

Posted by Matthew Hay Brown at 11:20 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)
        

Rabbi Yaakov Menken is the Director of Project Genesis, a Jewish cyber-outreach organization based in Baltimore.

Belmont Abbey College is a small Catholic liberal arts college in North Carolina, serving nearly 1500 students. It was founded in 1876 by the monks of the Belmont Abbey, a monastery of the Benedictine Order. The school mission is "to educate students in the liberal arts and sciences so that in all things G-d may be glorified." It is, without question, a religious institution, guided by the dictates of the Roman Catholic Church.

In 2007, the College discovered that its employee health benefits plan inadvertently included coverage for abortion, contraception, and voluntary sterilization. The college president, William Thierfelder, immediately altered the plan, declaring that the school "is not able to and will not offer nor subsidize medical services that contradict the clear teaching of the Catholic Church." And at that point, several members of the faculty went running to the EEOC, charging "discrimination."

If you think that government agencies take the First Amendment seriously, you should pay close attention to this case. In March, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission dismissed the charge, stating that it was "unable to conclude" that the statutes had been violated. But then, in July, the District Director of the EEOC reversed course, and claimed that Belmont Abbey is discriminating against its employees. Why? The following is an unaltered quote: "By denying prescription contraceptive drugs, Respondent is discriminating based on gender because only females take oral contraceptives. By denying coverage, men are not affected, only women."

It is somewhat bizarre that the EEOC did not similarly refer to the lack of abortion coverage as "discrimination," since it is equally true that only females obtain abortions. But this is the least of the evidence that this is little more than an attack on religious freedom, using whatever spurious reasons might be found.

Continue reading "Guest post: Watch this case" »

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Rabbi Jon Konheim will step down as spiritual leader of Beth Am Synagogue next year after eight years with the Conservative Jewish congregation and 41 years as a pulpit rabbi, he announced in a letter on Wednesday.

Beth Am will launch a nationwide search to find a successor. Below is Konheim's letter, followed by another from executive board member Julian L. Lapides to the congregation.

October 14, 2009

Dear friends,

You and I will be undergoing a transition and transitions are filled with challenges. As of July 1, 2010 I will become Rabbi Emeritus of Beth Am.

I have been continuously in the pulpit since my first student position 1969. Forty-one years as a pulpit rabbi are a long time. They have been rewarding, and fulfilling, but time and the profession have taken their toll. I have been slowing down and there are medical issues that concern me. I have worked out the transition with Beth Am’s leadership and they have been supportive and more than generous. Should this year’s search not produce a successor who fits your needs I will try to do whatever is asked of me. It is important that your new Rabbi find a fully functioning congregation.

Continue reading "Konheim stepping down at Beth Am" »

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Rabbi Mark G. Loeb, who was spiritual leader of Beth El Congregation in Pikesville for 28 years until his retirement last year, died suddenly Wednesday evening in Milan, Italy, where he was serving a congregation as an interim rabbi. Further details were not available. He was 65.

Known both within and beyond the local Jewish community for a powerful and wide-ranging intellect, Loeb was deeply engaged in public affairs, from activism for civil rights in the 1960s to service on the gubernatorial commission last year that recommended the abolition of the death penalty. He was national president of MAZON: A Jewish Response to Hunger, chaired the board of Baltimore Hebrew University and promoted interfaith dialogue as a co-founder of the Institute for Christian & Jewish Studies.

"Rabbi Loeb's life and good works were an inspiration both to his own congregation, and to our entire state," Gov. Martin O'Malley said Thursday. "He spent his time on this earth living the timeless Talmudic notion that 'the highest form of wisdom is kindness,' always standing up for our most vulnerable citizens, always fighting for social justice, always pursuing Tikkun Olam, repair of the world."

Read the rest of the story at baltimoresun.com.

Posted by Matthew Hay Brown at 10:45 AM | Permalink | Comments (10)
        

Israel's foreign minister declared Thursday that there is no chance of reaching a final accord with the Palestinians any time soon, and suggested instead that the two sides come up with a long-term interim arrangement that would ensure prosperity, security and stability, the Associated Press is reporting.

Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman recommended leaving the toughest issues — such as the status of disputed Jerusalem and a solution for Palestinian refugees who lost homes amid war — "to a much later stage." He did not elaborate or give a timeline.

"Anyone who says that within the next few years an agreement can be reached ending the conflict ... simply doesn't understand the situation and spreads delusions, ultimately leading to disappointments and an all-out confrontation here," Lieberman told Israel Radio.

Other conflicts have been defused with the sides making a "dramatic decision" to renounce violence and enter into a period of calm that would allow an accord, Lieberman said.

"People have learned to live with it," he said.

Read the Associated Press report here.

Posted by Matthew Hay Brown at 10:35 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
        

Is Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad Jewish?

If he is not, The Telegraph reports, the bitter critic of Israel clearly has Jewish roots. So the British newspaper has concluded from a photograph taken last year of Ahmadinejad holding up an identity document that shows that his surname was once Sabourjian, identified as a Jewish name meaning cloth weaver:

The short note scrawled on the card suggests his family changed its name to Ahmadinejad when they converted to embrace Islam after his birth.

The Sabourjians traditionally hail from Aradan, Mr Ahmadinejad's birthplace, and the name derives from "weaver of the Sabour", the name for the Jewish Tallit shawl in Persia. The name is even on the list of reserved names for Iranian Jews compiled by Iran's Ministry of the Interior.

Ahmadinejad has denied the Holocaust and threatened Israel. On his alleged Jewish heritage, the Telegraph quotes Ali Nourizadeh of the Centre for Arab and Iranian Studies as saying "This aspect of Mr Ahmadinejad's background explains a lot about him.

"Every family that converts into a different religion takes a new identity by condemning their old faith," Nourizadeh said.

"By making anti-Israeli statements he is trying to shed any suspicions about his Jewish connections. He feels vulnerable in a radical Shia society."

Nonsense, Meir Javedanfar writes in The Guardian. He quotes two sources as saying that Ahmadinejad's father was in fact a religious Shia who taught the Quran before and after the future president's birth and their move to Tehran, and that Ahmadinejad's mother is a Seyyede, a title given to women who are believed to be direct bloodline descendants of Muhammad.

Continue reading "Iran's Jewish president?" »

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Categories: International, Islam, Judaism, People, Politics
        

The United Nations' refugee agency is planning to include the Holocaust in a new human-rights curriculum for pupils in its Gaza secondary schools despite strident opposition to the idea from within Hamas, The Independent reports.

The director of operations in Gaza for The U.N. Relief and Works Agency told the British newspaper that he was "confident and determined" that the Holocaust would feature for the first time in a wide-ranging curriculum now being drafted.

"No human-rights curriculum is complete without the inclusion of the facts of the Holocaust, and its lessons," said John Ging, described as a "passionate advocate" for Palestinian civilians. More from the story:

The draft, to be completed within weeks and then put out for consultation with parents and the public, is built on the Universal Declaration of Human Rights which was agreed by the UN General Assembly in 1948 in the shadow of what it called the "barbarous acts" committed by the Nazis during the Second World War.

The one-time Irish Army officer has long been an outspoken critic of Israeli policy towards Gaza, including the conduct of last winter's lethal military offensive and what he described more than once in his interview as the "illegal siege".

Mr Ging said the curriculum would explain the genesis, and "inculcate the values" of the Universal Declaration which stipulates that "everyone has the right to life, liberty and security of person". He pointed out that the UN General Assembly in 2005 unanimously urged "all countries to teach the lessons of the Holocaust to children so that we learn from history, so that we don't repeat history".

The Independent quotes religious leader Yunis al Astal, a Hamas member of the Palestinian Legislative Council, as saying that including the Holocaust in the curriculum would be "marketing a lie" and a "war crime."

Read the rest of the story at independent.co.uk.

Posted by Matthew Hay Brown at 8:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)
        

Sun colleague Nick Madigan reveals new allegations against Rabbi Jacob A. Max in Sunday's newspaper. The allegations come from five women who spoke to Madigan after Max was convicted earlier this year of sexually molesting a younger woman at a Reisterstown funeral home.

As Madigan describes it:

The hushed accusations of Max's penchant for groping and fondling - which some women say he accompanied with a smirk and an excuse about his being a "bad rabbi" - appear to have been tolerated without inquiry for decades because of his standing and authority in the tightly knit religious community. Girls who complained to their mothers about his conduct say they were ignored. ...

News of the conviction prompted five other women to share with The Baltimore Sun their own allegations of improper advances by the rabbi. Three contacted a reporter and the remaining two were referred by others. The women said news of the conviction impelled them to come forward because they believe their charges about Max's behavior deserve to be disclosed, no matter how long ago the events occurred. ...

None of the five women had spoken publicly before the criminal case, because, they say, it was understood that members of the modern Orthodox Jewish community - especially young ones - did not divulge errors by its leaders, let alone accuse them of impropriety.

Max's attorney did not make his client available to comment. Attorney David B. Irwin denied any wrongdoing by Max:

"If anyone took a friendly gesture the wrong way, as far as he's concerned, he's sorry," Irwin said. "But he never intentionally molested or inappropriately touched anyone."

Read the rest of the story at baltimoresun.com.

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Robert Barnes has a story on the cover of Tuesday's Washington Post about a World War I memorial cross on federal land in California's Mojave National Preserve that will give the Superme Court under Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. its first major opportunity to interpret the constitutional separation of church and state.

The piece begins:

It would be easy to miss among the yucca and Joshua trees of this vast place -- a small plywood box, set back from a gentle curve in a lonesome desert road. It looks like nothing so much as a miniature billboard without a message.

But inside the box is a 6 1/2 -foot white cross, built to honor the war dead of World War I. And because its perch on a prominent outcropping of rock is on federal land, it has been judged to be an unconstitutional display of government favoritism of one religion over another.

Barnes goes on to describe what's at stake:

If the court reaches the constitutional issues at hand, all sides agree it could provide clarity to the court's blurry rules on church-and-state separations. It could also carry important implications for the fate of war memorials around the country that feature religious imagery -- the Argonne Cross in Arlington National Cemetery, for instance, or the Memorial Peace Cross in Bladensburg.

Defenders of the cross include veterans groups and the federal government. In an effort to protect it, Congress has designated the site as the country's only official memorial to the nation's World War I dead, which, as Barnes points out, elevates it to an exclusive group of national treasures that inlcudes the Washington Monument and Mount Rushmore.

Critics include Jewish and Muslim veterans and the American Civil Liberties Union, which says the congressional action "necessarily will reflect continued government association with the preeminent symbol of Christianity."

Read the story at washingtonpost.com.

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The Institute for Christian & Jewish Studies has announced what look to be several strong programs in October, including a local appearance by the renowned scholar of early Christianity Dr. Paula Fredrikson.

Fredrikson, the author most recently of “Augustine and the Jews: A Christian Defense of Jews and Judaism,” will deliver the 2009 Bernard Manekin Lecture at 7:30 p.m. Oct. 15 at Chizuk Amuno Congregation, 8100 Stevenson Road, Baltimore. Her topic: “God Was Not Odd To Choose the Jews: Augustine on the Jewishness of Jesus.” The event is free and open to the public; those interested in attending are asked to call 410-494-7161 to reserve seats.

Beth El Congregation Senior Rabbi Steven Schwartz and Dr. Christopher Leighton, executive director of the Institute of Christian & Jewish Studies, will present “Finding God as Jews and Christians” at 8 p.m. Oct. 8 at Beth El Congregation, 8101 Park Heights Ave., Baltimore. Again, free and open to the public; RSVP to 410-484-0411.

A succession of Jewish, Christian and Muslim clergy will present “Children of Abraham in the 21st Century” at 7 p.m. Wednesdays in October at St. James Episcopal Church, 1020 W. Lafayette Ave., Baltimore. According to the Institute’s Web site, Schwartz, Dr. Rosann M. Catalano and Imam Sulayman Nyang will discuss “what makes us more similar than different.”

Dinner, at a cost of $5, is served at 6 p.m.; lectures begin at 7 p.m. RSVP with the St. James Episcopal Church office at 410-523-4588.

Posted by Matthew Hay Brown at 7:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
        

With the death of Michael Jackson, estranged former confidant Rabbi Shmuley Boteach has revived a long-dormant book project based on 30 hours of interviews with the reclusive pop star, the Associated Press is reporting.

This strikes us as awkward.

The author of such self-help books as “Kosher Sex” and “Shalom in the Home,” the Orthodox Jewish Boteach was introduced to Jackson in 1999 and remained close with him until Jackson’s 2003 arrest on charges of molesting a child.

The interviews date from 2000 and 2001, according to the AP, when Jackson and Boteach agreed a book would help to improve Jackson’s public image. The AP says Boteach soured on the project after Jackson failed to adhere to the recovery programs they had worked out, including waking up at a decent hour and not being alone with children other than Jackson's own three children.

The AP reports that the tapes, on which Jackson talks about being beaten by his father, self-consciousness about his appearance and a desire to disappear rather than grow old, sound at times like therapy sessions.

Their posthumous release by a clergyman doubling as confidant and collaborator seems problematic, or at least potentially so. Jackson apparently submitted to – may have initiated – the interviews in the expectation that they would lead to a book.

But it sounds as if the men dropped the project years before Jackson’s death. Given their fallout, one wonders if Jackson would have wanted the opportunity to invoke clergy-communicant confidentiality before it was picked up again.

Posted by Matthew Hay Brown at 4:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)
        

A Swedish television program airing Wednesday claims that top Vatican officials knew that Bishop Richard Williamson was a Holocaust denier when they lifted his excommunication in January, the Associated Press is reporting.

The report comes on the eve of reconciliation talks between the Vatican and the traditionalist Society of St. Pius X, whose leaders were excommunicated in 1988 after they consecrated Williamson and three other priests as bishops in defiance of Pope John Paul II.

Pope Benedict XVI has made a priority of reconciling with the society, whose members seek a return to the church as it was before the Second Vatican Council. But the effort provoked a furor in January when Sweden’s SVT aired an interview taped in November 2008 in which Williamson denied key elements of the Holocaust. The British bishop disputed the commonly cited figure of 6 million Jews killed by the Nazis during World War II, saying the actual number was no more than 300,000, and said none were gassed.

Vatican officials have said they were unaware of Williamson’s beliefs when his excommunication was rescinded in January. But SVT says Catholic officials in Sweden knew of his remarks in the interview in November and made a full report to the apostolic nuncio in Stockholm, the representative of the Vatican in Sweden, who passed the information on to Rome.

“Naturally we passed all the information that we had on to the nuncio,” Bishop Anders Arborelius of Stockholm told SVT, according to the AP. “After that I don’t really know how it moved along.”

In a statement Wednesday, the AP reports, the diocese reiterated that it had sent a report about the interview to the Vatican last November. The SVT program says the nuncio, Archbishop Emil Paul Tscherrig, confirmed off-camera that he had contacted several people in the Vatican, including Cardinal Dario Castrillon Hoyos, who was then leading the effort to reconcile with the Society of St. Pius X.

The report contradicts the statement of Castrillon Hoyos, who told the Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera in January that no one at the Vatican knew of Williamson’s beliefs until after his excommunication had been lifted.

Continue reading "Report: Vatican knew of Holocaust denier" »

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Categories: Catholicism, Interfaith, International, Judaism, People, Politics
        

The current issue of the Baltimore Jewish Times has a nicely observed cover story about the murky future facing the Congregation of Israel, a small shul in the Eastern Shore hamlet of Pocomoke City that decided not to hold High Holiday services this year for the first time in its 130-year history. Managing editor Alan H. Feiler writes:

This evening, as the first faint traces of darkness fall on Pocomoke City — a picturesque but economically depressed town about 40 minutes southeast of Salisbury — Congregation of Israel’s humble, 60-year-old building will remain silent, solemn and empty at the start of Rosh Hashanah. Once a community of 20 to 25 Jewish families and considered the epicenter of Eastern Shore Jewry, Pocomoke City today has, at best, only an estimated handful of Jews.

“It’s really sad,” said Pocomoke City Mayor Michael A. McDermott. “A lot of the families had stores here and in other communities around here, and they organized this synagogue. But a lot of the families relocated or their children moved on, so it dried up. Having the synagogue in the city, even if it was lightly used, was unique. It was slowly ebbing away, but there’s a real sense of loss. We’ve lost a part of our heritage.”

Tammy Green and her family first stumbled upon Congregation of Israel while vacationing in Delaware during the High Holidays in 1972, Feiler reports. They have been back every year since.

“We wanted something intimate and different than our synagogue in Bethesda, and it’s become an important part of our lives,” she says. “Back then, there were three families to make sure that everyone had a home to go to for dinner, like an extended family. But the people started to die off. I don’t know what we’ll do this year for the holidays. [Congregation of Israel] is very close to my heart.”

Read the rest of the story at jewishtimes.com.

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Pope Benedict XVI has announced a special meeting of bishops next year to discuss Middle East peace efforts and the role of the Catholic Church in the region, the Associated Press is reporting.

We are reminded of the difficulties this pontiff has had with both Muslims (his decision in a 2006 address to quote a 14th century Byzantine emperor critical of Islam inspired riots) and Jews (who are wary of his interest in reinstating elements of the pre-Vatican II church), and wonder how receptive the region is likely to be to the Vatican’s counsel.

From the Associated Press:

Addressing bishops and patriarchs from Eastern rite churches, Benedict said Saturday that the meeting will take place Oct. 10-24, 2010, and will be titled "The Catholic Church in the Middle East: communion and testimony."

The meeting of bishops, called a synod, will gather church leaders from the Middle East and around the world.

The pope and the Vatican have long been active on the Middle East diplomatic front, seeking to protect Christians in the Holy Land and elsewhere in the region while supporting efforts to solve the Israel-Palestinian dispute.

Read the Associated Press story here.

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On the eve or Rosh Hashanah, Jewish leaders in the United States are asking rabbis to emphasize the faith's ethical requirements in their sermons in response to recent financial scandals involving its members, the Associated Press is reporting.

Jews have been embarrassed the past year by the arrest of former Wall Street tycoon [Bernie] Madoff, who is serving a 150-year prison sentence for defrauding investors out of billions of dollars, and several rabbis who were arrested in July on money laundering charges, said Richard Joel, president of Yeshiva University in New York.

Widely distributed images showed them being led into the FBI building in Newark in rabbinical garb and handcuffs didn't help.

Locally, Rabbi Jay Kenneth Wagner, the assistant principal at Yeshivat Rambam Maimonides Academy of Baltimore, was indicted this week on charges of stealing more than $13,000 in school checks that he deposited into his own bank account,

"It's troubling," Rabbi Moshe Kletenik, president of the Rabbinical Council of America, which comprises about 1,000 rabbis in the U.S., Canada and Israel, tells AP reporter Victor Epstein. "Ethical living is as significant a part of leading a religious life as ritual law."

Read the rest of the Associated Press story here.

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Rabbi Jay Kenneth Wagner, the assistant principal at Yeshivat Rambam Maimonides Academy of Baltimore, has been indicted on charges of stealing more than $13,000 in school checks that he deposited into his own bank account, Baltimore Sun colleague Julie Bykowicz is reporting.

We are put in mind of a recent guest post by In Good Faith contributor Rabbi Yaakov Menken on the responsibilities of clergy.

Wagner, who worked at the Orthodox Jewish School on Park Heights Avenue until recently, was arrested and released Tuesday after posting a small cash bond, according to court records.

Read the rest of the story at baltimoresun.com.

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The Society of Saint Pius X must respect Judaism, other Christian denominations and other religions before it may be fully reintegrated into the Catholic Church, Reuters is reporting.

On the eve of reconciliation talks with the traditionalist society whose bishops were excommunicated by Pope John Paul II in 1988, Cardinal Christoph Schoenborn of Vienna said these Vatican II reforms were “not negotiable.”

"It's not the case that Rome will let the Lefebvrists off easy for everything," Schoenborn told the German daily Passauer Neue Presse, calling the traditionalists after their founder Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre, Reuters is reporting.

The Vatican appears to be treading carefully after the condemnation that followed the decision of Pope Benedict XVI to rescind the excommunication of Bishop Richard Williamson, a society member who has denied the Holocaust. Benedict later said the Vatican handled the case badly.

Read the rest of the story at reuters.com.

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A week after Rep. Joe Wilson (R-S.C.) shouted “You lie!” at President Barack Obama during Obama’s address to a joint session of Congress, faith leaders will gather in Washington on Tuesday to pray for an “end to hateful rhetoric that creates a toxic environment for immigrant families.”

Participating in the vigil outside the Capitol will be Bishop John Wester of Salt Lake City, who chairs the Committee on Immigration of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops; Bishop Prince Singh of the Episcopal Diocese of Rochester, N.Y.; Bishop Minerva Carcaño of the Desert Southwest Conference of the United Methodist Church and Dale Schwartz of the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society.

They are to be joined by Reps. Luis Gutierrez (D-Ill.) and Jared Polis (D-Colo.).

From the release:

On September 15th and 16th, the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR) – a designated Hate Group by the Southern Poverty Law Center – will be in Washington for their annual lobby day and “radio row,” where an estimated 47 extremist radio talk show hosts will broadcast live from DC. In response to the divisive rhetoric and extreme anti-immigrant agenda of FAIR, leading faith leaders will gather in prayer to recall the humanity and dignity of immigrants, and the need for policies that will uphold our nation’s best values, not its worst instincts.

While we’re on the subject: With his outburst, Wilson was challenging Obama’s assertion that “the reforms I'm proposing would not apply to those who are here illegally.” Was Wilson correct? According to the nonpartisan fact-checking operation Politifact, no.

Continue reading "After 'You lie!' Prayers to end 'hateful rhetoric'" »

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Businessman Bernard Manekin, a former chairman of both the Associated: Jewish Community Federation of Baltimore and the Jewish Community Center of Baltimore and a co-founder of the Institute for Christian and Jewish Studies, died Saturday. He was 95.

Read the obituary at The Baltimore Jewish Times.

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President Barack Obama continued his Ramadan-timed Muslim outreach with a White House dinner on Tuesday. But this time, he invited some prominent Israeli and Jewish leaders to join their Muslim counterparts at the fast-breaking meal called Iftar.

The guest list included Michael Oren, the Israeli ambassador to the United States, Nathan Diament, director of public affairs of the Orthodox Union, and Rabbi David Saperstein, director of the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism.

They joined diplomats from Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Jordan and other Muslim countries and the chief of mission of the Palestine Liberation Organization. Also on hand were Reps. Keith Ellison and Andre Carson, the first Muslims to serve in Congress, and other prominent American Muslims.

"I want to welcome all the American Muslims from many walks of life who are here," Obama said. "This is just one part of our effort to celebrate Ramadan, and continues a long tradition of hosting iftars here at the White House.

"For well over a billion Muslims, Ramadan is a time of intense devotion and reflection. It's a time of service and support for those in need. And it is also a time for family and friends to come together in a celebration of their faith, their communities, and the common humanity that all of us share. It is in that spirit that I welcome each and every one of you to the White House.

"Tonight's iftar is a ritual that is also being carried out this Ramadan at kitchen tables and mosques in all 50 states. Islam, as we know, is part of America. And like the broader American citizenry, the American Muslim community is one of extraordinary dynamism and diversity -- with families that stretch back generations and more recent immigrants; with Muslims of countless races and ethnicities, and with roots in every corner of the world.

"Indeed, the contribution of Muslims to the United States are too long to catalog because Muslims are so interwoven into the fabric of our communities and our country. American Muslims are successful in business and entertainment; in the arts and athletics; in science and in medicine. Above all, they are successful parents, good neighbors, and active citizens.

"So on this occasion, we celebrate the Holy Month of Ramadan, and we also celebrate how much Muslims have enriched America and its culture -- in ways both large and small."

Following is the White House transcript of Obama's remarks.

Continue reading "Obama invites Jewish leaders to Ramadan dinner" »

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This was a good idea for a story, and Nicole Neroulias has done a good job with it. Following the release of “Inglourious Basterds,” Quentin Tarantino’s blood-soaked World War II revenge fantasy, the Religion News Service writer has asked several rabbis whether Judaism would condone the savagery inflicted by the film's Jewish heroes on their Nazi oppressors.

Rabbis and academics point out that Judaism distinguishes between acts of self-defense and vengeance and Jewish law frowns upon torturing an enemy – even Adolf Hitler himself, said Rabbi Joel Roth, a professor at Jewish Theological Seminary in New York.

‘On the other hand, I also understand the human emotion,’ he said. ‘Dispassionately, do you want to see them scalped? No, but you have to consider the context. And, if it's a greater deterrent that would save other people's lives, maybe one could defend it.’

Rabbi Irwin Kula, president of the National Jewish Center for Learning and Leadership, a New York-based Jewish think tank, heralds the film as a long-overdue ‘fun action Jewish-revenge fantasy.’

Roth, meanwhile, wonders about a backlash from depicting Jews as ‘more Goliath than David,’ giving more fodder to those who see Israel as an aggressor and oppressor rather than a haven for survivors of centuries of persecution.

Rabbi Abraham Cooper, associate dean of the Simon Wiesenthal Center, places “Basterds” in what Neroulias calls “an emerging genre of celebrated Jewish resistance, including last year's ‘Defiance,’ about a community of Jews who found refuge in a Belarus forest during the Holocaust, and 2005's ‘Munich,’ about efforts to assassinate Arab terrorists who killed Israeli athletes at the 1972 Olympics.”

Continue reading "Are Tarantino's 'Basterds' kosher?" »

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Over at the Baltimore Jewish Times, editor Neil Rubin has an interesting cover story on the continuing growth of Conservative Judaism in Baltimore, amid a national decline in the movement. As he asks local rabbis to explain this relative success, he reveals a vibrant community, engaged on such issues as same-sex relationships, interfaith marriage and innovations in worship.

Read the report at jewishtimes.com.

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Major Jewish groups and rabbis from the three largest branches of American Judaism say their relationship with Roman Catholic leaders is at risk because of a recent U.S. bishops' statement on salvation, the Associated Press is reporting.

Jewish groups are interpreting the new document to mean that the bishops see interfaith dialogue as an opportunity to invite Jews to become Catholic, AP religion writer Rachel Zoll writes.

In a letter to the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, Jewish leaders say they do not object to Christians sharing their faith, but warn dialogue with Jews becomes "untenable" if its goal is to persuade Jews to accept Christ as their savior. The signers were the Anti-Defamation League, the American Jewish Committee and rabbis representing Orthodox, Conservative and Reform Jews.

"A declaration of this sort is antithetical to the very essence of Jewish-Christian dialogue as we have understood it," they wrote in the letter Thursday.

Their protest is the latest in a series raised by Jewish leaders during the pontificate of Pope Benedict XVI. Jews were angered in 2007 when Benedict endorsed a long marginalized version of the Latin Mass that included a prayer for the conversion of the Jews, and again earlier this year when the Vatican rescinded the excommunication of a Holocaust denier.

Continue reading "Jewish groups: Bishops' statement threatens ties" »

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We had been wanting look at the relationship between Baltimore's Jewish community and Ashkelon, the southern Israeli seaport that it adopted five years ago as a twin city, and we saw our opportunity with the visit of Tal Bouhnik and Liron Menashe, who are now finishing their year representing the Jewish state here in the United States.

The Shinshinim program that brought the two 19-year-olds here is one of several links between Baltimore and Ashkelon. Thousands of Baltimoreans have traveled to Ashkelon in the last five years for cultural exchanges, service projects, business or tourism; hundreds of Ashkelonians have visited Baltimore. The local community has contributed nearly $8 million to the Israeli city, including rapid assistance during the conflict with Gaza in the form of emergency vehicles, workshops for adults under stress and toys for children in shelters.

Read the rest of the story at baltimoresun.com.

Barbara Haddock Taylor/The Baltimore Sun

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Updated, with comment from Lenny's Owner Alan Smith

The Jewish Museum of Maryland and the Associated: Jewish Community Federation of Baltimore have finalized their purchase of the Lenny’s Delicatessen property on Corned Beef Row, but the landmark restaurant will continue on the site for at least a while yet.

Lenny's Owner Alan Smith has told Sun colleague Elizabeth Large that he has signed a five-year lease to continue at the East Lombard Street property, and when the time comes to leave, he plans to stay "on or around Corned Beef Row." (Note: In a press release on Thursday, the Jewish Museum of Maryland said it was a three-year lease.)

Ultimately, the Jewish Museum of Maryland hopes to have raised the money necessary to build a new wing on the parcel, museum spokeswoman Simone Ellin said.

Lenny’s opened in Owings Mills in 1985 and added the East Lombard Street location in 1991, according to a history posted on its Web site.

The $1.5 million purchase was funded by a grant from the Herbert Bearman Foundation. The Jewish Museum of Maryland is dedicated to the interpretation of the Jewish experience in America with special attention to the collection, preservation, and study of Jewish life in Maryland.

“The Associated is excited about our purchase of the property adjacent to the Jewish Museum,” Associated President Marc B. Terrill said. “This is an opportunity to increase The Associated and the Museum’s presence in downtown Baltimore and to expand programs and services to our constituents living in the area.”

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On the death of Robert Novak, the Jewish Telegraphic Agency has produced an interesting obituary focusing on his fraught relationship with the faith into which he was born.

“Robert Novak, the conservative columnist whose scoops broke many a career, made his reputation as a journalist by being unafraid to attack his ideological brethren,” the piece by Ron Kampeas begins. “The same dynamic underlay the contentious and at times ugly relationship he had with fellow Jews.”

Kampeas writes that Novak had a ‘distaste for robust Judaism” and says “his attacks on the pro-Israel community repeatedly veered into the conspiratorial. And there’s an interesting passage on his faith journey:

Novak was born to Jewish parents, but said he never felt particularly connected to the faith. "The family was not very observant," he told CNN in 2005, describing his upbringing in Joliet, Ill.

"My father had never been bar mitzvahed and his father was not a very good Jew, but I was bar mitzvahed," Novak said.

He cooperated in 2003 with the Washingtonian magazine in a feature about his conversion to Roman Catholicism five years earlier, and said that although he joined a Jewish fraternity in college, he was turned off by Judaism.

"I found the same thing in Judaism as a young boy as I did later in the Unitarian Church and then at the Episcopal Church," he said. "They seemed very ungodly. The clergymen seemed very secular."

Following his conversion, U.S. Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan (D-N.Y.) reportedly quipped, “Well, we’ve now made Bob a Catholic. The question is, can we make him a Christian?”

Continue reading "Robert Novak's faith experience" »

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Categories: Catholicism, Culture, Judaism, People, Politics
        

Colleague Brent Jones has a compelling story in today's newspaper about Morris Kornberg, a 91-year-old Holocaust survivor awaiting word on whether he will receive 2,000 Euros (about $2,827) in reparations from the German government.

The Waldorf man, a Polish Jew who was arrested in 1941, describes hard labor and starvation at Auschwitz. He says he doesn't know why he didn't follow fellow prisoners who killed themselves by running into the electric fence that enclosed the camp.

Now he is waiting to hear whether he will be approved for the check from the German Ghetto Workers Fund, established by the German government in 2007 to distribute money to camp survivors who have not participated in other compensation programs. If he gets the money, he says, he will donate it to The U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum.

"For going through [ the Holocaust], 2,000 is not a big deal," he told Jones. "This is not for my enjoyment. I just don't want to leave the money for [the government]."

Read the rest of the story at baltimoresun.com.

Chiaki Kawajiri/Baltimore Sun

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Bethel A.M.E. Church, the large, predominantly African-American congregation that has been holding Christian worship services in a synagogue since a July 1 lightning strike damaged its historic building, plans to head back home next week.

The church is set to return to the landmark sanctuary at 1300 Druid Hill Ave. in time for Holy Convocation, the annual event with which it welcomes members back at the end of summer, spokeswoman Crystal Lowe said. The four-day event, which includes guest speakers, financial seminars and a lunchtime "Hour of Power" daily, is scheduled for Aug. 24 through 27.

The first communion service is set for Sunday, Aug. 30 -- less than two months after the church sustained fire and water damage in the lightning strike.

Church members held their first Sunday services after the strike at Pier Six Pavilion in the Inner Harbor. The next week, Senior Pastor The Rev. Dr. Frank M. Reid III and Rabbi Steven M. Fink of Temple Oheb Shalom announced that the church would hold future services at the synagogue on Park Heights Avenue.

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Categories: African-American Church, Interfaith, Judaism
        

Eric Fingerhut at the Jewish Telegraphic Agency does a nice job chronicling the back-and-forth over efforts by Rush Limbaugh and others to bring Nazi imagery into the debate over healthcare reform.

The conservative radio host has drawn condemnation from the Anti-Defamation League, the American Jewish Congress and the Simon Weisenthal Center for a lengthy bit in which he compared “the Democrat Party of today and the Nazi Party in German.”

“Well, the Nazis were against big business,” Limbaugh said. “They hated big business and, of course, we all know that they were opposed to Jewish capitalism. They were insanely, irrationally against pollution. They were for two years of mandatory voluntary service to Germany. They had a whole bunch of make-work projects to keep people working, one of which was the Autobahn.”

Jewish Democrats have pressured House Minority Whip Eric Cantor, a Jewish Republican from Virginia who has said the GOP needs Limbaugh, to repudiate his comments. But some Jewish Republicans say a Democratic congressman should also be held accountable for bringing “brown shirts” into the debate over healthcare reform.

Rep. Brian Baird, a Washington state Democrat, had said he would not be holding public meetings with constituents during the August recess out of concern for the possibility of being ambushed by critics of healthcare reform, who have disrupted other such events.

“What we’re seeing right now is close to Brown Shirt tactics,” Baird told the Columbian of Vancouver, Wash. “I mean that very seriously.”

According to Fingerhut, the controversy “underscores the degree to which Jewish organizations continue to lose ground in their fight to keep partisans on all sides from demonizing their political opponents as Nazis.”

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Rabbi Yaakov Menken is the Director of Project Genesis, a Jewish cyber-outreach organization based in Baltimore.

For what it's worth, I have never met any of those ensnared in the money-laundering scandal in Deal, NJ and Brooklyn, NY. Nonetheless, it's always embarrassing when you have a scandal involving several rabbis. Clergy are supposed to do better, right?

Of course, you have the defenders coming forward and pointing out that they were trying to help their institutions rather than personal gain, or even doing a favor for a guy who'd fallen on hard times -- only to learn the hard way that he was an FBI informant. All of that will come out in court, and it's pretty unlikely that some of them will see any significant time behind bars.

But all that doesn't matter. Clergy are supposed to do better.

Less than two years ago, there was a similar scandal involving a group of schools and institutions run by a Chassidic Rebbe in California. And he, having pled guilty to significant crimes, will likely begin serving his sentence shortly.

At a hastily-arranged seminar in business ethics early this week, this Rebbe made a surprise appearance. He offered no defenses, no justification for what happened. On the contrary, he admitted that what he did was wrong, what his organizations and people did was wrong, and must never happen again.

And he also took another step forward. He disclosed that together with a team of lawyers and accountants, his institutions had created a compliance plan to ensure that it would never happen again -- that everything done would be completely above board. And he publicly offered to share that plan with others.

Continue reading "Guest post: The financial watchman at the gate" »

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There are many things Evangelical Christians are good at, such as bake sales and talking to me on planes. They're less adept at other things, such as comedy and fighting lions. … So when Kevin Roose, author of the excellent new book The Unlikely Disciple, told me that Rick Warren's giant Saddleback Church has its own improv group, for the first time in my life, I felt my calling. I may not be the Woody Allen or Jon Stewart of the secular world, but in the land of the unfunny Christian, the one-joked Jew is king.

After performing with the five-member troupe (Here is what goes through your mind during 90 minutes of Christian improv: "No, no, can't say that, nope, maybe if ... no."), Stein asks Saddleback's director of creative arts the point of hosting a comedy show, or the church’s jazz and Shakespeare festivals.

"If you look back in history, most of the arts were done for the church,” Tony Guerrero tells Stein. “All the music of Bach and Mozart was written for the church. We'd like it to be a hub for the arts again."

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Rabbi Yaakov Menken is the Director of Project Genesis, a Jewish cyber-outreach organization based in Baltimore.

“In the Mix” is the name of a monthly column by Julie Wiener, carried by The New York Jewish Week. Ms. Wiener, who is Jewish, describes herself as “married to a lapsed Catholic -- one who has encouraged me to become more involved in Jewish life.” But in her most recent column, she nonetheless grapples with her own discomfort at the thought of a rabbi entering into a relationship exactly like her own. As she puts it, “there’s something that feels, well, not kosher to me about intermarried rabbis.”

I am tempted to joke that I have been gifted with prophecy for the following prediction, but it is no laughing matter. I do predict that the Hebrew Union College, the rabbinical seminary of Reform Judaism, will be ordaining intermarried Rabbis within the next decade -- and my main concern, in terms of accuracy, is that I’m giving them too much time by half -- but that just stems from common sense and seeing the writing on the wall. To my knowledge, there has yet to be a deviance from Jewish law and tradition concerning which "a debate has swirled in progressive Jewish circles" which has not become normative "progressive" Judaism sooner or later, and usually sooner.

In most cases, the relevant conflict is between traditional Jewish values, and what today's Western society deems the morally superior position. Traditionally, men and women sit separately during prayers, men lead the service, men are rabbis, and homosexuality is prohibited.

In each of those cases, modern Western thought asserts that the contrary position is morally superior, and this becomes the position of liberal Judaism. To my understanding, similar conflicts -- and similar resolutions -- are found in the liberal wings of many other faith communities.

Continue reading "Guest post: The last taboo -- intermarried rabbis" »

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Sunday saw the first services by Bethel A.M.E. Church at Temple Oheb Shalom. Baltimore Sun colleague Stephanie Desmon had a nice story in Monday's paper:

On a typical summer Sunday, the doors of Temple Oheb Shalom are locked tight. With observances of the Jewish Sabbath taking place on Friday night and Saturday and religious school out until fall, the Park Heights Avenue building sits empty.

Not yesterday. Hundreds of congregants of a different faith poured into the sanctuary, bringing along their love of God, their upbeat music and their fervent prayer to the otherwise quiet house of worship. A fire July 1 damaged the historic Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Upton and left its flock with no place to come together. But an offer from the synagogue's leaders gave them temporary refuge as their landmark building is repaired.

"The church may have been hit by lightning," the Rev. Frank M. Reid III told church members, "but the work of the church continues in Jesus' name."

Later in his sermon, Reid continued: "We discover how our faith helps us face the fires."

If not for the symbols of Judaism - the Holy Ark storing the Torahs, the Hebrew letters on the wall - it would have been hard to tell the Bethel congregants were anywhere but home.

"It solidifies what I've always believed," said Joshua Lawton, 23, of Towson, a relatively new member of the church. "It doesn't matter what religion you are - it's all about God. Period. End of story. Everything else is just about details."

Read the rest of the story at baltimoresun.com.

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Members of Bethel A.M.E. Church, forced out of their landmark Baltimore building, will take temporary refuge at Temple Oheb Shalom, the spiritual leaders of the two congregations said Wednesday.

A week after lightning struck the steeple of the church on Druid Hill Avenue, the Rev. Frank M. Reid III and Rabbi Steven M. Fink announced that the Christian congregation would hold Sunday services at the Reform Jewish synagogue in Park Heights through Labor Day.

Fink called Reid after learning of the July 1 fire to offer Oheb Shalom’s 900-seat sanctuary to the church. The two congregations have long worked together, holding joint services in honor of Martin Luther King Jr., maintaining a community garden and engaging in the Black and Jewish Forum of Baltimore.

“We thought, in light of the hate crime that took place recently over in Washington at the Holocaust museum, with the ethnic violence going on in China at this time, that this partnership between the Jewish faith community and the Christian faith community, this partnership between the Jewish community and the black community, reestablishes a bridge that has existed between our two communities for hundreds of years,” Reid said.

“Our congregation and Bethel A.M.E. are family,” Fink said. “Our officers and board of directors decided immediately upon learning of this event to offer our facility to Bethel A.M.E.”

Continue reading "Bethel A.M.E. to worship at Oheb Shalom" »

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Rabbi Yaakov Menken is the Director of Project Genesis, a Jewish cyber-outreach organization based in Baltimore.

Yesterday found me at the District Court of Maryland, Traffic Division, to fight a parking ticket. We had received a "Warning Notice" for failure to respond to a citation that we had never received, for our van being parked in a Transit Zone, in one of those neighborhoods in which you might be ill-advised to park in the most legal of spaces -- especially after dark, which, according to the time on the notice, it was. Mistakes happen, and the most likely explanation is that the wrong license plate number was transcribed from the citation onto the notice. Besides a compliment from the judge for having a "mean" hat (like many Orthodox Jewish men, I wear a black fedora, which he didn't want me to forget on the bench), he also gave me the Not Guilty verdict I was looking for (benefit of the doubt).

The experience was notable for a few reasons. First and foremost, the judge was (as the previous comments might indicate), very friendly and down to earth, very unpretentious. He was handling "non-incarcerable offenses" (his translation: "the only way you can go to jail is by doing something really dumb in this courtroom"), and was happy to show the friendlier side of the court system. Everyone appealing a ticket seemed to have some justification, and he was happy to give a Not Guilty to, for example, the obviously handicapped woman who was driving the wrong car on the day she was ticketed for using a handicapped spot. "Justice, justice shall you pursue..." but tempered with mercy. I was impressed.

He also told the following story, which happened to take place in the same neighborhood in which we were charged with parking illegally. He walks, he says, through all of Baltimore's neighborhoods, and on a Sunday morning a young man approached him on the otherwise-deserted street corner. "Hey man," he said, "want some weed?"

Continue reading "Guest Post: My day in court" »

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Rabbi Yaakov Menken is the Director of Project Genesis, a Jewish cyber-outreach organization based in Baltimore.

No, it's not what you think. I am not referring to a healthy (and Biblically-mandated) fear of G-d and his Ineffable Name, but an aversion to mentioning G-d as a motivating force in our lives. Joel Alperson, a past national campaign chair for United Jewish Communities, wrote about this in a recent op-ed entitled "Don’t fear ‘G-d,’ ‘Torah’ and ‘Judaism’ " published by the Jewish Telegraphic Agency. He writes:

I’ve collected the mission statements of the largest 17 Jewish federations in North America, and not one mentions “G-d,” “Torah” or “Judaism.” Nor do the mission statements of the B’nai B’rith Youth Organization, Hillel, the National Council of Jewish Women, The Wexner Heritage Foundation, the American Jewish Committee, the Anti-Defamation League, Hadassah and the Jewish National Fund. Of all the organizations I looked into, only United Jewish Communities mentions but one of the three words, Torah, in its mission statement.

Mr. Alperson's theory is that these terms are avoided because they are "more particularistic. Tzedakah [Charity], tikkun olam [Repairing the World] and klal yisroel [the People of Israel] are considered universal and inclusive terms." He bemoans this phenomenon, and considers this problem to be one with a uniquely Jewish angle. He believes that the reason these terms induce such discomfort is because communal organizations, aiming to serve the breadth of the entire Jewish community, are afraid of any mention of a term that might highlight our numerous and profound internal divisions.

He may be right. But at the same time, I am reminded of an article written over 20 years ago by Daniel Polisar, today the director of the Shalem Center, and at that time a fellow student at Princeton University. He described an experience in a class in Philosophy and ethics, in which the students were asked to respond sequentially to a classic question of moral and ethical behavior: when confronted by an assailant who orders you to murder another, on threat of your own life, what are you supposed to do?

Now as it happens, Jewish ethics offers clear and unambiguous guidance on this matter: "who says your blood is redder?" Thus the Talmud prohibits murdering another person, even in order to save your own life. And this is what Dan, when asked, proceeded to tell the class: that Judaism teaches us that G-d Commanded us to react this way.

Continue reading "Guest post: Fear of G-d's name" »

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While philanthropies everywhere struggle to pry dollars loose from communities reeling from the recession, Baltimore's Jewish federation is celebrating what in these times qualifies as an outstanding result: simply raising as much money as it did the year before.

The annual campaign of the Associated: Jewish Community Federation of Baltimore hit the mark Tuesday, the last day of the fiscal year, organization officials said. The $30.8 million they raised means they will be able to fund all of the Associated's local educational, cultural and assistance programs at the same levels this year as last.

"What's at play here is provision of service," Associated President Marc B. Terrill said Tuesday. "We have to be the mouthpiece for the people that can't speak for themselves. So we went in with an attitude essentially that failure is not an option."

His organization's feat comes in a bleak environment for philanthropy both locally and nationwide. U.S. charitable giving fell 2 percent in 2008, according to a report released last month by the Giving USA Foundation. More than 80 percent of the nonprofit organizations surveyed by the Center for Civil Society Studies at the Johns Hopkins University early this year reported experiencing some level of fiscal stress, and close to 40 percent described the stress as "severe" or "very severe."

Among 157 Jewish federations in the United States and Canada, the pace of giving is off 13 percent this year, according to a spokesman for United Jewish Communities/Jewish Federations of North America. As a result, spokesman Joe Berkowfsky said, some federations are extending their annual campaigns beyond the June 30 close of the fiscal year.

Read the rest of the story at baltimoresun.com.

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Rabbi Gila Ruskin has agreed to stay on as spiritual leader of Temple Adas Shalom/The Harford Jewish Center in Havre de Grace through June 2012, its board of trustees announced Wednesday. Ruskin has been serving in that role on a temporary basis since the fall of 2007.

“Rabbi Ruskin has already brought a renewed energy to the congregation”, congregation President Brad Cogan said in a statement. “In the short time she has been with us, membership is increasing, feedback from our congregants has been overwhelmingly positive, and she has already had a big impact with many of the youth – especially those nearing the age of Bar or Bat Mitzvah.”

Ruskin, who is vice president of the Baltimore Board of Rabbis, has a long history in the city. She was spiritual leader of Chevrei Tzedek for 15 years, and then spent two years as the only Jewish faculty member at St. Frances High School. Her work as an instructor of Bible and Holocaust studies was the subject of a Baltimore Sun story in 2006. That story began:

The Hebrew words echoed through the halls of the Catholic school. Inside a classroom decorated with a crucifix, a rabbi led the African-American students in song.

Rabbi Gila Ruskin had lit the Sabbath candles, recited a blessing over her young charges and passed around a basket of animal crackers. Now, strumming the guitar, she sang: "Shabbat Shalom" -- Sabbath Peace.

Justine Jones double-clapped on the beat. Styinyard Blue stomped his feet. For juniors at St. Frances Academy, virtually all of them Baptist, Catholic or some other stripe of Christian, the weekly celebration of the Jewish Sabbath is a highlight of religious studies class.

Read the rest of the story at baltimoresun.com.

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Categories: Judaism
        

Local Catholic, Protestant, Jewish and Muslim congregations are praying for an end to violence this weekend during a citywide Peace Sabbath.

Faith leaders agreed to the first event of its kind last month as part of three-point plant to promote peace in Baltimore this summer. The other points:

• To call on city leaders to keep parks, recreation centers, libraries and polls open during the summer months, when children are not in school and crime typically increases; and
• To encourage churches, synagogues and mosques to designate job sites for the city’s Youth Works program, and to host youth centers other programs to provide safe havens for kids.

The Archdiocese of Baltimore, one of organizations participating in the Peace Sabbath, is asking Catholics to bring a dollar to Mass this weekend to support the city’s Safe Streets initiative. The churches of St. Ann and St. Wenceslaus in East Baltimore and St. Veronica in Cherry Hill currently host Safe Streets programs.

According to the archdiocese, Cherry Hill saw a drop from 14 shootings in the eight months before the program started at St. Veronica to one shooting in the eight months after. Now funding for the program at St. Veronica is running out and additional revenue is needed to keep it going.

Local faith leaders warned last month that planned budget cuts were threatening their hope of a “summer of peace.” As Baltimore Sun colleague Peter Hermann reported, Archbishop Edwin F. O'Brien called on Mayor Sheila Dixon to reverse course.

Continue reading "Congregations praying for peace" »

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The Maryland Board of Regents agreed unanimously Friday to allow Baltimore Hebrew University to become part of Towson University, closing one chapter in the life of the 90-year-old institution of Jewish learning and opening another.

Read the story by Baltimore Sun religion writer Arthur Hirsch at baltimoresun.com.

The vote taken at the board meeting at Frostburg State University means that BHU -- with 55 graduate students, seven instructors and a library of some 70,000 volumes -- will move a few miles northeast from its single building in Park Heights to the suburban campus of more than 21,000 students.

The BHU graduate programs and the Joseph Meyerhoff Library collection will be in place at Towson for the fall. For now officials of both institutions are celebrating the partnership.

"I think it's very, very exciting," said Robert L. Caret, president of Towson University, after the vote was taken. "It's an opportunity that just presented itself."

BHU's interim president, Erika Pardes Schon, said "we are delighted by this decision. The faculty of BHU look forward to introducing a new tier of graduate courses at Towson University in the fall."

Baltimore Hebrew University will close, but its work will live on in three master's degree programs and in the new Baltimore Hebrew Institute to open on the Baltimore County campus. With Schon as director, the institute will carry on BHU's community activities in offering adult continuing education, public lectures and scholarly symposia.

Continue reading "It's official: BHU, Towson to merge" »

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The American Jewish World Service says the Obama administration is “sending contradictory signals in recognizing the magnitude of what has taken place and continues to occur on the ground in Darfur.”

The organization, long active on Darfur, expressed concern Friday after Gen. J. Scott Gration, the U.S. special envoy to Sudan, referred to conditions there as the “remnants of genocide.”
Earlier, Ambassador Susan Rice, the U.S. representative to the United Nations, had described the current situation in Darfur as “genocide.”

"We believe that when conditions are as deplorable as they are, when millions remain displaced from their homes — many of them victims of rape and assault — lacking sufficient food and drinking water, it is dangerous to disagree in public about whether the genocide continues," AJWS president Ruth Messinger said in a statement.

"What is essential is that we get assurances that the full complement of humanitarian aid has been completely restored and that the Obama administration recognizes that the status quo of the past seven years is unacceptable,” she said. “This is particularly the case when the onset of the rainy season continues to pose the threat that waterborne illness will spread rapidly among the population in the camps. This would cause widespread and rapid loss of life, advancing the concerted effort of the Sudanese government to cause a massive civilian death toll.

Continue reading "Group: Administration sending mixed signals on Darfur" »

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The University of Maryland System Board of Regents is expected to approve the integration of Baltimore Hebrew University with Towson University on Friday, allowing the 90-year-old institution of Jewish learning to move from Park Heights to the campus of the larger public university in time for the start of the fall semester.

Under an agreement negotiation by the two institutions, BHU’s programs, faculty and courses are to be dispersed among different schools and departments at Towson. One floor of Towson's Albert S. Cook Library will be cleared to accommodate BHU's 70,000-volume Joseph Meyerhoff Library, which school officials describe as the largest collection of Judaica in the Mid-Atlantic region, and a new Baltimore Hebrew Institute will offer continuing education and other programs for the community.

The board of regents are expected to approve the merger during its regular meeting Friday at Frostburg State University.

BHU, which was founded in 1919 to train teachers for local Jewish schools, has grown with the community to offer master's degrees and doctorates. A high school that operated from the 1930s through the 1980s graduated thousands of students.

But declining enrollments and rising costs have made it increasingly difficult for the institution to remain independent, school officials say, leading its sole donor, the Associated: Jewish Community Federation of Greater Baltimore, to direct administrators to find a new model.

Posted by Matthew Hay Brown at 6:30 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
        

A former director of the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum sees in the shooting there last week evidence of the return of anti-Semitism, after a long period of relative quiet.

“The Holocaust was so massive an orgy of violence — so systematized and so organized by one of the most modern and cultured countries — that anti-Semitism itself became, for the next few decades, a spent force,” Walter Reich, a psychiatrist and professor at George Washington University, writes Thursday in The Baltimore Sun.

“Now, after this vacation of a few decades, anti-Semitism is back,” he writes. “That prejudice, which has been the norm of history, has returned. It's resurgent across Europe and proliferating wildly in the Middle East.”

James von Brunn of Maryland has been charged with two counts of murder in the shooting death last week of Stephen T. Johns, a security guard at the Holocaust museum. An FBI affidavit for a search warrant of his Annapolis apartment describes von Brunn as espousing “hate speech directed specifically toward Jews for an extensive period of time.”

Reich sees a “pressing” need “to stop, or at least minimize, anti-Semitism's deadly consequences.”

Continue reading "Did it ever go away?" »

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Categories: Judaism
        

The Maryland Higher Education Commission has signed off on the integration of Baltimore Hebrew University into Towson University, bringing the merger within a vote of becoming reality.

The commission issued letters to Towson President Robert L. Caret and BHU President Erika Pardes Schon on Wednesday saying it had approved a merger agreement signed by the two institutions. Approval by the University of Maryland System Board of Regents on Friday would allow the 90-year-old center of Jewish learning to complete the move from Park Heights to the campus of the larger public university in time for the start of the fall semester.

The two schools agreed to the merger earlier this year. With the approval of the regents, BHU programs, faculty and courses will be dispersed among different schools and departments at Towson. One floor of Towson’s Albert S. Cook Library will be cleared to accommodate BHU’s 70,000-volume Joseph Meyerhoff Library, which school officials describe as the largest collection of Judaica in the Mid-Atlantic.

Founded in 1919 to train teachers for local Jewish schools, BHU grew with the community to offer master’s degrees and doctorates. A high school that operated from the 1930s through the 1980s graduated thousands of students.

But declining enrollments and rising costs have made it increasingly difficult for the institution to remain independent, leading its sole donor, the Associated: Jewish Community Federation of Greater Baltimore, to direct administrators to find a new model.

Posted by Matthew Hay Brown at 4:31 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
        

Rabbi Yaakov Menken is director of Project Genesis, a Jewish cyber-outreach organization based in Baltimore.

In the wake of the shooting attack at Washington's Holocaust Museum last week, many organizations issued public statements. Most of those were similar to these words from President Obama: "This outrageous act reminds us that we must remain vigilant against anti-Semitism and prejudice in all its forms."

Agudath Israel, the Jewish communal organization representing the interests of traditionally Orthodox Jews, issued a statement as well. Its statement, though, was different -- it consisted solely of an open letter to the young son of the security guard who gave his life defending the visitors to that Museum.

This letter's personal touch reminds us all that this was not only an outrage against the national consciousness, but an acutely personal tragedy as well.

To the Young Son of Stephen Tyrone Johns:

Your name wasn’t mentioned on the ABC-Nightline report where you were briefly interviewed after the tragic death of your father. But what mattered were your words, that your Dad was “a loving father” and your “hero.”

I want you to know that he is a hero to us too.

Your father died protecting people, young and old, of many races and religions, who had come to a very special place: the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum. He was the victim of a terrible hatred -- a hatred cut from the same ugly cloth as the hatred that killed my grandparents in Europe, a hatred the museum was designed to warn us about, and to help erase from the world.

May we soon see the day when such irrational hatred in all its forms will be erased from the world. And may you derive comfort, even as you mourn your terrible loss, from the fact that your father was not only a hero in your life but died a hero to the world.

 

Rabbi David Zwiebel

 

Executive Vice President

Agudath Israel of America

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Asked about Holocaust museum shooting suspect James von Brunn, Baltimore Jewish Council Executive Director Arthur C. Abramson tells The Baltimore Sun "we are aware of his past, but he's not a name that immediately came to mind."

Sun colleagues Scott Calvert, Brent Jones and Paul West have produced an interesting report examining the 88-year-old von Brunn's history and views. The World War II veteran and commercial artist apparently was well known among hate groups and those who track them.

According to the Anti-Defamation League, von Brunn's "magnum opus" was a self-published anti-Semitic book called Kill the Best Gentiles. He has written many anti-Semitic essays and in recent years maintained an anti-Semitic Web site, holywesternempire.org.

Read the rest of the story at baltimoresun.com.

Posted by Matthew Hay Brown at 10:46 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Judaism
        

We went to the website of the Anti-Defamation League to look for comment on this afternoon's shooting at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington. What we found was criticism of a recent Doonesbury comic strip.

In a letter to strip creator Garry Trudeau, the ADL says the installment of May 31 "misquotes the Bible, maligns Judaism, and promotes a Christian heresy, all within eight panels."

At issue in the Sunday strip is an exchange between longtime characters Boopsie, her daughter, Samantha, and the Rev. Scot Sloan, about "the money lenders," whom Samantha describes as the only group against whom Jesus "really snaps."

"What is it about money lenders?" Boopsie asks.

"They do seem to set people off, don't they?" responds a smiling Sloan.

To the ADL, the reference to "money lenders" recalls the stereotype of Shylock, the enduringly controversial character from Shakespeare's Merchant of Venice. As the ADL notes, it was the money-changers, not money lenders, against whom Jesus rails in the Gospel accounts.

"Doonesbury's Reverend Sloan is guilty of promoting anti-Jewish stereotypes and biblical illiteracy," the ADL says. "He owes both Jews and Christians an apology."

Continue reading "ADL: Doonesbury strip "crosses a line"" »

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At least two people were shot Wednesday at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, the Associated Press is reporting.

Washington police spokeswoman Traci Hughes said a person walked into the museum about 1 p.m. with a rifle and shot a guard. Hughes said the shooter was also shot. Hughes said the conditions of those shot were not known. Both were being rushed to a hospital.

CNN is reporting that the shooter was an 88-year-old white supremacist.

U.S. Park Police told the Associated Press that three people had been shot. Fire department spokesman Alan Etter told CNN a third person was hurt after being cut by broken glass.

Read the rest of the story at The Baltimore Sun.

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Categories: Judaism
        

While the number of anti-Semitic incidents logged by the Anti-Defamation League nationwide declined in 2008 for the fourth consecutive year, Maryland saw an increase in reports of vandalism and harassment targeting Jews.

The ADL counted 27 such incidents in 2008, up from 19 the year before. Of the 2008 events, 17 involved harassment and 10 involved damage to property. In 2007, the ADL counted 5 instances of harassment and 14 of vandalism.

Nationwide, the number of reports fell to 1,352 in 2008 from 1,460 the year before, according to the ADL’s annual Audit of Anti-Semitic Incidents, for a drop of nearly 8 percent.

"It is encouraging that the number of anti-Semitic incidents continues to decline, but the sheer volume of incidents reported and the violent nature of many of the physical assaults is a reminder that we cannot be complacent," ADL National Director Abraham H. Foxman said in a statement. "Had law enforcement not thwarted the alleged terrorist bombing plot against synagogues in Riverdale, New York, it would have been a horrific anti-Semitic attack."

Continue reading "ADL: Attacks on Jews down across U.S., up in Md." »

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Categories: Judaism
        

Rabbi Amy R. Scheinerman, the spiritual leader of Beth Shalom Congregation in Westminister, has received an honorary doctorate from the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion, her alma mater.

Rabbi David Ellenson, president of HUC-JIR, described Scheinerman’s life as "one of dedication.”

“Her devotion to Jewish learning has led to her broad-based involvement in Jewish education,” Ellenson said. “As chaplain, she counsels those incarcerated and gives comfort to the terminally ill; as a columnist, she uses the power of the written word to share Jewish insights with the community at large. Her extensive involvement in the Baltimore Board of Rabbis has brought rabbis of all persuasions together to learn from each other.”

A graduate of Brown University and HUC-JIR, Scheinerman is vice president of the Baltimore Board of Rabbis, a columnist for the Baltimore Jewish Times and the Carroll County Times and a chaplain for the Howard County Police, Carroll County Hospice and Jewish Hospice Network.

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On Wednesday, we mentioned the "Summer of Peace" announcement by local Catholic, Protestant, Jewish and Muslim leaders. Peter Hermann, our former Jerusalem correspondent and crime reporter extraordinaire, has a more complete report in today's Baltimore Sun:

The leaders of the city's Catholic, Jewish and Muslim faiths have a plan to turn Baltimore's summer into the "summer of peace."

But they complained Wednesday that the mayor is making their efforts difficult because of plans to close recreation centers and pools and curtail library hours.

Archbishop Edwin F. O'Brien mentioned the issue in passing in his remarks after meeting with city officials on preventing youth crime, but when questioned he openly leaped into the political fray and called for the city's chief executive to reverse course.

Cutting money to youth programs, said the leader of a half-million worshipers of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Baltimore, "will make it very difficult for us to follow through" on initiatives to save lives and save children.

His auxiliary, Bishop Denis J. Madden, said, "It doesn't take a rocket scientist to understand that rec centers and pools are going to give kids something to do."

Posted by Matthew Hay Brown at 9:48 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
        

Local Catholic, Protestant, Jewish and Muslim leaders announced a three-point plan on Wednesday to promote peace in Baltimore this summer.

In what participants said was the first interfaith gathering of local religious leaders to discuss violence, the group held a 90-minute meeting at St. Mary's Seminary and University, and then emerged to greet the press.

Members resolved:

   • To call on city leaders to keep parks, recreation centers, libraries and polls open during the summer months, when children are not in school and crime typically increases;

   • To encourage churches, synagogues and mosques to designate job sites for the city’s Youth Works program, and to host youth centers other programs to provide safe havens for kids; and

   • Designate the weekend of June 19 to 21 as a “Peace Sabbath,” during which all churches, synagogues and mosques will pray for peace. At Masses that weekend, Catholic churches will collect $1 per parishioner to support peace-promoting initiatives such as the city health department’s Safe Streets program.

The meeting was hosted by Catholic Archbishop Edwin F. O’Brien. Attendees included Baltimore Jewish Council Executive Director Arthur Abramson, Imam Earl El-Amin of the Muslim Community Cultural Center of Baltimore, Deputy Police Commissioner Anthony Barksdale, interim City Health Commissioner Olivia Farrow, Tim Hanavan of the Central Maryland Ecumenical Council, Catholic Auxillary Bishop Denis Madden, Bishop Douglas Miles of Koinonia Baptist Church, Bishop John Raab of the Episcopal Diocese of Maryland and Rev. Dr. Frank Reid III of Bethel AME Church.

The group agreed to continue meeting quarterly to discuss ongoing threats to peace in the city and to work together to promote peace.

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The board of directors of the Associated: Jewish Community Federation of Baltimore voted Wednesday to allow the Jewish Community Center in Owings Mills to open on the Jewish sabbath.

The proposal by the Jewish Community Center of Greater Baltimore to offer Saturday hours has highlighted a divide in the local Jewish community. JCC officials say the move will meet the needs of the largely nonobservant community in the northwestern suburb.

But Orthodox Jews, who refrain from driving, operating electrical equipment and other activities on the day known as Shabbos or Shabbat, say it will violate Jewish law. Thousands rallied in Park Heights last week in support of the Jewish sabbath.

In a statement, Associated President Marc B. Terrill called the differing positions “noble in their intent.”

“The ultimate goal of everyone involved in this communal conversation is to connect individuals and families to the beauty of the gift of Shabbat,” he continued. “I only hope and pray that the decision today serves as an opportunity to broaden its observance. A day of reflection and inward thinking makes a great deal of spiritual and pragmatic sense.”

The final vote by the Associated board was 97 to 33 in favor Saturday hours, with four members abstaining.

Rabbi Moshe Hauer, a leader of the Park Heights rally, said the decision left him “deeply disappointed” and “tremendously sad.”

Continue reading "Associated votes to open JCC on Saturdays" »

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Categories: Judaism
        

The board of directors of the Associated: Jewish Community Federation of Greater Baltimore is scheduled to vote Wednesday on a controversial proposal to begin opening the Jewish Community Center in Owings Mills on the Jewish sabbath.

The proposal by the Jewish Community Center of Greater Baltimore, which operates facilities in Owings Mills and Park Heights, has revealed deep divisions within the diverse local Jewish community.

The JCC says the move would help meet the needs of the largely nonobservant community in Owings Mills.

But Orthodox Jews, who refrain from driving, operating electrical equipment and other activities on the day known as Shabbos, say it would violate Jewish law. Thousands of Orthodox Jews rallied in Park Heights last week in support of Shabbos.

The board of the Associated, which owns the property, will meet at noon behind closed doors. We’ll post results and reactions here, as soon as we get them.

(Photo by Barbara Haddock Taylor/The Baltimore Sun)

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Categories: Judaism
        

Local Christian, Jewish and Muslim leaders will come together on Wednesday to discuss a new plan to promote peace in the city this summer.

The group, to be hosted by Catholic Archbishop Edwin F. O’Brien at St. Mary’s Seminary and University, will include Arthur Abramson of the Baltimore Jewish Council, Imam Earl El-Amin of the Muslim Community Cultural Center, Bishop John Rabb, suffragan bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Maryland, the Rev. Frank M. Reid, III, pastor of Bethel AME Church, and the Rev. Johnny Golden of New Unity Church Ministries and the Interdenominational Ministerial Alliance.

The group plans to meet with interim Health Commissioner Olivia Farrow, and then hold a press conference to announce a summer peace initiative. Watch here for more details.

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What is the nature of God? Is it possible to force a postponement of death? How is true piety manifested? What is the power of sin and repentance? What happens to souls in the afterlife?

Rabbi David Greenspoon of Beth El Congregation concludes his five-month exploration of the Zohar, called “the most important literary work” of Jewish mysticism, with a "Lunch & Learn" session at noon Tuesday at Baltimore’s Institute for Christian & Jewish Studies.

“Come and join us as we delve into the mystical world of the Kabbalists,” invites the institute, located at 956 Dulaney Valley Road. Those interested are asked to bring a brown-bag dairy lunch; all texts are to be provided in translation. RSVP to info@icjs.org; more information is available here.

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Did the Evangelical vote put Kris Allen over the top in the American Idol finale? That’s one of the theories that has emerged in the hours after the surprise ending Wednesday to the pop music competition.

The discussion is premised on the widely held expectation that Adam Lambert, adventurous in both performance and appearance, would win the final vote.

Certainly the falsetto-prone glam rocker left a deeper impression than the humble church singer from Arkansas. Even Allen, a worship leader at New Life Church in Conway, Ark., appeared taken aback by the result; when host Ryan Seacrest called his name, his first words were “Adam deserves this.”

But a legion of Christian voters is saying the right man won. Chief among them: Allen’s pastor at New Life, who has been boasting of a faith-based campaign for Allen.

“Churches go crazy with support!” the Rev. Rick Bezet told Fox News. “Thousands of churches twittering and facebooking! It’s been a blast.”

Fox News and other speculate that Allen got a boost from supporters of Danny Gokey, who was eliminated in the week before the final. Another evangelical Christian, Gokey was worship leader at Faith Builders International Ministries in Milwaukee and Beloit, Wisc., prior to qualifying for American Idol.

Continue reading "Faith-based support for the American Idol?" »

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For its annual meeting Thursday, the Baltimore Jewish Council has enlisted a trio of heavy hitters to discuss the state of civil rights in Maryland.

Appearing from 4 to 6 p.m. at Beth Tfiloh Congregation at 3300 Old Court Road in Baltimore will be Kweisi Mfume, the former congressman and former NAACP president, Rabbi Mark G. Loeb, for 32 years the spiritual leader of Beth El Congregation, and WYPR news analyst C. Fraser Smith, a former Baltimore Sun reporter, editor and columnist.

Dana P. Moore of Venable LLP will moderate. The event is open to the public.

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