This Valentine's Day weekend, the Center for Spiritual Living Orange County, which has recently moved to Mission Viejo, Calif, is opening its doors to the community to provide laughter, warmth, fun, and the ability to recommit ourselves to our passions with both the comedic play "Love Letters," performed by the co-ministers on the 12th, and a very touching ceremony during Sunday service on Valentine's Day. You can see previous charismatic sermons by Rev. Sandy Moore at www.csloc.org (PRWeb Feb 10, 2010)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2010/02/prweb3585964.htm

New museum dedicated to Jewish culture, customs, history and music will open Feb. 28th in the St. Louis Jewish Community Center (PRWeb Feb 7, 2010)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2010/02/prweb3574024.htm

Natives of Pandora in the movie Avatar: The Last Airbender may be living spiritual and metaphysical life, thanks to Hollywood magic - but YourHolyLandStore is helping to do it in real life. (PRWeb Jan 15, 2010)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/kabbalah_red_string/evil_eye_jewelry/prweb3445794.htm

A Republican White House staff member, business executive, and established business and political author tackles the toxic relationship between doctrinal religion and politics; assesses the economic, management, and political failure of doctrinal religion; and prescribes a New Enlightenment as a step to peace and to renew mankind’s spiritual health. For a full description and to order the book, see: thenewenlightenmentbook.com. (PRWeb Jan 8, 2010)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2010/01/prweb3418444.htm

Recent historical programs on both the Discovery Channel and National Geographic have explored Mary Magdalene’s role in early Christianity, based on the emerging plethora of new archeological data. In her book “Magdala,” 7 years in the making, Valerie Gross has constructed a mesmerizing tale of Mary Magdalene by digging even deeper into history, restoring full social, political and spiritual context to the story that continues to fascinate readers of every background. (PRWeb Jan 6, 2010)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/Mary/Magdalene/prweb3377424.htm

Two weeks ago Los Angeles was rocked by a Purim party of Olympic proportions. JConnectLA, the Jewish Federation of Greater Los Angeles, and Atid – the young professional group of Sinai Temple and took over the entire Rodeo Collection on Rodeo drive. Music was provided by Moshav, Ram2, DJ Miles, and one of LA’s top DJ’s DJ Felli Fel.

When the party hit about 1000 people, the Beverly Hills Fire Marshall said enough. Purimpalooza party goers filled Purim baskets that were delivered to the Jewish elderly, and a local bone marrow registry swabbed party goers for bone marrow matches.

Purimpalooza in LA was started by Cheston Mizel, when he began the organization that became JConnectLA. The first event drew about 50-75 people. Purimpalooza has grown from year to year, changing venues and designs.

I just want to give a huge mazal tov to all the organizers, and the participants, for making the dream blossom that started seven years ago – an event to draw together Jews from all backgrounds – to help unify, inspire, and connect young Jewish people in Los Angeles. Shabbat Shalom!

Co-Sponsors: Valley Alliance, LEV Foundation, Jewlicious Festivals, Chai Center
Partners: Jews for Judaism, JAMS (of USC), Sephardic Mizrahi Young Leadership (SMYL), LA Jewish Chamber of Commerce, Jewish Big Brothers Big Sisters
Media Sponsor: www.LosAngelesBlueprint.com

Rabbi Steven Pruzansky & Maharat Sara Hurwitz

while Orthodoxy literally means “correct belief” but in actuality encompasses an entire range of thought and behavior that is regulated by Torah, Orthopraxy (”correct action”) is much more limited in scope, requiring only the adherence to certain behavioral norms without any semblance of philosophical commitment to the system from which such behavioral norms emerged.

And further describes them as

an informal, incognito group of unknown size and scope who, for the most part, practice halachic norms but do not really believe in God (or that He chose us as the nation that would carry His moral message to mankind) or understand what they are doing. They might not even believe in the divine origin of the Torah, but identify themselves with the Orthodox community for social, ethnic, cultural or even aesthetic reasons.

In the course of his article, he argues against Orthoprax’ outward practices but otherwise empty inner spiritual life. What Rabbi Pruzansky engages is a polemic against such an modus operandi and further describes Orthopraxy as something that “transcends all the traditional (and artificial) divisions in Orthodox life. It compasses right wing and left wing, modern, centrist and yeshivish, haredi and non-haredi alike.” Rabbi Pruzansky aims to prod the Orthoprax in the world towards better standards of behavior as well as thought. However, it could also come as detrimental to pushing those who are within the Orthoprax camp to feeling bad about their observance. Granted, there are plenty of places in North America where having Jews be Orthoprax is a higher level of observance than they would otherwise have been. Moreover, there is also a danger of תפסת מרובה לא תפסת תפסת מועט תפסת* – that is, some Orthoprax that may feel that it’s not for them, and not try to also develop inner Jewish beliefs, etc.
As to his proposed solution to his developing a problematic, he says

How do we triumph over Orthopraxy and reconnect our divine service to God? We can – must – infuse our mitzvot with a recognition of their divine imperative by returning to fundamentals. We should study ourselves, and teach our children, not only “how” we do things but also “why.” We all must learn the details of the mitzvot – from Shabbat to Pesach, from kashrut to monetary integrity, from the laws of Chanukah to the laws of Tisha B’Av – but also the framework of those mitzvot, how they combine to create a faithful, moral, decent servant of Hashem.

The one problem with this solution is that the answer consists of learning הלכה (Jewish way, practices) and not השקפה (Jewish outlooks) and, for someone who is not that familiar with Orthodox thought, is not tremendously helpful. In any event, I like הלכה and I’m all for studying it, but that may be an unsatisfactory solution for this issue of Rabbi Pruzansky’s.
Neverthless, Rabbi Pruzansky throws in the following:

Orthopraxy underlies such phenomena as the female clergy, the Partnership Minyanim (in which women chant portions of the davening, and a quorum of both ten men and ten women are needed to begin services), and the integration of Christians into special worship services.

Although I have no idea as to what Rabbi Pruzansky when he mentions “the integration of Christians into special worship services”, “female clergy” is nothing more than a reference to Maharat Hurwitz, who has been in the news lately, as a title change to Rabba(h) was proposed and then taken back by Rabbi Avi Weiss along with the development of Yeshivat Maharat. “Partnership minyanim” are what they sound like. As to the latter two topics, Rabbi Pruzansky clearly does not understand that these are not Orthoprax inventions. Granted, they are not typical Orthodox institutions, nevertheless, that is not what underlies them. For Jewishly-learned women aspiring to roles whereby they can use their personalities and Torah knowledge to serve our people, involves many factors, the primary of which is sociological. Since there are these תלמידות חכמים (learned Jewish women) who are ready, able, and willing to spread their Jewish wisdom, are they supposed to just sit on their knowledge and not work in the Jewish communal field? When I lived in New York, I knew several young ladies who were disappointed that after studying for years, they couldn’t go further with their training and had to go into teaching science or become librarians, etc. Granted, on the other hand, I can understand the uncomfortability that some of our fellow Orthodox brethren feel regarding such a move, with such a change. In fact, while I was an undergraduate student working on an anthropology paper with another student on women rabbis, I came up with a rough draft of an introduction that would explain why women should not be rabbis (the paper did not include this introduction).
As to partnership minyanim, they hew to halakhah, albeit with debate on how certain issues of halakhah are understood. Interestingly, Rabbi Pruzansky elsewhere points out that “it is surprising to see that many ModOs are such textual fanatics” – that is there is such a careful looking at halakhah amongst us Modern Orthodox. Now, this falls into the precise suggestion of his quoted above that “we should study ourselves, and teach our children, not only ‘how’ we do things but also ‘why.’ We all must learn the details of the mitzvot….” This is what the Modern Orthodox do – investigate halakhah. However, apparently, learning halakhah is not sufficient for Rabbi Pruzansky, as he describes in the latter piece, that some things are just meta-halakhic issues….

—
* A term meaning you reach for a lot, [stuff will fall out of your hand and] you won’t grasp it; you grab for a little bit, you will have grasped. It is a stammaitic term found twice in the Babylonian Talmud: once on Yoma 80a and once on Rosh HaShanah 4b (although, in the latter reference, it is תפשת מרובה לא תפשת תפשת מועט תפשת.

It quotes Dobson friend and former professional football player Ken Hutcherson, a pastor in Washington state, who thought it odd that Focus gave Dobson $1 million to help start his new radio program, "Family Talk with Dr. James Dobson.''

"Dr. Dobson gets off the radio in February, and he's starting a new program in May. It just didn't make sense. Why get off if you don't want to get off?" Hutcherson asked in a phone interview with TPMmuckraker.

The report notes that Dobson himself commented on this matter back in November on his show:

"(T)he board of directors voted privately on Wednesday - before we got there - to ask for my resignation, although their request was made with kindness and respect. We can only guess the reason for their decision because frankly I don't fully know," Dobson said. "But it apparently has to do with the desire for closure on my tenure and the beginning of another."

In response to the hubbub, Focus spokeswoman Joanna Brown issued this statement:

"We admire Rev. Hutcherson and the good work he has done for the cause of Christ and in support of families. He is, of course, entitled to his own opinion about the work we do, whether we agree with that opinion or not."

The TPM report links to a post from November from People for the American Way's Right Wing Watch that reported how Dobson shared with listeners that he'd been asked to resign.

1. remove Thomas Jefferson from world history curriculum on the impact of Enlightenment thinkers
   
   
2. include discussion of the right to bear arms in curriculum on First Amendment rights and free expression
   
   
3. strike down an amendment that would have required students to "examine the reasons the Founding Fathers protected religious freedom in America by barring government from promoting or disfavoring any particular religion over all others."

What is most unbelievable and emblematic of the Board's far-right majority's (lack of) understanding of the separation between religion and government in America is the third item in this litany of woes.  According to Cynthia Dunbar (one of the more prominent conservatives on the Board), the separation of religion and government wasn't actually the Founders' intent-- they wanted to promote religion.  Therefore, said Dunbar, the proposed amendment was "not historically accurate."

While (luckily), Thomas Jefferson isn't out of Texas education curricula as a whole, there is no doubt that he is one of the preeminent American scholars of the Enlightenment era and it is a shame students will not learn that.  Also, last time I checked, the right to bear arms had its own section of the Bill of Rights, you know, the Second Amendment.

What's more unfortunate is that such a narrow minded group of individuals have such power over what children learn across the country, that these are "guidelines that will affect students around the country, from kindergarten to 12th grade, for the next 10 years."  Why? Because the state of Texas buys or distributes "a staggering 48 million textbooks annually," which leads "educational publishers to tailor their products to fit the standards dictated by the Lone Star State."

To quote our friends at the Texas Freedom Network: "Let the word go out here: The Texas State Board of Education today refused to require that students learn that the Constitution prevents the U.S. government from promoting one religion over all others. They voted to lie to students by omission."

Originally broadcast October 30, 2009

JUDY VALENTE, correspondent: Seventy-eight-year-old Sister Phyllis is near death. Over a period of three days around the clock, the sisters have been taking turns keeping vigil at her bedside.

SISTER ANNE SHEPARD (Prioress of Mount St. Scholastica): In our monastery, sisters do not die alone. We stay with the sisters night and day, so that they know, they’re comforted by the fact that they joined a community, and as community they’re going to go home—the real home that we’ve been waiting for.

VALENTE: The sisters of Mount St. Scholastica die much as they live—peacefully, prayerfully, and surrounded by community. It’s a way of life that Benedictine monasteries have shown the world for more than 15 centuries, and it’s a message that still resonates.

SHEPARD: When I look at the condition of the world today, I see a world where there’s violence, one where there’s greed, one where there’s selfishness. But also one where there’s a craving for a rejuvenation of family life, a rejuvenation of spiritual life. It speaks to me of the need more than ever of a monastic presence in this world.

VALENTE: Monasteries such as this one stand in contrast to the prevailing culture. They value community over competition, service over self-interest, and in a world of Internet, cell phones, and 24-hour talk, they stress listening and silence.

SHEPARD: It’s a way of life here. It’s an absence of noise and clutter, and we come together first, and we’re just silent. We’re in the presence of God. It’s not a deadly silence. It’s a very reverent and beautiful silence. We don’t need noise to be productive. It’s just the opposite. We don’t need noise to communicate. It’s just the opposite.

Monastic life is a life of living together in prayer and community. We as Benedictines, we monastics—we’re not founded to do a particular work. The particular work of a monastery is community, and believe me, that’s hard work. Living with 165 women is hard work.

Sister saying grace at mealtime: Ever faithful God, bless the food we are about to eat and unite us in mind and heart to your son, Jesus Christ our Lord.

SHEPARD: The common table is central to who we are. You listen, and you listen with the ear of your heart. You listen with what’s inside you. That’s what it means to be a listening person, and that’s going to happen in the dining room.

VALENTE: Sister Anne says these and other practices at the monastery can be applied to family life and even to the professional world.

SHEPARD: You bring in everybody into a decision and learn from the newest members, as well as the wisdom of the older members and everything in between. So you have prioresses and former prioresses and PhDs in English and math doing dishes along with those that just entered, that don’t have those same higher degrees. That’s a radically different way than a top-down way of doing business.

VALENTE: The monastery reflects a spiritual way of life, but one that also contains practical wisdom.

SHEPARD: A major countercultural difference is that we hold things in common. That is a major thing, that it’s not the greed, that if I have a computer, if I have a laptop, it’s because it’s for the use of the community. For us, the less we have the more single our purpose. We don’t need things. We need the gospel call, and we need one another.

VALENTE: The sisters do a variety of work. They teach at Benedictine College. They operate a women’s center in nearby Kansas City, Kansas, where volunteers teach money management…

Sister teaching money management class: Budgeting is simple but it will bring, you know, a little bit of the peace of mind to your house.

VALENTE: …English as a second language…

Sister teaching language class: Out? Ought. Ought? Ought.

VALENTE: …and provide child care for mothers taking classes. Others work in the medical profession or in massage therapy. Until recently, one was even a firefighter; another, a funeral director. But the most important work of the monastery is prayer.

SHEPARD: We use the words of the Psalms and of the scriptures that nurture us, that give us life, that give us meaning. Our life is about seeking God together and bringing that God into our hearts. It’s so profound, it’s hard to even explain. But it’s the daily-ness of the prayer. It’s that we need the prayer.

VALENTE: Monastic life began to flourish after the fall of the Roman Empire. Men and women retreated to the desert to live solitary lives of prayer and penance. In the sixth century, Benedict of Nursia, known for his spiritual wisdom, left the solitary life behind and founded communities where like-minded individuals could seek learning, find security, and live a life of prayer. Today, every monastic order in the world, whether Benedictine or not, follows Benedict’s model to some extent.

A young woman comes to the monastery for music lessons from Sister Joachim Holthaus, a composer. Ever since the time of St. Benedict, monasteries have been important centers of learning and culture. This is Sister Paula Howard. Eight years ago, at age 77, she discovered her talent for creating icons, which the monastery then sells. She’s done nearly 200.

SISTER PAULA HOWARD: Well, I think all appreciation of beauty lifts your heart—that beauty belongs here. It’s a foretaste of heaven, we hope, and I just think that beauty is an image of God.

VALENTE: Both artistic beauty and the beauty of nature.

SHEPARD: A contemplative life is being in tune with the spirit, in tune with nature, in tune with creation. It’s a communion with all that is around you. It’s a sense that everything we do is significant—the way I plant a garden and care for the garden. Everything that we do has meaning, and it has meaning because we’re intentionally trying to be more prayerful. You can live a contemplative life outside of a monastery. As a matter of fact, that is our hope, that people can come here and find a sense of peace.

VALENTE: The sisters earn some income by offering spiritual retreats. These high school girls are spending several days here. The monastery has 70 lay employees and an annual budget of $4 million. Most of it goes toward operating a nursing care facility for elderly sisters. The monastery also receives donations and bequests and government funding for its nursing home. Another source of income: the salaries of sisters who do outside work, like Sister Mary Palarino, a clinical social worker.

VALENTE: You could do this work as a lay person. I’m wondering what you think being a sister brings to this.

SISTER MARY PALARINO: You know, I really don’t think I could do it as holistically and as comprehensively unless I were a member of my community and living the Benedictine way of life.

VALENTE: Mount St. Scholastica is nearly 150 years old. Some 2,000 women religious have passed through its doors. Today the vast majority of the sisters here are over the age of 55.

PALARINO: I do get concerned about people not joining us, and I don’t understand that, I mean, because it seems like young people today are—they seek, and they have a hunger for community, for prayer life, for social justice issues. They have a hunger, you know, to follow something greater. We have that.

VALENTE: Sister Anne Shepard:

SHEPARD: Where it’s going to go in the future? It’s going to go wherever God takes us. We’re going to be smaller. We’re going to be just as vibrant. But it’s not easy. Any genuine commitment isn’t easy. That gift of unselfishness is the reason we make a promise to be faithful for all our lives, every day of our lives.

VALENTE: These sisters believe that as long as there is a need in the world for quietude, simplicity, balance, prayer, and community, there will always be a purpose to monastic life.

For Religion & Ethics NewsWeekly, this is Judy Valente at Mount St. Scholastica in Atchison, Kansas.

by Judith Valente

Originally published October 30, 2009

“Is there anyone here who yearns for life and desires to see good days?”

Those stirring words come from one of the most durable spiritual guides of all time, the Rule of St. Benedict. It’s been said everything one needs to know about living the spiritual life is contained in this little book. Over the past year, this 1,500-year-old treatise has become, for me, a constant companion.

Since June of 2008, I’ve had the extraordinary opportunity to spend an average of a week a month at Mount St. Scholastica, a Benedictine monastery for women in Atchison, Kansas. I’ve been invited to share as deeply as a lay person can in the spiritual life of the sisters for a book I’ve been asked to write. I admit I questioned at first what practical wisdom a monastery might hold for a modern, married, professional woman like me. It turns out I’ve learned plenty.

I used to think of monasteries as outmoded remnants of a past era. But now, when I enter Mount St. Scholastica, I feel as if I’m peering into the future, a future our world so desperately needs—one that stresses community over competitiveness, service over self-aggrandizement, quietude over gratuitous talk, and simplicity over constant consumption. The Mount is a place where those who listen are valued as much as those who speak up; a place where people forgo personal wealth but want for nothing, where prayers are said for the victims of violent crime and bells are tolled when a Death Row prisoner is executed.

I identify now with the words of Thomas Merton, the famous Trappist monk and spiritual writer. After his first visit as a young man to the Abbey of Gethsemani, Merton wrote in his journal: “I had wondered what was holding this country together, what has been keeping the universe from cracking in pieces and falling apart. It is this monastery.”

Whenever I walk into Mount St. Scholastica, I have the sense that I’m entering a deeper reality. It starts with the beginning of the day. The sisters don’t wake up and immediately turn on National Public Radio or read The New York Times, as I do. Day begins with Morning Praise. The sisters trace the sign of the cross over their lips and say, “Lord, open my lips, and we shall proclaim your praise.” It’s a way of promising that the entire day is going to be a form of praise. It’s not about checking off all the things on one’s to-do list, or plotting to sell more things today than yesterday or, as in my case, writing more words than I did the day before. It’s about making sure everything we do in the course of the day is an act of praise, an expression of gratitude for life.

After the sisters say that little prayer, they sing. Imagine how different our days might begin, if we started out each morning singing—even just mentally singing something in our head. If you’re someone who loves Broadway show tunes, as I do, you might choose “Oh, What a Beautiful Morning.” Or it could be a favorite hymn (“We Rise Again from Ashes” is one of my morning favorites).

People think of monasteries of very quiet, perhaps even lonely places. But the truth is they teem with activity. The sisters work outside at many different jobs: teaching, doing social work, counseling, and hospital chaplaincy (one at the Mount was even a firefighter, another a funeral director), but everyone also has a job to perform within the monastery. Each sister takes a turn at cleaning the bathrooms and doing the dishes (albeit with industrial-size mechanical dishwashers). Even the prioress and the PhDs have their “at bat” at these menial jobs. It’s a way of saying that all work is sacred. Ora et labora, work and prayer, is the Benedictine motto. I like to think of it not so much as work and prayer, but work as prayer.

“Let the cellarer [the monastery supply clerk] handle the kitchen utensils as if they were the sacred vessels of the altar,” St. Benedict says in the Rule. It’s a reminder to respect the common objects and utensils of our lives and a promise to extend that respect to the people around us, the community we live in, our natural resources, and our environment.

In his book on the Rule of St. Benedict (Always We Begin Again: The Benedictine Way of Living, Morehouse Publishing, 1996) John McQuiston, a trial attorney, points out, “Everything we have is on loan. Our homes, businesses, rivers, closest relationships, bodies, and experiences, everything we have is ours in trust and must be returned at the end of our use of it.” This is the way of monastics. As we continue to reap the damages of our throw-away society, we can see just how far-sighted monasteries have been.

There are some old monastic customs that the sisters don’t follow anymore, and frankly I wish some of them could become a part of our everyday lives. My friend, Sister Thomasita Homan, told me that for many years, whenever a group of sisters were assigned to work together a project, they would bow to each other and say in German (the native language of the first Benedictines in Atchison), “Have patience with me.” Imagine doing that in today’s workplace! I think about how much more pleasant it might be, when I’m out reporting a story for PBS, if I bowed to the cameraman, bowed to the producer, and they to me, and we asked each other to have patience, please, with each others’ human frailties.

Such humility forms the core of monastic life. It is especially important for Benedictines, who take a vow of stability. The vow commits them to live—and grow—with the same group of people at the same monastery for the rest of their lives. Stability recognizes, as one sister put it, that “there’s nowhere else but here.”

At Mount St. Scholastica, there are sisters who have lived together for as many as 75 years. Having moved from state to state here in the U.S. and lived in three European cities over the course of my career, the notion of spending one’s entire life in the same place seems quite foreign to me. In fact, the whole concept is alien to our highly mobile American society. Stability reminds us to grow where we’re planted. A monk was asked, “What is it then to be stable?” And he answered, “You will find stability at the moment when you discover that God is everywhere; that you do not need to seek God elsewhere. God is here, and it is useless to seek God elsewhere, because it is not God that is absent from us. It is we who are absent from God.”

Often that absence stems from a simple lack of balance. We have an abundance of food in this country, plenty of gadgets and opportunities for recreation. What we lack is time to enjoy them. The rhythm of monastic life opens the way for balance. Benedict in his Rule stipulates that monks get seven hours rest a night. Those who require more food because they are ill or weak should get it, and those who aren’t strong enough to do physical labor won’t be forced to do it. The Benedictines even go so far as to call leisure “holy.”

I saw firsthand the Benedictine way of balance when I was at Mount St. Scholastica as Lent began this year. First, the sisters enjoyed the monastic version of Mardi Gras. All of them, even the elderly ones living in the nursing home wing, gathered for beignets and hot chocolate. Not just any hot chocolate, but hot chocolate spiked with peppermint schnapps. The sisters laughed and joked and were having a grand time. But at the appointed moment, everyone got up from their tables and walked in a procession from the community room to the dining room. There, a fire blazed in the fireplace. One of the sisters carried in the palms from last year’s Palm Sunday. One by one she threw the branches in the fire to create the ashes for this year’s Ash Wednesday, and from that moment on there was complete silence in the monastery for the rest of the night and all day Ash Wednesday. A time for fun and leisure, yes, and a time to be serious and prayerful. Balance.

Perhaps the most important word I’ve learned at the monastery is a Latin word: conversatio. It refers to another one of the vows taken specifically by Benedictine monks and sisters: conversatio morum, literally “conversion of morals.” The phrase is often loosely translated as “conversion of life.” But I like the definition Sister Thomasita once gave to me: conversatio as a constant “turning toward,” a constant conversation with life.

I like the idea of turning because it connotes change, and there are certain aspects of my life I’ve been trying to change for a long time. Like my quick temper. I find that I like the person I am at the monastery much better than the person I am in my everyday life, because when I’m at the monastery I’m calm. I’m patient. I don’t lose my temper. Once, just a few days after I returned home from the monastery, I argued with my beautiful husband. It was a totally silly, unnecessary argument, and I emailed Sister Thomasita and asked, “Why do I have these stupid arguments with my husband, who’s the person as close to me as God? Why can’t I live conversatio in my day-to-day life with the people I’m closest to? And she answered, “You are living conversatio. Your struggle. That’s the conversatio.” And that gave me hope—hope that I don’t have to be a saint. I just have to be human.

“Keep death before you daily,” Benedict says in the Rule. It’s a potent reminder not to spend my life twisting in anger or caught up with what Thomas Merton called “useless care.” My stays at the monastery propel me every day to remember what is essential, what gives my life meaning. Merton referred to it as finding “the hidden ground of our being,” finding that place where we not only discover God, but where God can discover us.

I suppose I am just one of the many Benedict has spoken to through the ages who yearns for life and desires to see good days. “Run, then,” Benedict reminds me and all of us, “while you have the light of life, that the darkness of death may not overtake you.”

Judith Valente, a contributing correspondent for Religion & Ethics NewsWeekly, is also a poet and co-editor with Charles Reynard of Twenty Poems to Nourish Your Soul (Loyola Press, 2005).

There were special prayers and vigils around the world to mark the 51st anniversary of the failed Tibetan uprising against Chinese rule and the exile of the Dalai Lama. From his headquarters in Dharmsala, India, the Dalai Lama prayed for those still living in Tibet, and he had some unusually harsh words for Chinese authorities, accusing them of trying to “annihilate Buddhism” in Tibet.

Her argument, in essence: those suffering because of systemic challenges will continue to suffer, Jew or non-Jew, unless the systems causing the challenges are dismantled.

Do you have thoughts on this debate?

Pope Benedict XVI met with Germany's top Roman Catholic bishop this morning to discuss the growing sex abuse scandal; our Vatican correspondent Francis X. Rocca will wrap it all together later today on these pages. Meanwhile, former members of the (not church-affiliated) Vienna Boys Choir are alleging abuse by former supervisors. 

Here at home, a federal appeals court, in a flipflop of a 2002 decision, has decided that the words "one nation under God" in the Pledge of Allegiance and "In God We Trust" on coins and currency don't violate the Constitution after all. 

As Congress continues the long slog toward health care reform, NPR talks to Christian health-sharing ministries that split health care costs among members, and moderate-to-progress faith groups say abortion restrictions are actually tighter than many anti-abortion activists want to admit. The LA Times explores the growing synergy (or not)between veteran religious political activists and the Tea Party movement (Rick Santorum's already jumped on that bandwagon), and that Mississippi school that canceled prom rather than allow a lesbian student to attend with her girlfriend is now facing a lawsuit from the ACLU, which seeks to turn the music back on. Haven't these people ever seen Footloose?

Christian groups -- and not just lefties -- are firing back at Fox News' Glenn Beck for his call to parishioners to flee their churches at the first sign of "social justice" teaching, and also appearing to link "social justice" with Naziism and communism. President Obama has announced the charitable recipients of his $1.4 million Nobel Peace Prize money, including $200,000 to the Clinton-Bush Haiti fund.

Morocco is defending its decision to expel 20 Christian missionaries. Convicts in Georgia (the former Soviet satellite, not the land of shrimp and grits) can serve time in monasteries working for the Georgian Orthodox Church. Gay couples in Mexico City tied the knot on Thursday, becoming the first same-sex couples to wed in Mexico under a new policy that is being challenged by the federal government, not to mention the Catholic Church (Danes don't seem to have a problem with it). Some at the Vatican are ticked that a Rome high school has installed condom machines, saying it will lead students to have pre-marital sex.

The State Department is out with its annual human rights report for 194 countries around the world; it includes sections on religious freedom violations in China, Cuba, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and all the usual suspects (search for the term  "religious" to see the highlights)

In Texas, Republicans on the state Board of Education shot down a Democratic move to teach children about why the Founding Fathers banned government support of religion; GOP members said the proposal downplayed the Founders' religious faith. In a sign that high school graduation season is just around the corner, there's already a lawsuit: A suburban Indianapolis valedictorian thinks its a bad idea to have students vote on whether to have a prayer at graduation.

A year after the senior pastor of First Baptist Church in Maryville, Ill., was shot dead in the pulpit, our pal Tim Townsend finds the church is thriving. Rabbi Harold Kushner is still trying to answer the question of why bad things happen to good people, and Archbishop Desmond Tutu is pondering what it means to be "Made for Goodness," the title of his new book, and speaking out against a gay rights crackdown in Africa.

Now serving illegal escargot: Devotees of a Florida man who practiced a traditional African religion said they were sickened after being told to ingest the mucus of a Giant African Snail. Tasty.

Today I’m reposting my Jewish Week story for this week, because it is perhaps one of the craziest stories I have ever written. Enjoy, and feel free to leave comments below.

Rabbi Mordechai Aderet: Party crasher frightens guests.

Like biblical plagues raining down on them from an angry God, the white-bearded, black-hatted rabbi laid a string of curses upon the unsuspecting suburban partygoers. Banging a siddur on a table and screaming “Shema Yisrael,” the rabbi, accompanied by a four-man entourage — all of whom had burst into a Great Neck home — lit into those gathered for an evening of celebration, mixed dancing and traditional Iranian fare in honor of a little girl’s first birthday.

After “shrieking Hebrew oaths,” the “uninvited” rabbi launched into a “lengthy diatribe” during which he told those who chose to remain at the party that they would be cursed with “illness, bankruptcy and tragedy for eternity,” according to a petition signed by some of those in attendance.

“They just came right in like a storm, inside the middle of the party,” said a woman who attended the December party but, like many others contacted by The Jewish Week, asked to remain anonymous because she fears for her safety. “They started to curse everybody, saying — ‘You’re going to have tragedies, everyone who stays here.’”

Guests and their children were allegedly so frightened by the rabbi’s intrusion that many left, while others stood shaking and crying, according to those in attendance.

After the rabbi left, rumors began circulating around the community about the presence of naked women at the party. Those in attendance suspect the rabbi and his men of spreading the reports.

The actions of Rabbi Mordechai Aderet — and the sheer incongruity of medieval-like curses being hurled at well-off Persian Jews in Great Neck, of all places — have sent shockwaves through the local Jewish community.

Other rabbis in the community seem stunned by Rabbi Aderet’s alleged behavior. Those at the party drafted an emotional memo to a Great Neck bet din detailing their “deep distress, sadness and anger” over the rabbi’s actions. It urged the rabbis making up the religious court to “use your influence to prevail upon your colleague to cease and desist from his unauthorized, illegal and unethical harassment of members of our community.”

And the bet din, run by Rabbi Eliyahu Ben-Haim, in turn circulated a letter among Great Neck rabbis that referenced the incident, but without mentioning Rabbi Aderet’s name, according to those who saw it. Only one rabbi is believed to have signed the letter.

“No one else wanted to even get near it,” said the one signatory, Rabbi Yamin Levy, who is vice president of yeshiva affairs at Yeshivat Chovevei Torah Rabbinical School and serves as a part-time rabbi at a Great Neck congregation, Beth Hadassah. “Rabbis don’t want to go on record as appearing like they’re against a colleague.”

Reached by phone, Rabbi Ben-Haim said he would not comment on Rabbi Aderet, then hung up. Rabbi Aderet refused to speak with The Jewish Week himself but asked that the paper call one of his main supporters who would speak on the rabbi’s behalf.

In an indication of how controversial Rabbi Aderet has become in Great Neck, the congregant tapped to speak for him would not agree to use his name, saying that his business might suffer from the association.

“They [the partygoers] exaggerated the event in order to take revenge against Rabbi Aderet and the Orthodox Jewish community because they don’t want Great Neck to become Orthodox,” Rabbi Aderet’s supporter said. “They don’t want another Five Towns.”

The supporter, who accompanied Rabbi Aderet to the party, claims he was invited, though he could not produce an invitation. Partygoers say Rabbi Aderet was not invited and that invitations were sent out to all of those on the guest list.

Rabbi Aderet’s supporter suggested The Jewish Week call Rabbi Avraham Cohen of Torah Va Danesh, an Orthodox synagogue in Great Neck, for comment. When reached, the rabbi said through a secretary that he “doesn’t want to get involved.” Continue reading…

When we arrived at the Haitian embassy to meet the Ambassador and his wife, there was little to indicate the devastation and loss of life that the earthquake had left in its wake.  Apparently weeks before hundreds of people stopped by the tiny embassy, trying to leave donations or find out if families and friends were known to be alive.  But now it was silent. No passers-by, just a sign on the door to say that they could not accept any goods in kind.   The building is dwarfed by the surrounding embassies.  They are grand and imposing. Perhaps this slim and modest building is appropriate for the poorest country in the Americas. Inside the furniture is classically European but the art is spectacularly Haitian - it left me a bit confused until I met the Ambassador and his wife.

His Excellency Raymond Joseph, Ambassador to the United States from the Republic of Haiti, is a joyful, intelligent, sharp amalgam of Haitian culture and the ways of the west.  Born and raised in Cayes, Haiti, he is mostly known as a journalist. In the 1960's he was a radio personality. In the 70's and 80's he was at the Wall Street Journal in New York as a financial writer and co-founded the Haiti-Observateur, the first crusading commercial Haitian weekly.  In 1990 Mr. Joseph was called to be Haiti's Charge d'Affaires in Washington and his own country's representative at the Organization of American States.  After helping with the first democratic elections in December of 1990, he returned to the Haiti Observateur where he remained until he was called to Washington in 2004 as the Ambassador.

You can imagine what a wealth of experiences this man brings to a meeting. Members of the Temple Rodef Shalom clergy sat down with the Ambassador and his equally engaging and articulate wife, Lola Poisson-Joseph, to discuss how we might embark on a joint venture to help repair Haiti.  While the weight of his nation and its deep tragedy sat on his shoulders, the Ambassador regaled us with stories that connect Haiti with the Jewish people. He talked about Haiti's vote to support the creation of the State of Israel. He told stories about welcoming Jewish refugees after WWII. He shared his knowledge of Torah and his love of Hebrew!  Finally, we spoke about creating a project to restore a community in his country.

Lola Posson-Joseph, a social activist and artist, has a relationship with a town outside of Port-au-Prince called Petit-Guave. She had been working on building a shelter there for the poor members of the community.  She painted a splendid picture of this town, its history and its citizens. It is filled with a rich culture and teaming with human potential.  We agreed that our goal would be to rebuild at least one central institution of Petit-Guave - the shelter, the only school or the 300 year old church, which also functions as a community center.

On February 16th the Ambassador and his wife came to Temple Rodef Shalom to participate in a service of solidarity and hope for Haiti. The Ambassador updated the congregation about the relief efforts. Mrs. Poisson-Joseph talked about Petit-Guave and helped us to imagine how we might help. The day of our service, there were no pictures in the paper about Haiti.  Support efforts by doctors and builders and emergency workers were still under way but for many, in our safe and comfortable homes, the story of the earthquake has passed.  Some have moved onto other issues in the world. Those who came to our service affirmed that Haiti, and its need for our support, is still very much alive.  As former President Bill Clinton recently wrote: "Haiti can surely move beyond its troubled history and this lethal earthquake to emerge a stronger, more secure nation.  But that can't be done with government support alone. Ordinary citizens must fill the gaps."

As I post, the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee is holding a hearing on Home Star, an exciting new program that will help residents save money on their energy bill and create hundreds of thousands of green jobs. Watch the live webcast here.

Giving Home Star serious consideration in this committee is a encouraging step since President Obama gave the program his support last week.

The Home Star legislation has drawn a huge range of supporters, from Dow Chemicals, Change to Win, and Green For All.  Here are some excerpts from their testimony today.  

“Home Star is an essential step to help Americans save on their energy bills while spurring the creation of good jobs and new industries that drive economic recovery and help our country achieve energy independence,” said Chris Chafe, Executive Director of Change to Win. 

“We believe the HOME STAR program will deliver both economic and environmental benefits,” said Andrew N. Liveris, Chairman and CEO of The Dow Chemical Company. “Economically, it will stimulate the construction sector, among the hardest hit in the recession, while also giving relief to homeowners, who count energy as their largest cost after their mortgage. HOME STAR has the additional benefit of offering immediate consumer relief through direct rebates rather than tax credits to be accrued in a distant future.”

As you can see, the program will bring massive benefits to consumers and the environment, but if there is one thing to take away from Home Star, its jobs.  The program will create over 150,000 jobs in the construction and manufacturing sectors. This type of innovative job creation program is exactly what we need.   

But what will it actually mean for every day citizens.  Daniel Gross has a great piece in Slate Magazine sharing his experience testing his home insulation.  After doing a blow test (when they fire up a huge fan in your front door to find where you have leakage) he found lots of places he could save energy.  However, the problem is paying for it:

Insulation is more expensive and more intrusive than things like smart meters, programmable thermostats, or compact fluorescents. Improving your insulation could involve cutting holes in walls and ceilings, ripping some stuff out, and blowing or rolling other stuff in.

Luckily, Robert has access to Connecticuts Energy Efficiency Fund, which helps people pay the up front costs on these retrofits they everyone can yield the benefits.  

This is the key point.  Home Star is good for everyone. It saves money, energy, and the environment.  So why do we need it?  because home owners need help getting over that initial up-front cost hump.  With a little help up front, there is a huge return.

by Byron Citron

The supernatural is real to a child, especially to one looking for answers to family secrets or unexplained attitudes of his parents.

When my grandfather Citron was alive, he conducted the major holiday celebrations. I vividly remember 1925 Passover when I was about seven. The Citrons were seated around a large oblong table. My grandfather was at the head, my father, at the opposite end.  Next in order were my grandmother, Aunt Marie, Aunt Ada, Uncle Uri, Lotte Lafee Kellner, cousin Jessie, my mother, my sister Ula, and my new brother Bob, just one month old, and finally, an empty chair with a place setting for Elijah.

The Passover table was set with white, initialed linen napkins, water, and initialed crystal wine glasses, matzos, candles, and fresh flowers. The tantalizing aromas still almost overpower me. The serving, as in the past was very, very slow. The telling of the Passover story had to come first, terribly long but intended to engage everyone, especially the children, to participate in reading and singing. We children were at first fidgety but finally quieted down.

The seder began when the first matzos, carefully wrapped in a napkin, were broken. Then, after more passages of the Passover story were read, we began with the haroset.  The reading continued. The course endured with the children becoming more excited over the Angel of Death killing the first-born of the Egyptians and the violent sea engulfing the Kingdoms of the Egyptians and their armies. The Hebrew slaves were saved, and so were children--almost free!

At last the main entrée was served following a final prayer, songs, and a toast. The wine glasses were filled again, and the legendary arrival of the Prophet Elijah who heralds the messiah who is to come. The glasses were raised, and then unexpectedly the doorbell rings.  Who could it be, the ghost of Elijah? Could a ghost ring a doorbell?

I stood still, frozen hand on the door knob. A long moment of silence, and than a loud father's voice, "Open the door! "  Then again, "Open the DOOR, Byron!" my father ordered.  "Allow the spirit of Elijah to enter."

I reluctantly opened the door revealing a tall strange man and several children. It was Marcus Lafee, my mother's only living brother and his family. My mother had not seen her brother since her wedding. Years later, my mother suggested that Marcus had been opposed to her marriage to my father and especially to her having left San Francisco for a home in Los Angeles. Such are the slights and hurts that plague family circles.

I remember this "ghost story" each spring when I visit Sarah Atkinson Lafee, the eldest of Marcus' five children. Sarah is now over 90 years old, and we two are the last of that memorable Seder 85 years ago.

Byron Citron is a 3rd generation Californian; his grandparents left Russia in 1872  just after the California Gold Rush. He attended UCLA, and served with the 147th Infantry as back up of World War II First Marine Division at Iwo Jima. He worked for Union Labor Management, ILGWU San Francisco as a Time and Motion Engineer, as well as commercial construction and forensic analysis, and retired in 1998. He is currently a volunteer for hospice and lives with his daughter in Northern California, where he takes writing classes.