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California Briefing: Southern California rabbi board opposes gay marriage ban
September 27, 2008
Southern California's largest collection of rabbis voted overwhelmingly this week to oppose Proposition 8, the proposed amendment to the California Constitution that would define marriage as between only a man and a woman.
Leaders of the Board of Rabbis of Southern California -- with representatives from the Reconstructionist, Reform, Conservative and Orthodox movements -- said they wanted to protect the civil rights of gay and lesbian couples.
"For many rabbis it speaks on a personal level in terms of people they deal with whose lives have been impacted over the issue," said Rabbi Stewart Vogel of Temple Aliyah in Woodland Hills and the board's president.
The board has more than 290 members. Roughly 120 took part in Wednesday's vote, the largest number of rabbis to weigh in on such an issue in recent memory.
Vogel said Friday that 93% of those who cast votes supported the resolution. Some voiced concern about the board wading into a political controversy given the diversity of its members' religious views.
Vogel said the resolution did not address the sanctity of gay marriage. Instead, it urged a no vote on Proposition 8 so that same-sex couples can continue to marry under civil law.
The High Cost of Dying
and
Planning Ahead
by Jane Ullman | August 6, 2008
After Settling Kosher Food Suit, California Prisons Get Influx of Jewish Chaplains
Rebecca Spence | Tue. Jun 03, 2008
Mendel Slavin went to work as a chaplain in a San Diego prison in 2006. A Chabad-Lubavitch Hasidic rabbi from the Crown Heights section of Brooklyn, he was one of about a dozen Jewish chaplains serving California’s fractional Jewish inmate population at the time. But in the two years since then, that number has literally doubled. Read more
The Dreadful 'D' Words
By Bishop Mary Ann Swenson and Dr. Nur Amersi
This opinion piece was published in the Los Angeles Jewish Journal on April 25, 2008. Bishop Swenson and Dr. Amersi were part of the Los Angeles Religious Leaders Interfaith Mission to Rome & Jerusalem in January 2008.
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March 27, 2008
Knesset Members To Meet With Mainline Protestants
In the wake of recent strains between Jewish leaders and the leaders of America’s mainline Protestant churches, the Board of Rabbis of Southern California is convening a luncheon with top interfaith leaders and three Israeli Knesset members.
Key representatives of The United Methodist Church, which has opened discussions calling for Israeli divestment in advance of the church’s April parley, are expected at the March 28 event, along with Presbyterian, Mormon and Roman Catholic leaders.
The luncheon will be held at the Jewish Federation of Greater Los Angeles. It is seen as an avenue to give non-Jewish religious leaders an opportunity to interact with Knesset members, said Rabbi Mark Diamond, executive vice president of the Board of Rabbis of Southern California. The Israeli politicians at the event include the only Arab Christian Knesset member, Nadia Hilou, as well as Shlomo Molla, the only Ethiopian member, and Sephardic Kadima party member Yoel Hasson.
Diamond, who in January led an interfaith delegation to Israel and to the Vatican, said that he is often surprised at how different Jewish leaders’ trips to Israel are from those of their Christian counterparts.
"On our trips to Israel, we meet with Israeli government officials and Israeli journalists," Diamond said, "whereas our Christian friends usually come to the 'Holy Land,' stay in East Jerusalem and meet with their Palestinian friends."
Diamond also said that he and Bishop Mary Ann Swenson, the presiding bishop of the California-Pacific Conference of the Methodist Church, recently convened a meeting of top Methodist and Jewish leaders in Southern California to discuss the divestment issue.
— Rebecca Spence
Forward.com
2008-04-08
Knesset contingent teaches a crash course in Israel 101
By Tom Tugend, Contributing Editor
...Not by accident, the five Knesset members personified the ideological and ethnic diversity of Israel. Most startling for those accustomed to daily headlines of Jewish-Arab confrontations was the presence of Nadia Hilou, a chic, blondish Arab Christian grandmother, representing the left-wing Labor Party.
She was flanked at an interfaith luncheon Friday, hosted by the Board of Rabbis, by Knesset members Shlomo Molla of the centrist Kadima Party, who was born in a small Ethiopian village, and Yoel Hasson, also of Kadima, whose grandfather came from Tunisia.
At the interfaith luncheon, Los Angeles showcased its own religious diversity, with Methodist, Presbyterian, Mormon, Roman Catholic and Baha'i clergy and lay leaders joining rabbis and Federation representatives.
The three visitors spoke warmly of their meetings with city council members and Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, and later, in Sacramento, with some 35 state senators and assemblymen, plus Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.
Afterward, the visitors spoke informally to The Journal, stressing how Ashkenazi-Sephardi and other ethnic divisions, which not so long ago were seen as a real threat to Israeli unity, have become largely a nonissue.
"We're now all part of the Israeli mosaic," Hilou said. More >>
2008-02-08
Los Angeles area interfaith clergy visit Rome, Israel
By Orit Arfa, Contributing Writer
Jewish, Christian and Muslim representatives of the Religious Leaders of Los Angeles Mission to Rome and Jerusalem pause in remembrance of Holocaust vicitms in the Valley of the Communities at Yad Vashem.
Late last month, on International Holocaust Remembrance Day, 27 delegates of a weeklong interfaith mission from greater Los Angeles gathered in a circle at Yad Vashem's Valley of Communities, a monument carved out of bedrock to honor Jewish communities obliterated in the Holocaust. The cold morning foreshadowed the upcoming Jerusalem snowstorm, and the leaders representing Jewish, Catholic, Protestant and Muslim denominations warmed one another with words of conciliation and prayer, countering the chilly air and the chilling images of Jewish genocide they had seen a few moments earlier at the Yad Vashem museum.
"The first thing I felt was pain, and that pain became an attitude for all other emotions that flooded my being," began Bishop Sergio Carranza-Gomez of the Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles in his light Mexican accent. "The first was sadness -- sadness at seeing how many lives were destroyed, completely obliterated; and it became a pained sadness. Then sorrow -- sorrow for the needless suffering of thousands of human beings; and it became a painful sorrow."
Speaking with The Journal after his poetic speech, Bishop Gomez expressed his fear that "there is a real danger of an increased anti-Zionism. You can see that in their world. Anti-Semitism has not been abolished. It's still alive everywhere."
Sadness and sorrow permeated the gathering at Yad Vashem, the mission's first stop on its second day in Jerusalem, but those emotions later became diffused, although not quite forgotten, as the delegates continued their Jerusalem leg of the tour. An atmosphere of fraternity and interfaith celebration had already been forged days earlier during the group's visit to the Vatican in Rome.
"We are in parallel universes. This trip was designed to bring those universes together," said Rabbi Mark Diamond, executive vice president of the Board of Rabbis of Southern California, who co-led the mission with Edward W. Clark, bishop of Our Lady of the Angels Region, Archdiocese of Los Angeles. Diamond led an interfaith mission to Israel two years earlier under the auspices of the Los Angeles Council of Religious Leaders, and this year organizers decided to complement the pilgrimage to Israel with one to the Vatican. "Both in the Vatican and here in Israel we learned there is no substitute to learning nuance and complexities of issues than to travel to these places and meet with the leaders."
The ancient historical and religious intersections between Judaism, Christianity and Islam as well as modern interfaith ties were explored through joint religious and cultural events, visits to holy sites in Rome and Jerusalem, and personal meetings with senior Vatican and Israeli officials. At the Vatican, the Jewish delegation presented the pope with a crystal sculpture imprinted with the Ten Commandments. Jewish participants included Rabbi Stewart Vogel (Temple Aliyah, Woodland Hills), Rabbi Mark Hyman (Congregation Tikvat Jacob, Manhattan Beach), Rabbi Steven Carr Reuben (Kehillat Israel Reconstructionist Congregation, Pacific Palisades), Rabbi Ronald Stern (Stephen S. Wise Temple), Glenn Kantor (an attorney and representative of Temple Ahavat Shalom, Northridge), Stephen Saltzman (a consultant and representative of Baba Sale Congregation, Los Angeles) and Jonathan Freund (program director, Board of Rabbis of Southern California).
"The symbolism alone is powerful," Reuben said. "For me it's being able to see the world through other people's eyes. That's part of what made it so meaningful, to experience the Vatican as part of a larger group that has a whole different lifetime of emotion, connection, commitment and belief than I do."
For the Rev. Alexei Smith, director of the Office of Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, a particularly moving highlight of the trip was prayer at the tomb of Pope John Paul II, whom he regards as the great interpreter of the Second Vatican Council, which dramatically altered Jewish-Catholic relations.
"He clearly stated that we don't blame the Jews for the death of Christ. His latest teachings taught that anti-Semitism was a sin," Smith said on the tour bus leaving Yad Vashem. Pope John Paul II was also the first pope to visit the ancient synagogue in Rome, which is still active today. "I could feel his presence," recalled Smith of the group's visit there.
The night before, the group was briefed on the Israel-Palestinian conflict by Arab-Israeli journalist, Khaled Abu Toameh, but the conflict was not a major feature of the itinerary. Throughout the day in Jerusalem, potentially contentious subjects -- like the humanitarian debacle in Gaza or the Methodist Church's petition to divest from Israel -- were hardly broached.
The main concern voiced by the Catholic leaders on behalf of the Vatican dealt with the issue of taxation of church property in Israel and the difficulty for clergy to receive multiple entry visas into Israel. These issues were addressed at the Israel Ministry of Welfare and Social Affairs, where Minister Isaac Herzog apprised the group of progress being made.
"In the matter of visas, we are moving along," Herzog told the group. "Usually it's due to security considerations. If you bring clergy from Arab countries, there are more complications."
The Christian community in Israel, said Herzog, is facing a more pressing societal challenge. "The biggest problem is the children go to universities abroad and join congregations abroad, and they fear the number of Christians will decrease in the future."
Much to the chagrin of the participants, a visit with Palestinian Prime Minister Dr. Salam Fayyad in Ramallah was cancelled at the last minute when the prime minister was delayed in Cairo.
Dr. Nur Amersi, executive director of the Afghanistan World Foundation and resource development and communications officer, Western U.S.A. for the Institute of Ismaili Studies, the only Muslim delegate on the mission, made up for the cancelled Ramallah visit by spending the afternoon in the Arab shuk in the Old City. After speaking with Arab locals, she was struck by the psychological divide she found between the Arabs and Jews, who, in her opinion, are in desperate need of their own interfaith work. At the same time, the Arab shop owners expressed dissatisfaction with the Palestinian Authority and general contentment living in Israel, where business is good.
At a festive dinner at the Olive & Fish restaurant in Jerusalem, where the group was joined by the Greek Orthodox Patriarch Theophilus III of Jerusalem and other Israel-based religious leaders, Amersi admitted that some community and family members had challenged her participation in what could be construed as a trip politically biased towards Israel. As a devout Shiite, she viewed the trip first and foremost as a religious mission, an opportunity to study other Abrahamic faiths at their source and also to fulfill her dream to visit the Dome of the Rock. "I really would encourage more Muslims to travel to Rome and especially to Jerusalem," she said.
Amersi said she saw herself as the proxy for the rest of the group when she was the only one permitted to ascend the Temple Mount, whose visiting hours are strictly limited for non-Muslims. Much to her surprise, she was allowed to enter the site only after passing an oral quiz on the Quran.
"It's ironic," she said, "because that sacred spot is holy to the Abrahamic faiths, and because of my Muslim credentials I was the only one allowed there, so it was also a sad moment and emotional."
The peace process came up at dinner, when Knesset member Rabbi Michael Melchior addressed the group, unveiling an initiative to marshal Muslim and Jewish religious leaders in the execution of the peace process.
"The religious aspect has been excluded from the peace process, and that was a mistake," Melchior told the crowd. Granting religious legitimacy to the peace process, he noted, would be one step toward ensuring its success.
At dinner, the Rev. Kathryn Cherie Jones, senior pastor at Atascadero United Methodist Church, shared her ambivalence and uncertainty regarding her position on the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.
"When I listen to Jewish leaders I get a better feeling of what it's like to be here -- with the history of the Shoah, the wars breaking out here, the desire to live in the land that was promised. And I think of the Palestinians and their dreams to live in a land promised to them and the children scarred, and I don't know where to stand."
Similar sentiments were expressed by Bishop Mary Ann Swenson of the United Methodist Church in Pasadena. "Our learning is that it is very complicated and complex, and there are no specific solutions."
But throughout the day, no heated polemics, arguments or rhetoric ruffled the general harmony of the trip.
"What's so powerful for me is how easy it is," remarked Reconstructionist Rabbi Reuben, summing up the day. "It's tension-free."
copyright 2006 jewishjournal.com
Religious leaders join hands to take on worldwide woes
By K. Connie Kang
Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
February 2, 2008
Religious leaders should lead the way in solving the world's persistent problems, such as hunger, disease and violence, by reaching out to -- and working with -- people of other faiths, Los Angeles area Christian, Muslim and Jewish leaders say.
"It is increasingly clear to some of us that the world's problems can't be solved simply politically," said the Rev. Jerry Campbell, president of Claremont School of Theology, after returning this week from a nine-day study trip to Rome, the Vatican and Jerusalem.
Campbell traveled as a member of the Los Angeles Council of Religious Leaders, and the trip was designed to promote understanding and appreciation of the complexity of the Middle East. It was the second such trip for the council and was co-sponsored by the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles and the Board of Rabbis of Southern California.
"It's not about converting or changing one another," Campbell said. "It's about a dialogue -- conversation and common efforts on the problems we all agree are shameful."
Campbell expressed the hope that Los Angeles -- a microcosm of global diversity -- would become a "model city for the world," where people of faith would serve humanity with "love and respect" for each other's viewpoints.
He and several members of the delegation -- priests, rabbis, pastors and lay leaders -- said meetings with an array of experts working on peace, interreligious issues and the mission of the religious institutions had renewed their hope. But the discussions have also reminded them of the challenge of handling those within their faith traditions who oppose interreligious collaboration, they said.
"Sometimes there is more conflict and difficulty living with each other within your religious group than . . . relating to each other in the other religious groups," said Pasadena-based Bishop Mary Ann Swenson, who oversees 390 United Methodist congregations in Southern California, Hawaii, Guam and Saipan.
The bishop noted with joy how naturally the diverse group of Catholics, Protestants, Jews and a Muslim became a community. "It was very, very special," she said.
Nur Amersi, the lone Muslim in the delegation, said the group's effort is an example of what is possible. "We became a family," said Amersi, executive director of the Afghanistan World Foundation's Los Angeles office.
A highlight in the Vatican was the papal audience, described as "part prayer service, part pep rally and part religious rock concert" by Rabbi Mark Diamond, executive vice president of the Board of Rabbis of Southern California, who was co-leader of the delegation with Bishop Edward Clark, of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles.
While thousands waited for 90 minutes to see Pope Benedict XVI, strangers greeted those around them, their "voices and laughter" filling the air, Campbell recalled.
After the pontiff's homily on the "Week of Prayer for Christian Unity," special visitors, including the Los Angeles delegation, were recognized. Young people cheered, "nuns waved colorful scarves, the band played, and a couple from South America sang a hauntingly beautiful a cappella rendition of 'Ave Maria,' " Campbell said.
After blessing the gathered in six languages, the pope walked down from the stage to greet the leaders from Los Angeles. Campbell said he felt that the pope's message and welcome had affirmed the delegation's "interfaith agenda."
Swenson said Benedict's homily connected with her because she had been praying the very verse that the pope quoted, "Pray without ceasing," from 1 Thessalonians.
Amersi's encounter with the Vatican opened her to a deeper understanding, respect and acceptance of Christianity.
Swenson described private sessions with officials in Rome and Jerusalem as "deep and intense." The group met with three cardinals, including Cardinal Jean Louis Tauran of the Pontifical Council for Inter-religious Dialogue.
In Israel, the delegation met with a cross-section of political, religious, social welfare and new media leaders.
"The trip reinforced for all of us the nuances and complexities of . . . age-old problems," Diamond said. "We all have a stronger grasp of some of the issues that we face."
The Rt. Rev. Alexei Smith, of the Archdiocese of L.A., said interfaith leaders have their work cut out for them.
"This wonderful experience has to filter down to the man and woman in the pew -- and that means everyone -- most particularly those who are not in favor of this type of activity," he said.
But how?
"By our example they might be led to see that this is the way to do things," Smith said.
connie.kang@latimes.com
From the Los Angeles Times
FEDERATION IN FOCUS
March 2008
Religious Leaders Mission Creates Unique Bond Between Jewish, Christian, and Muslim Participants
Dressed in white t-shirts and waving colorful flags from different countries, the Bialik-Rogozin school choir sang about their life experience – as children of 28 different nations learning together in Tel Aviv.
It was the last day of the Religious Leaders Mission to Rome and Jerusalem, although this final morning was being spent in Tel Aviv. The first stop at the Bialik-Rogozin School – a melting pot of 720 students ranging in age from kindergarten through 12th grade – was a moving experience for the 23 mission participants. The school includes a mix of Jews, Muslims and Christians, including children of foreign workers and new immigrants, and has been a lesson in acceptance and support. Like the group on this mission, the Bialik-Rogozin School is working to create an active, interfaith community.
Visiting the school "was so moving and poignant," remarked Rabbi Mark Diamond, executive vice president of the Board of Rabbis of Southern California, and one of the co-leaders of the mission. "We're proud of the work that the Federation does and it was so important to end the trip seeing children in this kind of situation. There's no substitute for visiting and meeting with people."
Throughout the trip, which included four days in Rome and three days in Israel, the mission met with a wide range of religious, political and social leaders, from the Pope and several senior cardinals and bishops, to Israeli rabbis, Knesset members and senior journalists. "The speakers allow us to gain insights into so many aspects of the various religions," said Wanda Rizzo, an instructor at Xavier College Preparatory High School and a member of the Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Palm Desert. "It creates a very valuable experience and makes the trip much more meaningful."
The focus of the mission was to deepen the participants' understanding of one another's religions, explained Bishop Edward Clark of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, Rabbi Diamond's partner in organizing the trip. "Everyone has images in their mind of what church is like, what Israel is like. There are lots of questions," he said. "This offers an entry into those places and beyond."
Dr. Nur Amersi, executive director of the Afghanistan World Foundation and an active member of her Shia Ismaili community in Los Angeles, said the reason she joined the trip was to understand Israel better. "My uncertainty was one of perception," said Dr. Amersi, the only Muslim on the mission. "If you don't know one another's narratives, you have a problem. Now I know that Israel represents the spirit of Judaism, just as Mecca represents Islam for Muslims. Judaism needs its spiritual capital and I can explain that back home."
The trip was a culmination of seven years of interfaith work, said Rabbi Diamond. "It's something we take very seriously, and something we need to engage in, because it takes time and effort to build these relationships," he explained. "The challenge is to dig deeper and not just sing Kumbaya together."
By visiting two very significant centers of religious life and meeting with leaders from various communities, the mission participants gained a greater understanding of the complexity of the issues, 'whether the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the Vatican, or the State of Israel," added Rabbi Diamond. "These are different issues that have great nuances and complexities that most of us don't appreciate from afar."
Participants can now say "I was there, I know what I'm talking about," said Rabbi Steven Carr Reuben, from Kehillat Israel Reconstructionist Congregation in Pacific Palisades. "We need to create opportunities to remind people that there is more that unites us than divides us."
To read the mission participants' reflections from the trip, click here.
FEDER@TION IN FOCUS content copyright The Jewish Federation of Greater Los Angeles.
2007-10-19
Interfaith panel wrestles with troubling texts:
Will the real 'chosen' please rise?
By Amy Klein, Religion Editor
"We learn who we are through struggling with text," said Rabbi Mark S. Diamond, executive vice president of the Board of Rabbis of Southern California. "We must learn from the scars, from the blemishes, from the ugly parts of our textual tradition, our history and our faith."
Scholars, clergy and seminarians gathered this week at the Luxe Hotel to discuss troubling passages and ideas in Christianity, Judaism and Islam, and ways of understanding them in modern times, as part of "Troubling Traditions: Wrestling With Problem Passages," a conference co-sponsored by the Board of Rabbis of Southern California and the Center for Christian-Jewish Understanding of Sacred Heart University.
While many of the presenters and attendees at the Oct. 15-16 conference were from the more liberal strands of their religions -- few mainstream Orthodox or hardcore evangelicals were present -- the hope for the meetings is that it will slowly transform the more extreme pockets, or at least save the moderates from them. [Read More]
October 20, 2007
By K. Connie Kang
Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
Christian, Jewish and Muslim experts met this week to add context to passages that have been perceived as hostile toward other faiths.
Speaking with mutual respect and sensitivity, prominent Christian, Jewish and Muslim scholars and clergy from around the country met in Los Angeles this week to "wrestle" with what one rabbi described as the "dark side" of the three faith traditions.
Experts cited "problematic" passages from the Hebrew Scripture, the New Testament and the Koran that assert the superiority of one belief system over others.
As an example, the Rt. Rev. Alexei Smith, ecumenical and interreligous official of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles, quoted from the Gospel of Mark: "Go into the world and preach the gospel to the whole creation. He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned."
Rabbi Reuven Firestone, director of the Institute for the Study of Jewish-Muslim Interrelations at Hebrew Union College in Los Angeles, mentioned a series of texts, including a verse from Deuteronomy: "For you are a people consecrated to the Lord your God: of all the peoples of the earth the Lord your God chose you to be His treasured people."
And Muzammil H. Siddiqi, chairman of the Fiqh (Islamic Law) Council of North America, quoted from the Koran:
"You who believe, do not take the Jews and Christians as allies: they are allies only to each other. Anyone who takes them as an ally becomes one of them -- God does not guide such wrongdoers." [Read More]
"Troubling Tradition: Wrestling With Problem Passages," was co-sponsored by the Board of Rabbis of Southern California and the Center for Christian-Jewish Understanding of Sacred Heart University in Fairfield, Connecticut.
2007-09-14
By Jane Ulman, Contributing Editor
...It isn't easy to write these sermons, and to help facilitate the process, the Board of Rabbis of Southern California holds an annual High Holy Days seminar, which this year took place on Aug. 14 at Stephen S. Wise Temple. More than 100 rabbis from synagogues extending from San Luis Obispo to San Diego attended, as well as about 35 student rabbis from the three local seminaries.
This year's seminar featured Valley Beth Shalom's Feinstein as both morning and afternoon keynote speaker, talking about the Yamim Nora'im (Days of Awe) as a window to change our lives and our world and also discussing the challenges and opportunities of preaching and teaching about Israel at 60. The seminar also offered six different workshops, from Rabbi Richard Levy's "Troubling Passages in the High Holy Day Machzor" to Rabbi Daniel Bouskila's "Revolutionary Traditionalism: Reading Theology in S.Y Agnon". Each participant selected two sessions.
"[The purpose] is to spark interest in ideas they've been turning around, to provide stories for mini-sermons and divrei Torah and to debunk the popular myth out there that rabbis copy sermons lock, stock and barrel," said Rabbi Mark Diamond, executive vice president of the Board of Rabbis of Southern California. [Read More]
MOSAIC: Jewish Federation of Greater Los Angeles
September 18, 2007
We all know the story about Moses leading the Israelites out of bondage deep in the land of Egypt. And most of us know at least a little something about the Jews ensuing trials as they wandered the desert toward the Promised Land. But few of us can recall the details of the lesser-known stories that take place over those 40 years, like in Deuteronomy when, at the age of 20, Moses finally arrives in Moab, but is denied entry to the land of milk and honey by the Almighty.
Over the last two years, the Board of Rabbis of Southern California, a beneficiary agency of the Federation, has been trying to change that fact with One People, One Book, a program in which readers from more than 25 local congregations across all denominations join together to study both Torah and a modern, prominent Jewish book that helps us make sense of the torah. [Read More]
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