Another Madoff fraud victim
I’ve been fortunate to have met many famous people in my journalism career and particularly in my role as religion editor.
Evangelist Billy Graham comes to mind as I write this posting.
I did not personally meet Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel when he spoke at Oklahoma City University several years ago during activities related to the 10th anniversary of the Oklahoma City bombing. However, as part of my job, I attended Wiesel’s presentation and was moved by his speech.
Wiesel, a Nobel Peace Prize winner and the author of the acclaimed book “Night,” is in the news this week because he and his wife were apparently victims of Bernie Madoff’s alleged fraudulent investment scheme that has made headlines in recent months.
CNN recently reported that Wiesel said he invested $15.2 million from his charitable foundation with Madoff. For people interested in learning what Wiesel had to say about Madoff’s alleged scheme and its impact on Wiesel’s charitable endeavors, see CNN’s report on the issue: Elie Wiesel speaks out about Madoff.
(PHOTO AT RIGHT: Elie Wiesel, Holocaust survivor and Nobel Peace Prize winner.)
Carla Hinton
Religion Editor
Interfaith family survey
InterfaithFamily.com wants to know what interfaith families are doing for Passover and Easter.The two holidays will coincide this year. The eight-day Jewish holiday of Passover, begins at sundown April 8. The Christian holiday of Easter is on April 12.
Interfaith families can fill out InterfaithFamily.com’s survey at Passover-Easter Survey by March 3. InterfaithFamily.com offers resources and services for interfaith families exploring Jewish life.
Survey participants will be eligible to win a $250 American Express giftcard.
The winner of the drawing will be announced March 17. InterfaithFamily.com will announce the results of the survey in late March. 
For more Passover and Easter resources, check out othe Web site’s Passover and Easter Resource Page.
Carla Hinton
Religion Editor
Jewish rabbi gets heat for National Prayer Service role
Rabbi Haskel Lookstein participated in the National Prayer Service, an interfaith prayer service held Jan. 21 at the National Cathedral in Washington, D.C.
Now a rabbinical council says he broke Jewish law by being a part of the service, which is was a traditional service held after the presidential inauguration.
The Religion News Service reports that the Rabbinical Council of America is saying that Lookstein, an Orthodox rabbi based in New York, broke Jewish law by participating in a prayer service held in the sanctuary of a church.
The RNS reports that Rabbi Basil Herring, the council’s executive vice president, said he does not expect Lookstein to be punished for his role in the service.
“We simply wanted to make the point that he was not going there on behalf of the rabbinical council, and that whatever he did, he did in his own capacity,” Herring told the RNS.
Lookstein was one of three rabbis who participated in the service, which helped conclude the presidential inauguration activities for Barack Obama.
Meanwhile, a RNS story reported that Lookstein told the Jewish news service JTA that “after consultation with people who are absolutely committed to halacha (Jewish law), I … decided to do it because I felt it was a civic duty to honor the new president of the United States.”
“Had I pulled out, it would have been something of an insult from the Orthodox community,” Lookstein said.
Herring told the RNS that the criticism of Lookstein was not politically motivated, and noted that the RCA praised Obama’s “qualities of mind and leadership” and called his election a “cause for joy.”
Carla Hinton
Religion Editor
Exploring the Holocaust in movies
My column in The Oklahoman today focused on the interesting fact that six Holocaust themes movies have premiered in recent weeks or will shortly premiere in the coming weeks.
The idea for the column came to me after reading an article on the subject in the Dec. 8 issue of Newsweek.
I thought readers might like to read that article by Annette Insdorf.
If you are interested inInsdorf’s Newsweek article, following this link: “Nazis and the Movies”
(AP PHOTO: Actors Jason Isaacs and Viggo Mortensen arrive for the premiere of “Good” at the Museum of Jewish Heritage Dec. 11 in New York.)
Carla Hinton
Religion Editor
Sukkot begins at sundown
The Jewish festival of Sukkot, also known as the Feast of Booths or Feast of Tabernacles, begins at sundown today.
The seven-day festival gets its name from the huts or “sukkahs” that Moses and the Israelites lived in as they wandered the desert for 40 years before they reached the Promised Land.
Jewish congregations in Oklahoma celebrate along with Jews across the world, God’s faithfulness to the Israelites. As they build sukkahs at their synagogues and temples, the structures serve as reminders that the Lord is still faithful today. In the 2005 photograph pictured at left are members of Temple B’nai Israel in Oklahoma City enjoying the sukkah built on temple grounds.
Many Jewish people also build sukkahs at their homes and eat and sleep in them over the course of the festival.
Meanwhile, Sukkot serves as a reminder to congregations of their agricultural roots and the harvest. People often hang papier-mache vegetables from the sukkah’s ceiling to signify that God blessed the Israelites with a harvest of food they needed to survive.
The sukkahs made by the Israelites were made of branches and were easy to assemble, take apart and carry. Jewish leaders said the sukkah’s shelter is always temporary — symbolizing that God provides His people with all they need as they seek His more permanent blessings of the Promised Land.
Each sukkah will include important symbols – branches of palm, willow and myrtle and the citron fruit, also called etrog. 
A branch of a palm woven together represents the desert or southern part of Israel. A branch with leaves of the myrtle tree represents the northern part of Israel and the , branches of the willow tree represent the eastern part of Israel. The fourth symbol is the citron fruit, or etrog (pictured at right in a recent AP photograph taken in Jerusalem).
Carla Hinton
Religion Editor
Yom Kippur: Day of Atonement
Today is the first day of Yom Kippur, which began at sundown Wednesday.
It is the Day of Atonement in the Jewish community, a day of fasting, prayer and repentance.
In addition to fasting, I learned several years ago that Jewish congregations revisit the book of Jonah on Yom Kippur.
The story of the reluctant prophet Jonah and his unsuccessful attempt to flee from God and God’s assignment is meaningful, bringing up themes of hope, repentence, forgiveness and responsibility.
Yom Kippur is a time to ask God’s foregiveness and to ask the forgiveness of those one has wronged. It is also a time to forgive others.
Carla Hinton
Religion Editor
Oct. 5 Faith Bookshelf
I’m calling this posting “Faith Bookshelf” and it is the first in a regular Sunday blog series. I get numerous books from publishers all over the country and this is a way to highlight some of them.
Sometimes I might share a few lines about recently released books or perhaps offer a short list of those books focusing on a particular theme.
Today’s books center around the theme of Judaism, appropriate since the Jewish faith community is celebrating the High Holy Days:
“Hope, Not Fear: A Path to Jewish Renaissance”by Edgar M. Bronfman and Beth Zasloff (St. Martin’s Press, released Sept. 16, $24.95).
This book is a passionate plea to the Jewish community, urging members to celebrate the joy in their culture and religion. Further, it urges Jews to recognize their responsibility to help heal a broken world.
“Who by Fire,”by Diana Spechler (Harper Perennial, released Sept. 23, $14.95).
“Who by Fire” is an emotional portrayal of a family struggle to find the role of faith in their lives. The product of four years of writing and research, the book perfectly captures the conundrums of religious fundamentalism in modern life and introduces Diana Spechler as an enormously gifted writer.
“Checkpoints” by Marilyn Levy (Jewish Publication Society, released Sept. 12, $14).
This is a young adult novel that brings to life the realities faced by teenagers in the
Middle East today, as politics and prejudice threaten to tear lives and relationships apart. The friendship between two girls, one Israeli and one Palestinian, is put to the test when a tragic incident befalls the Israeli girl and her family.
Carla Hinton
Religion Editor
Season of forgiveness
Ever had the feeling that God was trying to tell you something?
When forgiveness becomes a ongoing theme in your life, you have to think that perhaps you may be battling unforgiveness.
Or maybe it’s just that you need to learn more about forgivenesss.
Rosh Hashana, the Jewish New Year, has several different themes, with forgiveness being an important one.
This week, with the Jewish High Holy Days in full swing, Beliefnet.com features an interesting article by Rabbi Brad Hirschfield (pictured at right). Hirschfield is president of the New York City, NY-based National Jewish Center for Learning and Leadership.
If you are interested in exploring the dynamics and spiritual nuances of forgiveness, you also might find it an interesting read:
“Forgiveness: 10 Steps to Getting It and Giving It.”
Carla Hinton
Religion Editor
Jewish soldiers get Hebrew Bibles
Chaplains on overseas and domestic bases are distributing a free copy of the Jewish Publication Society’s military edition of the Tanakh, a widely read English translation of the Hebrew Bible.
The distribution comes just in time for the Jewish High Holy Days, which begin with Rosh Hashana at sunset tonight.
The society, in partnership with the Jewish Welfare Board Chaplains Council, produced 10,000 copies of the Bible.
The society said the new military Tanakh, funded by the Everett Foundation, the society and individual donors, contains prayers and blessings, including prayers recited in a time of danger, during illness and for a safe journey on the road, and the traditional blessing over meals.
Unlike the one shown at left, the military edition features a cover with the official camouflage patterns from each branch of the U.S. Armed Forces. The society’s news release said the Bibles are compact enough to fit into a military uniform pocket.
“JPS has a long tradition of making the Hebrew Bible accessible to all,” Carol Hupping, the society’s chief operating officer and publishing director.
Carla Hinton
Religion Editor
Faithful Five: Weekend events
Here’s my “faithful five” — five events going on in the faith community this weekend, Sept. 6-7. If what you read below intrigues you, go check it out for yourself: 1. All I ever needed to know about life I learned at a pancake breakfast. That’s right, it’s time again for South Lee United Methodist Church’s annual Pancake Breakfast. Rise early and get there when they open at 7 a.m. Saturday for pancakes, plus a silent auction. Cost is $4.50 for adults and $2.50 for children. South Lee is at 601 SW 36. Call 631-4564 for more information.
2. Rock the boat.Need a lift and a laugh? Check out “Arkeology,” the premiere children’s musical 
set for 6 p.m. Sunday at Council Road Baptist Church, 2900 N Council Road in Bethany. Youths at the church were commissioned to perform the musical for the first time by a Nashville-Tenn. publishing company. The story is told from the perspective of the animals (cute kids in even cuter costumes). Call 789-3175 for more information.
3. Smiling rabbi.That would be Rabbi Ovadia Goldman on Sunday at the grand opening of the new Chabad Community Center for Jewish Life and Learning. About 300 people are expected for event at at 3000 W Hefner Road. Activities begin at 4 p.m.
(PhotoPaul B. Southerland/The Oklahoman: Nechoma Goldman, Rabbi Ovadia Goldman and Levi Stein and Shalom Klein stand outside the new Chabad Community Center for Jewish Life and Learning.)
4. New Remedy (Drive). Holy Trinity Lutheran Church in Edmond plans to rock out on Sunday with a free community picnic and local bands at 4 p.m. A free concert featuring the Christian rock band Remedy Drive is set for 7 p.m. inside the church at 308 NW 164. For more information, call 348-3292.
5. Help for the heart.The Rev. Hance Dilbeck at Quail Springs Baptist Church will debut his new sermon series on Sunday that hints at a really intriguing premise: “Prayers From the Pit: Seeking God with a Broken Heart.” Dilbeck will preach at the church’s 8:15, 9:30 and 11 a.m. Sunday services at 14613 N May. The church now offers Wednesday and Sunday classes that provide people with tools to help heal their heart, whether they need aid to get out of debt, rekindle the romance in marriage, help through a divorce. For more information, call the church at 755-9240.
Carla Hinton
Religion Editor
