Page 8 • The News - November, 1994
IN MY OPINION
Why Jews Should
Support Public Prayer
by David Schulman
The Chamber of
Commerce's annual banquet
was packed to capacity. Warm
handshakes were being ex
tended in all corners of the
room, even a few pats on the
back. Nervous laughter to the
latest slightly funny jokes about
headline topics abounded.
Soon, everyone sat down for a
festive meal and hopefully not
too boring a speaker. Before the
bread was broken, they had
prayer. The invocation ended
with, "in Jesus name we pray."
At least for the few Jewish folks
in the audience, the mood had
just turned 360 degrees. Those
few words can always be
counted on for an immediate
fifty point spike in the average
Jewish person's blood pressure,
a red flag exposing insensitiv
ity and narrow-mindedness. I
used to feel exactly that way, but
one breakfast in a little diner in
the small town of Sylva, North
Carolina about ten years ago
changed my mind.
Our breakfast group met
every Friday. The subject of
praying in Jesus' name came up
quite naturally. I was in charge
of the upcoming Jackson
County Chamber banquet as
outgoing president. I was going
to give the invocation and bene
diction myself, assuring the
night's non-denominational
quality. Every previous year I
had been what I considered
"subjected to" the usual Chris
tian prayers at such meetings
and I had had enough. I told
Bill, the local Presbyterian min
ister and one of the breakfast
buddies, my solution. His an
swer floored me.
“/ can understand why you
would want to lead the prayers that
way, and you should do it, but if
you asked me to do the prayer and
leave out the name of Jesus it
would be insulting to my faith, ” he
said. He continued to explain in a
very rational way that it was not
meant to insult Jews, Buddhists, or
anybody else. It would actually be
insulting to him to be asked NOT
to mention the precepts of his faith
just as it would be for a Jewish
person to be asked not to pray as
he normally would. It was in no
way meant as a blanket endorse
ment of Christianity for the whole
group to unanimously agree on, but
just an individual praying as his
teachings said to.
I have never forgotten that
breakfast. It does take objective
treatment of the subject, stand
ing back not as a Jewish person
but simply as a non-threatened,
non-defensive spiritual human.
A human who knows if he or
she is going to rightfully de
mand respect for his/her reli
gion, must be equally
demanding in giving respect to
another's religion.
Anyone who thinks Jewish
political power and lobby is so
weak that allowing public
prayer in schools and elsewhere
would lead to Christian control
of religious freedom is simply
naive. I respect my friend Bill's
right to pray in the name of
Jesus, and he respects my right
not to. It is not prayer in the
public schools that threatens
me, it is the unpenitent with
handguns. It is not how we
pray to God that has under
mined society, but the lack of
prayer. Let's not look for ways
to stop prayer (For God's sake
and ours, too), let's look for
ways to do it more... each in our
own way... both privately and
publicly.
A
Schulman is an award win
ning writer and project director at
the University of North Carolina
at Asheville
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Woman Named
President of
Jewish Seminary
The Academy for Jewish
Religion, the nation's only Rab
binical and Cantorial School
committed to the pluralism of
the Jewish community and K'lal
Yisrael, announces the Inaugu
ration of Rabbi Dr. Shohama
Harris Wiener as President, to
take place on Sunday, Novem
ber 20,1994. Rabbi Wiener will
be the first woman ever to be
named President of a Seminary.
Rabbi Wiener has served as
the Executive Dean and Spiri
tual Director of the Academy
for seven years. A graduate of
Wellesley College and Harvard
University, she has devoted
nearly twenty years as a learn
ing specialist, community vol
unteer, wife and mother of three
before coming to the rabbinate.
Since her ordination by The
Academy for Jewish Religion,
she earned a Doctor of Minis
try degree from New York
Theological Seminary; her the
sis focused on spiritual devel
opment.
Rabbi Wiener is the co-edi-
tor of Worlds of Jewish Prayer
(Jason Aronson, Inc. 1993), edi
tor of the forthcoming book
Worlds of Jewish Spirituality, and
the author of numerous articles
She has devoted nearly
twenty years as a
learning specialist...
before coming to the
rabbinate.
on Jewish spirituality and con
temporary halakhic concerns.
Her latest article, published in
the Spring 1994 issue of The
Reconstructionist, is entitled
"Connecting God's Names and
My Name: A Spiritual Journey."
Rabbi Wiener has served in
Conservative, Reconstructionist
and Reform congregations, and
is currently a member of an Or
thodox synagogue and the Jew
ish Renewal network.
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