Jewish People

With approximately half the country's Jews marrying gentiles, the survival of American Judaism has become an open question.To encourage Jews to marry within the faith, several local Jewish organizations are sponsoring tomorrow's "The Love, Dating & Ultimately Marriage Seminar," a seminar that applies the wisdom of the Torah to the world of romance. It begins at 5 p.m. at the Woodholme Country Club, 300 Woodholme Ave., in Pikesville."In Judaism, the continuity of the Jewish people is in the forefront of everyone's mind," said Rabbi Shlomo Porter, director of Etz Chaim, The Center for Jewish Living and Learning in Upper Park Heights, one of the program's sponsors.

AS RUSSIA struggles along its road to economic reform, we see that Jewish citizens, happily for Russia, occupy places of prominence and influence in our society and government.Yet we also hear from some quarters that they are again becoming the target of an archaic resentment.This must not be so.Anti-Semitism reared its vicious head in the mid-1980s despite the fact that, as president of the Soviet Union, and with the support of our people, we were able to open up the gates of liberty. We made it possible for people of all ethnic and religious backgrounds to have freedom - including the choice of many Soviet Jews to emigrate.

Richard L. Pearlstone, member of a philanthropic family that has left its imprint on the artistic, educational and religious life of Baltimore, was honored here recently for accepting chairmanship of the world's largest Jewish fund-raising effort.At the annual meeting of Baltimore's Jewish Federation at Center Stage June 16, Mr. Pearlstone received tributes for his record of service to Jewish interests in the United States and abroad. He was installed in New York on May 24 as national chairman of the United Jewish Appeal.

The picture of Annapolis residents in Colonial costumes laughing from the back of a float in a 1949 parade to celebrate the city's 300th birthday may not seem remarkable at first glance.But what makes it special is that they are Jewish faces on the float, World War II veterans and others, proudly waving American flags. The photo is a symbol of the integration of Jews into Annapolis society, says Eric Goldstein, who is speaking this afternoon in Baltimore about a photographic collection of Jewish history.

&TC Episcopalians struggled with the unfamiliar syllables of Lashanah Haba'ah bi Yerushalayim (Next Year in Jerusalem). Presbyterians cautiously swallowed parsley dipped in salt water.As Jewish people sat down to a Passover Seder earlier this week, so did a surprising number of Christians. In Annapolis, more than 100 attended a Seder at Eastport United Methodist Church.Non-Jews celebrated the Jewish holiday, which recalls Israel's exodus from Egypt, as part of a growing movement within Christianity to re-examine the faith's Jewish roots.

In David Koresh's theology, Passover probably is as important as Easter, say specialists in theology, who recommend closely examining Old Testament and Jewish feasts and symbols for a deeper understanding of the significance of the coming holidays in Branch Davidian life and ritual.Speculation is increasing that Mr. Koresh might end his standoff with law enforcement officials at the Branch Davidian compound near Waco on one of these coming significant days.Yesterday, Mr. Koresh met with an attorney on the porch of the cult compound.

A story in the March 27 issue of the Carroll County Sun, headlined "Holy Week, Easter celebrate life after death," contained the following statement:"Judas, one of his followers, betrayed Jesus that evening to the Jewish leaders who considered him a threat to their power. He was crucified the next day, which is celebrated as Good Friday."The Gospel texts state that the crucifixion itself was carried out by the Roman governor, Pontius Pilate. Biblical scholar Eugene J. Fisher writes, "The arrest of Jesus . . . was done covertly and at night precisely because of his popularity with the (Jewish)

The history of Jewish people in Annapolis is like all history -- people famous and ordinary, noble and notorious, saintly and sinful.The pantheon of Annapolis Jews includes Albert Abraham Michelson, a Naval Academy midshipman who returned to the academy as a physics professor and became the first person to measure the speed of light.But there also was Jacob Lumbrozo, the first Jew in the colony, an unsavory doctor who became infamous for his numerous adulterous affairs and questionable medical procedures.

Maya Fishman, one year and two months out of the Soviet Union, listened with tears welling in her eyes while the yeshiva boys sang the ancient Hanukkah melody Maoz Tzur."

From the Kingdomof Memory Reminiscences.Elie Wiesel.Summit.213 pages. $19.95.In more than two dozen novels and nonfiction books, Elie Wiesel consistently stresses two messages. The first is the need to testify, as a survivor, about the Holocaust and the depredations it visited upon the Jewish people. The second is that universalism must be rooted in a parochial experience, in being true to one's origins. Virtually all of his themes are subsumed under these two ideas.Readers of Mr. Wiesel will recognize in his new book images he has conjured up in previous works -- a pious childhood and adolescence in the Hasidic ambience of Sighet, Transylvania; the seismic changes in his life when the Nazis sent the inhabitants of his town to Auschwitz; Yiddish writers who pledged their troth to Stalin; visits to the Soviet Union, and confrontations with death at the site of concentration camps.

Local Jewish leaders voted Wednesday to open a community center in Owings Mills on Saturdays, drawing expressions of both hope and sadness from across Baltimore's diverse Jewish community. The issue has highlighted a deep divide between the Orthodox and the rest of the Jewish community, and after the vote by the board of directors of the Associated: Jewish Community Federation of Greater Baltimore, leaders on both sides said they would work to improve communications. After weeks of debate, the Associated board voted 97 to 33 to allow the Jewish Community Center of Greater Baltimore to open its Owings Mills location on Saturdays - the Jewish sabbath - beginning June 6. "The decision will give the JCC more of an opportunity to serve Jewish people in the Owings Mills area who ... do not automatically affiliate with Jewish organizations," said JCC President Louis "Buddy" Sapolsky.

In January, four longtime Israel bashers were invited to the University of California, Los Angeles, to analyze the human rights conditions in Gaza, and used the stage to attack the legitimacy of Zionism and its vision of a two-state solution for Israel and the Palestinians. They criminalized Israel's existence, distorted its motives and maligned its character, its birth, even its conception. At one point, the excited audience reportedly chanted "Zionism is Nazism" and worse. Jewish leaders condemned this hate-fest as a dangerous invitation to anti-Semitic hysteria.

Poem carries whiff of anti-Semitism Despite Will Englund's attempt at cleverness, the "Merry Christmas" poem (editorial, Dec. 25), contained a reference that has been historically perceived as anti-Semitic. While lobbyist Jack Abramoff has yet to be judged, comparing him to Charles Dickens' character Fagin perpetuates stereotypes and anti-Semitism. Anti-Semitism, ingrained into Victorian English society, manifested itself in Dickens' depiction of Fagin, the head of the thieves in Oliver Twist.

For congregants of Temple Isaiah, the joy and anticipation of finally moving into their own building after 34 years is akin to that of a couple about to wed. So it is fitting that when the congregation brings at least one of its four Torahs into its new facility in Fulton on Sunday, members will carry the sacred scrolls under a chuppah, or marriage canopy. Jewish tradition likens the Torah to a groom and the Jewish people to a bride. "The relationship between God and the Jewish people is spoken of in terms of marriage and a covenantal relationship," said Rabbi Mark Panoff, spiritual leader of Temple Isaiah since 1986.

SO I WAS PEDALING along on my bicycle, towing a little kiddie trailer that contained my daughter, Sophie, and her friend Sofia. I like to tow Sophie when she has a friend with her, because they quickly forget that I'm up there pedaling, so I can listen in on their conversations and find out what is on the minds of 4-year-old children. Usually it's something like this: First Child: You're a tree head! (Wild giggling) Second Child: No, you're a tree head! (Wild giggling) First Child: You're a pinecone head!

Rabbi Noah Golinkin, the former spiritual leader of a Columbia synagogue who earned a national reputation for programs that taught Hebrew literacy to more than 150,000 Jewish adults, died Thursday at Levindale Hebrew Geriatric Center & Hospital of complications after surgery. The Columbia resident was 89. His one-day Hebrew Reading Marathon and its forerunner, the Hebrew Literacy Campaign, are credited with quickly giving adults enough knowledge of the language to follow the Hebrew prayer book.

JERUSALEM - Touching off a divisive national debate, the government of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has endorsed a proposed law that would allow Jews to bar Arab citizens of Israel from living in or buying homes in many Israeli communities. The attempt to legalize "Jews-only" towns was swiftly criticized by numerous Israeli politicians and human rights groups, who said it is a discriminatory and racist proposal. Supporters praised the law for protecting what they called the essence of Zionism.

Jews might be in the habit of wishing one another "mazel tov" at weddings and bar mitzvahs, but the Hebrew expression for good luck is more than a congratulatory salute. "Mazel" means constellation, so celebrants are exchanging the blessing of good fortune and destiny. Even so, Jews should not run their day according to the latest horoscope or remain resigned to their fate because they were born under a particular planet, a Columbia rabbi says. "If you have faith in God, ask God directly to look out for you," said Rabbi Hillel Baron, director of the Lubavitch Center for Jewish Education in Columbia.

ARIEL SHARON is a Jew. He shares with all Jews a rich heritage and cultural legacy known as the Temple Mount. This is, after all, the place where Abraham came to sacrifice his son to God. It is the site of the first and second Jewish Temples, where the Jewish people worshiped for hundreds of years. It remains the site of rich archaeological treasures from these Temples. It is Judaism's holiest place, and the focal point of every practicing Jew's prayers. Ten days ago, former defense minister Ariel Sharon had the good fortune to be able to do that which Jews dispersed for centuries in the diaspora could only hope, dream and pray for: On the eve of Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year - the liturgy of which is replete with recollections of Abraham's selfless act on the Temple Mount and with prayers for a restoration of the divine presence to this site - Sharon dared to peacefully tread upon this hallowed Jewish ground.

Can a political candidate be too religious? Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman's selection as the first Jewish vice presidential nominee was greeted by the Jewish community with pride that one of their own had broken a major barrier. Here was a man who is religiously observant and comfortable with the language of faith. Even the religious right said that this was a candidate it could relate to. Lieberman has used that faith language prominently in his stump speeches. In his appearance at a Detroit church, he called for the creation of a role for religion in public life.