Sabbath

Tonight at Baltimore Hebrew Congregation in Upper Park Heights, they're packing up the prayer books, telling the rabbi to can the sermon and giving the organist the night off. It's not a revolt. It's Friday Night Live, a contemporary Sabbath service that will bring together Baltimore's four Reform congregations: Baltimore Hebrew, Temple Oheb Shalom, Temple Emanuel and Har Sinai. "It's got a little bit of jazz, a little bit of rock 'n' roll, a little bit of klezmer [a type of Jewish folk music]

WASHINGTON - We should not make too much of Joseph Lieberman's religion, although it is a wonderful thing to celebrate. It is wonderful to celebrate the historical significance of Al Gore's naming of the Connecticut senator to be the first Jew on a major party ticket. It is wonderful to be alive and American at a time when that can happen, a time when we could soon witness our first Jewish vice president. It shows that doors of opportunity continue to open up for ethnic minorities, which is a lot better than seeing the doors move the other way. But it is not helpful for us to wonder very much, as some commentators have, about whether Mr. Lieberman's faith will threaten national security or otherwise impair his ability to conduct his job on the Sabbath, which begins for Jews at sundown on Fridays.

If Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman becomes the nation's next vice president, he would likely be the first to hang a mezuzah by his office door as a sign of his Jewish faith. The Connecticut Democrat also would be the first vice president to order kosher take-out or to observe Saturday as the Sabbath. As an Orthodox Jew, religious law generally forbids him from working sundown Friday until sundown Saturday. While balancing his religion with his career might prove a challenge, Al Gore's vice presidential candidate already has a track record of doing it. Lieberman, 58, has successfully juggled his strict religion and his busy career for 11 years in the U.S. Senate and before that as the state attorney general of Connecticut and as a state senator.

In Baltimore County Man shot by police after a chase dies at Bayview hospital DUNDALK -- A Dundalk man who was shot by police after a chase died Wednesday night at Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center, county police said yesterday. Alex Joseph Janiski, 23, of the 7500 block of Lawrence Road was shot Tuesday by officers called to investigate a forgery complaint at a bank in the 1700 block of Merritt Blvd. Police said four officers chased the man to the side of a building and shot him when he turned and pointed a gun at them.

It appears to be one down, three years to go for the America East as it clears obstacles for Towson men's basketball signee Tamir Goodman.In the 2000-01 season, there won't be any Towson regular-season games on Friday evenings or Saturday afternoons. This is good news for Goodman, a senior at Takoma Academy in Takoma Park whose Orthodox Jewish faith forbids participation from sundown Friday to sundown Saturday.All that appears to be needed is for Hofstra to sign off on the schedule, more than 11 months before the first tip-off.

75 years ago: On Sunday, Oct. 26, at Westminster in the Armory, at 2: 30 o'clock, there will be held a mass meeting for women to be addressed by Mrs. L. M. DeSilva of New York City. It is not a political meeting, but a meeting in the interest of Sabbath Schools and right living. -- Democratic Advocate, Oct. 24, 1924.

Towson University officials have initiated discussions with other members of the America East Conference that could lead to a regular-season schedule in men's basketball that poses no conflicts with Tamir Goodman's observance of the Jewish Sabbath.Chris Monasch, commissioner of the America East, said that there were "informal discussions" regarding Goodman at the conference's regularly scheduled meetings in Boston last week, a couple of days after Goodman's family confirmed that the senior guard from Baltimore will sign a letter of intent with the Tigers next month.

Tamir Goodman, one of the most publicized recruits in the history of Maryland basketball, told the Terps yesterday that he would decline the scholarship offer he orally accepted from the university last January.Goodman, an Orthodox Jew, said he changed his mind after a Sept. 2 meeting with Maryland coach Gary Williams, citing friction with the Maryland coaching staff over his refusal to play on the Jewish Sabbath."It was very discouraging," Goodman, 17, said of the meeting. "It would have been better off if they would have said [in January]

All Gary Williams had to tell Tamir Goodman was that it couldn't work. But that's not what happened, is it?Not even close.Not even at the bitter end.Williams had to jump last Jan. 10, had to offer Goodman a basketball scholarship to Maryland, had to lock up this high school junior, right then and there, before other schools could enter the mix.His ignorance of the complexities presented by Goodman's Orthodox Jewish religion is forgivable. His refusal to play it straight with a 17-year-old -- particularly one of such principle -- is not.Goodman never changed his position.

BERLIN -- It's been nearly a decade since the starved consumers of East Germany burst through the Berlin Wall, but it took until yesterday to topple another formidable barrier to capitalism: a federal ban on retail shopping in Germany on the day designated for "spiritual reflection."Hundreds of stores opened their doors for the first time on the Lord's Day to a veritable storm of shoppers in this capital city, in Leipzig and in Halle, ringing up record sales and transforming the usual Sabbath somnolence into a festival of frenzied spending.