Har Shalom to host Shabbaton program
The Congregation Har Shalom, 2537 County Road 203, will host these events as part of a special Shabbaton program called “The Shmittah Year: Jews, Food and Food Justice”:
Shabbat morning services with Torah reading and Torah study at 9:30 a.m. today.
A “Lunch and Learn” will be held at 12:30 p.m. today.
Dessert with learning and havdalah will take place at 7 p.m. today.
A tour and chance to volunteer at a local organic farm will be held from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Sunday. Participants should bring their own lunch.
Volunteers will prepare a meal for residents at the community shelter and have dinner at the shelter at 5 p.m. Sunday.
To RSVP, call 799-1324.
President hits hot topics at Ramadan dinner
WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama has delivered measured remarks to Muslims attending the annual Ramadan iftar dinner at the White House.
Some attendees at Monday night’s event were angry about a magazine’s report that the National Security Agency and the FBI scanned the emails of five prominent Muslim-Americans under a secret surveillance program aimed at foreign terrorists and other national security threats.
The Obama administration has not confirmed the report in The Intercept. But the president said “no one should ever be targeted or disparaged because of their faith.”
He also said that Americans have the right to practice any faith or no faith and can change religions. Not mentioned was the fact that Muslims in other parts of the world can be charged with apostasy if they convert to another religion. The president also praised an attendee from the Ahmadi branch of Islam, which many Muslims consider heretical.
Amid new conflict in the Mideast, Obama said that while the deaths of Palestinian civilians are tragic, Israel has the right to defend itself against “inexcusable” rocket attacks. He added that “further escalation benefits no one.”
Mormons discuss translation of Book of Abraham
SALT LAKE CITY – The Book of Abraham is inspired scripture and probably not a literal translation from ancient Egyptian scrolls by Mormon founder Joseph Smith, the Utah-based church said in a new essay.
The article suggests God may have helped Smith, who never claimed to speak the language it was in, to understand what was in the scrolls.
“They catalyzed a process whereby God gave to Joseph Smith a revelation about the life of Abraham, even if that revelation did not directly correlate to the characters on the papyri,” the article says, “The Lord did not require Joseph Smith to have knowledge of Egyptian. By the gift and power of God, Joseph received knowledge about the life and teachings of Abraham.”
The Mormon belief that God provides guidance or inspiration by way of revelations is a fundamental core of the faith, and helps church leaders make major decisions.
The essay marks a departure from past explanations by officials with The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and embraces the widely-held view from religious scholars and historians that Smith’s work isn’t a direct translation, said Armand Mauss, a retired professor of sociology and religious studies at Washington State University.
Herald Staff & Associated Press
