Times: Who wrote the Prayer of St. Francis?

Apparently it was not St. Francis...

Truth About a Prayer: A Saint’s Name, but Not His Words
By RACHEL DONADIO

ROME — Mother Teresa recited the simple prayer of St. Francis every day. Margaret Thatcher cited it upon becoming prime minister of Britain, and Alcoholics Anonymous included it in its “12 steps” book.

But something else is notable about the prayer that begins: “Lord, make me an instrument of thy peace; where there is hatred, let me sow love; where there is injury, pardon; where there is doubt, faith.”

St. Francis of Assisi, who was born in the 12th century, probably had nothing to do with it.

An article published this week in L’Osservatore Romano, the Vatican newspaper, said the prayer in its current form dates only from 1912, when it appeared in a French Catholic periodical.

And it became wildly popular only after it was reprinted in L’Osservatore Romano in 1916 at the behest of Pope Benedict XV, who wanted a prayer for peace in the throes of World War I.

Although news to many, the truth about the prayer had apparently been hiding in plain sight.

“No one among the Franciscans ever thought it really was by St. Francis,” said Giovanni Maria Vian, the editor of L’Osservatore Romano.

Mr. Vian said the point of the article was to show the importance of prayers for peace in times of war.

Although the prayer’s origins “remain mysterious,” Mr. Vian said, the prayer had at some point been printed on the back of cards bearing images of St. Francis, hence the confusion.

Yet the attribution to St. Francis has had some high-profile adherents. In accepting the Nobel Peace Prize in 1979, Mother Teresa said, “I always wonder that 400 to 500 years ago as St. Francis of Assisi composed this prayer, that they had the same difficulties that we have today.”

And after being elected prime minister that same year, Mrs. Thatcher said, “I would just like to remember some words of St. Francis of Assisi,” adding: “‘Where there is discord, may we bring harmony. Where there is error, may we bring truth. Where there is doubt, may we bring faith. And where there is despair, may we bring hope.’”

Would fans of St. Francis be disappointed to know the truth?

“Catholics are used to this sort of thing, that you have a tradition but you don’t know when it started or its whole history,” said the Rev. Thomas G. Weinandy, a Franciscan and the executive director of the Secretariat for Doctrine at the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops.

He pointed to St. Christopher. “The church says he more than likely did not historically exist,” Father Weinandy said. “But people still pray to him, figuring someone up in heaven is in charge of watching over travelers.”

JStandard: Teneck Mourns Loss of Barry Stern

We mourn the sudden untimely passing of our friend and neighbor.

Community mourns accident victim
Lois Goldrich

When Barry Stern, 48, died on Monday at Hackensack University Hospital and Medical Center, his wife, Rachel, had already taken steps to ensure that his death would become a “catalyst,” inspiring others to “give the gift of life.”
Barry Stern

In a Facebook posting last Wednesday — when her husband was admitted to the hospital in critical condition following a fall on Queen Anne Road — Rachel Stern wrote movingly of his compassion, noting that while he had never created a living will nor registered as an organ donor, she knew he believed strongly in the mitzvah of organ donation.

She asked others to consider this “amazing mitzvah” as well.

“Barry may not be able to donate his organs,” she wrote, “but it would make this tragedy have more meaning if his situation were to be a catalyst for other people to take care of this,” making clear their own intention to become organ donors.

Rachel Stern’s firm belief that her husband would want to benefit others is echoed in the comments of his close friends.

Israel Wahrman, whose friendship with Barry Stern spanned more than 22 years, called him “one of the sweetest, kindest, most decent people I have ever met,” devoted to both friends and family. “Barry had sound values,” said Wahrman. “He was honest and straightforward.”

Stern, born in Queens, lived in Teaneck for about 25 years. He was discovered on the ground outside the Lazy Bean Café there last Wednesday morning. Following an investigation and a review of security videotapes, Teaneck Police Capt. Dean Kazinci discounted the possibility that Stern was hit by a vehicle, concluding that he had apparently slipped on a mound of ice. According to Wahrman, his friend was on his way to have breakfast with two of his daughters.

A founding member and active leader of Teaneck’s Arzei Darom, he was honored at the synagogue’s dinner two years ago. “[Barry] was someone his synagogue could always count on to do whatever was needed,” said Wahrman. In addition, he said, while Stern worked in the computer field, “he was committed to Torah study,” spending hours each day learning.

Wahrman noted that Stern had been ordained as a rabbi several years ago, but that “he never used this ordination to earn money.” It was his understanding, he said, that Stern was now studying for a second rabbinical ordination.

Stern was also deeply committed to the State of Israel, said Wahrman. Two of his daughters, Tziporah and Chloe, made aliyah, and his daughters Rivka and Zahava, recently returned from a program in Israel where they were trained to advocate on behalf of the Jewish state.

Stern is survived by his wife as well as by his daughter Tziporah Elana, her husband, Gedaliah Levy, and their daughter, Chaya Leah; his daughter Chloe and her husband, Jonathan Kleinburd; and daughters Rivka Aliza Stern, Zahava Rena Stern, and Devorah Ettel Stern. He is also survived by his parents, Thelma and Abraham Stern, and sisters, Karen Abraham and Tammy Hikind.

An appeal to the community
Rachel Stern’s Facebook entry provides contact information for those interested in becoming organ donors. She points out that information can be found at http://www.uslivingwillregistry.com/ and that “organ donor registration, at least in New Jersey, can be done via one’s driver’s license, which can be imprinted with the words ‘organ donor.’” In addition, she writes, potential donors might consider registering with the Halachic Organ Donor Society at http://www.hods.org.

Former Minnesota Senator Norm Coleman Takes Job With Jewish Republicans for Undisclosed Salary

We believe this news is as good as a concession speech by Coleman.

Norm Coleman joins GOP Jewish group as consultant

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Although Norm Coleman hasn't given up on his hopes of winning his Senate seat back, he has a new job with a national Jewish political group.

Coleman has joined the Republican Jewish Coalition as a consultant and strategic adviser. Coleman is awaiting the outcome of his lawsuit challenging the outcome of Minnesota's Senate recount that ended with the challenger, Democrat Al Franken, on top.

Coleman's Senate term, his first, expired Jan. 3.

The RJC announced Coleman's hiring Thursday. The group says Coleman will advise it on policy, help with recruiting and deliver speeches around the country.

The RJC says Coleman won't do any lobbying. The group wouldn't reveal Coleman's pay.

Both Coleman and Franken are Jewish.

On the Net: Republican Jewish Coalition: http://www.rjchq.org

Hey, what's all this secrecy about the pay?

Appeal Allows Prosecution of Member of Parliament of the Dutch Second Chamber Geert Wilders for Insulting Islam

We do believe that Dutch politician Geert Wilders, chairman Party for Freedom, the Netherlands had the right to publish his film Fitna and that the Dutch courts have the right to prosecute him for hate speech.

Amsterdam Court of Appeal orders the criminal prosecution of the Member of Parliament of the Dutch Second Chamber Geert Wilders

...the Court of Appeal makes an exception as regards insulting statements in which a connection with Nazism is made (for instance by comparing the Koran with “Mein Kampf”). The Court of Appeal considers this insulting to such a degree for a community of Islamic worshippers that a general interest is deemed to be present in order to prosecute Wilders because of this...

Read the court opinion. See the Fitna video.

Then you decide. Warning. This video contains graphic scenes of violence. It is disturbing, especially for Jews and Americans who have been directly singled out by Islamic terrorists as targets of violence.

Justice Roberts Calls a Do-over: Obama Swears Oath of Office Again - Probably Violating the Third Commandment

No doubt in our mind that the first time Obama swore the oath of office, concluding it, "so help me God," at noon at the Capitol, it was valid and effective.

Therefore, out of an abundance of caution, Justice Roberts should never have re-administered the oath of office to Barack Obama.

Talmudically, if indeed (as we believe) the first oath was valid, that second act would be a violation of the Third Commandment of the biblical Ten Commandments:

"You shall not make wrongful use of the name of the Lord your God, for the Lord will not acquit anyone who misuses his name."

It would surely be taking the name of the Lord in vain if you did so repetitiously and unnecessarily in an obsessive, excessive and almost superstitious private reprise of the oath of office.

But that is exactly what they did.

And they call Roberts a religious conservative. Go figure.

Obama takes presidential oath - again

WASHINGTON (AP) — Chief Justice John Roberts has administered the presidential oath of office to Barack Obama for a second time just to be on the safe side.

The unusual step came after Roberts flubbed the oath a bit on Tuesday, causing Obama to repeat the wording differently than as prescribed in the Constitution.

White House counsel Greg Craig said Obama took the oath from Roberts again out of an "abundance of caution."

The chief justice and the president handled the matter privately in the Map Room on Wednesday night.

StarTribune: ACLU Sues Tarek ibn Ziyad Academy - TIZA - Minnesota Muslim Charter School

A new ACLU law suit alleges that the Islamic Tarek ibn Ziyad Academy, a Minnesota Charter school, violates the laws that prohibit public schools from promoting religion. As we understand it from the press coverage, the school practices thinly disguised subterfuges, to cover up the fact that they are indeed a Muslim school with required religious training and rituals.

ACLU to sue Twin Cities charter school that caters to Muslims

By RANDY FURST and SARAH LEMAGIE

The American Civil Liberties Union of Minnesota said it will file suit today against a publicly funded charter school, alleging that it is promoting the Muslim religion and that it is leasing school space from a religious organization, the Muslim American Society of Minnesota, without following state law.

The suit was to be filed this afternoon in U.S. District Court against Tarek ibn Ziyad Academy, known as TIZA, and the Minnesota Department of Education, which the ACLU says is at fault for failing to uncover and stop the alleged transgressions. The suit names the department and Alice Seagren, the state education commissioner, as co-defendants.

The department investigated the Twin Cities school last year, and the school said it had taken corrective actions in response to concerns about the practicing of religion in the school. TIZA officials have previously said they are in compliance with federal and state regulations. ...more

JTA: Orthodox Rabbi Basil Herring Roiled Over Haskel Lookstein Inaugural Church Prayer

New York Orthodox rabbi stabs his colleague in the back. How sad.

Rabbi Basil Herring has claimed in a newspaper interview that Rabbi Haskel Lookstein violated an unnamed rabbinic rule by entering a church and reciting a prayer to honor the inauguration of our 44th president.

We say that it is praiseworthy that Lookstein, a world renowned Orthodox rabbinic leader, was invited to participate in this event and laudable that he accepted and represented our community.

We recognize that a deeply-rooted historically-based reluctance exists within Orthodoxy to permit a Jew to participate in a Christian church service.

However there is an equally pervasive tradition in Orthodox rulings that encourages unfettered respect for a national leader, especially in a situation like this, the celebration of the inauguration of a new president.

We are certain that the learned Rabbi Lookstein weighed carefully the context and circumstances of his participation and deemed it permissible, and perhaps even obligitory, that he represent our community in the church event.

Rabbi Herring is way off base in his public criticism. Perhaps motivated by personal jealousy or perhaps driven by misplaced zealousness, Herring had no basis for using his office in the RCA to lash out in this unwarranted criticism of his colleague.

When asked about this by the press, if he could not endorse his colleague's participation, Rabbi Herring should have respectfully replied, "No Comment."

Orthodox group: Rabbi violated rules by joining National Prayer Service
By Jacob Berkman

NEW YORK (JTA) -- The main Modern Orthodox rabbinical association says a prominent member violated its rules by participating in the National Prayer Service.

A Rabbinical Council of America official told JTA that Rabbi Haskel Lookstein, the religious leader of Congregation Kehilath Jeshurun in New York City, broke the organization's rules by participating in the service Wednesday at the National Cathedral on the morning after Barack Obama's inauguration.

“The long-standing policy of the Rabbinical Council of America, in accordance with Jewish law, is that participation in a prayer service held in the sanctuary of a church is prohibited," the RCA said in a statement. "Any member of the RCA who attends such a service does so in contravention of this policy and should not be perceived as representing the organization in any capacity."

The RCA said that Lookstein’s participation was problematic both because the service was held in the sanctuary of a church, which Orthodox Jews are prohibited from entering, and because it was an interfaith prayer service, which the RCA discourages for fear that such participation could allow missionaries to legitimize their argument that Jews can indeed embrace Jesus... more

Photo: Rahm Emanuel Greets George W. Bush at the Inauguration

Rick Warren Punts His Inaugural Prayer

Plays it safe, punts, takes no chances, whatever. HT to Brad Greenberg for the transcript of the inaugural prayer of Rick Warren. Brad asks, "Seriously, is there anything there that Christians, or even simply religious people across the spectrum, would strongly disagree with?"

Agreed, I suppose. When you start with the Shema, "Hear O Israel..." a verse from the core of Jewish prayer, and you end with the Lord's Prayer, how could anyone criticize? Here is how. First, why not an iota of creativity? Second, when you invoke the fact that we Americans are united by a, "commitment to freedom and justice for all," do you mean our "all" or do you mean your "all"?

Third, what the heaven does the non-sequitur, "History is your story" mean? It's not a prayerful phrase. As we see it, history is the story of humans, not the story of God. Some forms of theology are the explanations of that human story, placing God into the narrative.

We might quibble with other choices and the organization as a whole. You decide. Amen.

Almighty God, our father, everything we see and everything we can’t see exists because of you alone. It all comes form you, it all belongs to you, it all exists for your glory. History is your story. The Scripture tells us, ‘Hear, oh Israel, the Lord is our God, the Lord is one’ and you are the compassionate and merciful one and you are loving to everyone you have made.

Now today we rejoice not only in America’s peaceful transfer of power for the 43rd time, we celebrate a hinge-point of history with the inauguration of our first African American president of the united states. We are so grateful to live in this land, a land of unequaled possibility, where a a son of an African Immigrant can rise to the highest level of our leadership. And we know today that Dr. King and a great cloud of witnesses are shouting in heaven.

Give to our new president, Barack Obama, the wisdom to lead us with humility, the courage to lead us with integrity, the compassion to lead us with generosity. Bless and protect him, his family, Vice President Biden, the Cabinet and every one of our freely elected leaders.

Help us, oh God, to remember that we are Americans. United not by race or religion or by blood, but to our commitment to freedom and justice for all. When we focus on ourselves, when we fight each other, when we forget you, forgive us.

When we presume that our greatness and our prosperity is ours alone, forgive us. when we fail to treat our fellow human beings and all the earth with the respect that they deserve, forgive us. And as we face these difficult days ahead, may we have a new birth of clarity in our aims, responsibility in our actions, humility in our approaches and civility in our attitudes—even when we differ.

Help us to share, to serve and to seek the common good of all. May all people of good will today join together to work for a more just, a more healthy and a more prosperous nation and a peaceful planet. And may we never forget that one day, all nations, all people will stand accountable before You. We now commit our new president and his wife Michelle and his daughters, Malia and Sasha, into your loving care.

I humbly ask this in the name of the one who changed my life—Yeshua, Esa, Jesus, Jesus—who taught us to pray:

Our father, who art in heaven, hallowed be they name. They kingdom come, they will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil, for thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.

For a more sympathetic view of these prayers see the Velveteen Rabbi.

Fox: The Unofficial Jewish Inagural Ball

This inauguration event sounded very unofficial and was in fact a fund raiser for the synagogue, reported here by Fox:

...Political causes were also in vogue over at the Jewish Inaugural Ball, the first of its kind, which was held at Ohev Shalom The National Synagogue, a modern Orthodox congregation. Rabbi Shmuel Herzfeld, a 33-year-old rainmaker who hosts his own radio show and drives around the city in a refurbished taxi with a giant menorah on top and synagogue advertising on the door panels, organized the event so that guests could show their support for Israeli soldiers as well as the president-elect.

The event, while short on celebrities, did bring together odds and ends, including North Dakota's sole Jewish legislator Elliott Glassman, Obama transition team official Jeremy Bash and Bahrain's ambassador to the U.S. Houda Nunu.

Glassman, who said once a year he gets to give the daily invocation to the state Legislature, and offers it in Hebrew, raised a toast to Obama as someone "who stands for inclusion of all people..."