Rabbi to Participate in Hollywood Bowl Easter Sunrise Service : Organizer Seeks Involvement of All Communities, Religions

Apparently for the first time in its 68 years, the Hollywood Bowl Easter sunrise service will have a rabbi deliver a sermon.

Because Jewish Passover observances begin April 2, the day before Easter, the annual event’s producer-director, Norma Foster, said Rabbi Leonard Beerman was invited to be one of the two main speakers along with a Korean Christian pastor.

“We have been trying to involve different communities and all religions in the Easter sunrise service at the Hollywood Bowl, which is a traditional community event,” Foster said.

Surprised by Invitation

Beerman indicated that he was a bit surprised by the invitation. “I said, ‘This is not my holiday. I don’t celebrate Easter,’ ” he said. Beerman said his appearance might “upset” some people. “I don’t even know why I said yes.”

But having said yes, Beerman, the recently retired founding rabbi of Leo Baeck Temple in West Los Angeles, said he is clear about what he will say.

“I think it’s a time when we need to challenge people with the possibilities of a more peaceful world,” said Beerman, a member of the Reform branch of Judaism. He also indicated that he will talk about “the solidarity of the human race” and “compassion for one another” in an era marked by disasters befalling victims at Auschwitz, Hiroshima and Chernobyl.

The dawn service at the Hollywood Bowl, a production that will be carried again this year on television and radio, traditionally involves entertainment figures and hundreds of volunteers. Anna Maria Alberghetti will sing the closing song this year.

As for Beerman’s participation, Foster said, “We are very proud that he will part of the program.”

She said fellow board members claim that the speaking appearance by a rabbi will not be a first, saying the late Rabbi Edgar Magnin of Wilshire Boulevard Temple once took part in an Easter sunrise service at the bowl. But two longtime associates of the community-minded rabbi said he never did; nor do files at The Times reveal that he did.

This is Foster’s second year as producer of the bowl sunrise service. Seeking to illustrate how the board is trying for broader religious participation, she said, “Last year, the Greek Orthodox Easter fell on the same Sunday so the combined main sermon was done by the dean of the Greek Orthodox cathedral and the Rev. William Hornaday, pastor of the Founder’s Church of Religious Science, who represents most faiths.”

Religious Science, a metaphysical faith that incorporates elements of Christianity, was described by Foster as one that “recognizes all the other religions within their teachings.”

Last year’s service also had a few representatives of non-Christian faiths come up on stage before the close of the service as a sign of religious harmony.

“We intend to do the same thing this year,” Foster said. “They will share in the Easter celebration and come on for the closing hymn before the benediction.”

Foster said Beerman will speak about six minutes, leaving four minutes for the Rev. Dong Sun Lim, senior pastor of the Oriental Mission Church in Los Angeles. With an average 2,500 adult worshipers each Sunday, it is reputedly the largest Korean Christian congregation in Southern California. Lim will deliver his message in English and give a closing prayer in Korean, Foster said.

Asking a rabbi to give the main sermon is “strange” since Easter is the most important Christian holiday of the year, said Rabbi Paul Dubin, executive director of the Southern California Board of Rabbis.

It is not unusual for clergy of different faiths to make guest pulpit exchanges. For instance, the Rev. William Epps of the predominantly black Second Baptist Church of Los Angeles and Rabbi Harvey Fields of Wilshire Boulevard Temple were to speak at each other’s services this weekend. But Dubin said he would not expect that to happen on the major holidays.

Nevertheless, Beerman said that in the early 1980s his associate rabbi at Leo Baeck Temple was on leave and he persuaded the Rev. George Regas, rector of Pasadena’s All Saints Episcopal Church, to preach during Yom Kippur, the culmination of the Jewish High Holy Days. Beerman and Regas are co-founders of the Pasadena-based Interfaith Center to Reverse the Arms Race.

“Some members questioned the propriety of an Episcopal priest preaching on that day,” Beerman recalled.

Rabbi Alfred Wolf, a leading figure in Los Angeles interfaith circles, said, “I am sure whatever Rabbi Beerman will say will be appropriate and meaningful.”

Concern for Potential Problems

At the same time, Wolf said, there were potential problems emotionally and theologically with a rabbi addressing a Christian gathering on Easter.

“A Christian minister could speak on the Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur) without any theological problems involved,” Wolf said.

“But the whole idea of a divine member of the Trinity rising on the third day is completely foreign to Judaism. And, psychologically, the Easter period was throughout the history of Christianity the time of the most frequent persecutions of Jews,” Wolf said.

The Christian Holy Week preceding Easter recounts the Gospel accounts of Jesus’ arrest, trials and Crucifixion, often giving rise to animosity toward Jews as “Christ-killers,” a characterization repudiated by most Christian denominations.

Even the congenial Interreligious Council of Southern California, which Wolf helped to found, makes sure that its rare joint worship services do not favor one religion over another. The success of this year’s Easter sunrise service will “depend tremendously on the sensitivity of the inviting group, the speaker and the congregation,” Wolf predicted.

Last year’s bowl service drew nearly 15,000 people, in contrast to average crowds of about 10,000 for many years.

“It’s been a long time getting the Easter service back to the glory days that it once had,” Foster said. “Response has been incredible to it.”

The event periodically was in danger of being canceled for lack of funds. The present organizers faced a lingering $30,000 debt to overcome last year even before raising money for the 1987 event.

Budget Outlook Called Good

But Foster said the outlook is good for making this year’s $58,000 budget, much of which goes for rental of the bowl and payment to stagehands. Organizers held a prayer breakfast Friday in Hollywood, one of a series of fund-raising events. Donations at the service and sales of programs defray most of the costs, she said.

President of her own public relations firm, Charisma Communications, Foster assisted in Los Angeles observances two years ago of an international campaign for a “Million Minutes of Peace.” The drive successfully sought pledges from a million people to pray or meditate for peace one minute daily for a month.

Other clergy accepting roles in the April 3 service include Auxiliary Bishop Carl Fisher of the Los Angeles Catholic Archdiocese, who will read excerpts from Pope John Paul II’s Easter message, and the Rev. Anita Richelieu, associate minister of the Redondo Beach Church of Religious Science, who will give the offertory prayer.

Two Eastern Orthodox clergy, who will observe their churches’ Easter one week later this year, will take part: Archpriest Andrew Harrison of St. Innocent Russian Orthodox Church, Tarzana, and Father James T. Adams, new dean of St. Sophia Greek Orthodox Cathedral in Los Angeles.