Blasts from the shofar , the...

Blasts from the shofar , the ram’s horn blown in services starting the Jewish High Holy Days, will resound Sunday night and Monday morning at the still-unfinished Skirball Museum in the Sepulveda Pass.

The nearby Stephen S. Wise Temple expects about 14,000 people to attend each of its Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur services, and has arranged to use two meeting rooms in the Jewish museum run by Hebrew Union College and rented space from Bel-Air Presbyterian Church to supplement its own synagogue facilities and accommodate the large crowds.

The 10-day period of introspection, known as the High Holy Days, begins at sunset Sunday with the Jewish New Year and ends with the solemn Yom Kippur rites on the evening of Oct. 3 and during the day on Oct. 4.

“These would be the first religious services at Skirball, but they may also be among the last because of the museum’s purpose as a museum,” said Cindy Misciekowski, museum executive director. The $72-million Skirball complex will open its exhibits and cultural programs to the public in April.

Stephen S. Wise Temple--one of the nation’s two largest synagogues, with 2,900 families--was named after a pioneer rabbi in Reform Judaism and is still led by founding Rabbi Isaiah Zeldin, now 75.

Though the temple’s Rosh Hashanah services for Sunday night and Monday morning are sold out, there is still room at the second-day Rosh Hashanah service at 10 a.m. Tuesday, a temple spokesman said.

Reform Jews customarily observe Rosh Hashanah for one day, whereas the more tradition-minded Conservative and Orthodox Jews observe two days. But a second-day service is held at Stephen S. Wise Temple because many members have had traditional upbringings, the spokesman said.

The Jewish New Year is not marked by boisterous fun, but with quiet rejoicing and well-wishing. Greetings sent to relatives and friends go with the words, L’Shana Tova Teekatayvu (“May you be inscribed for a good year”), since it is believed that God decides everyone’s destiny anew at this time of year.

Because synagogues are strained by big turnouts, many temple services move temporarily to churches or rent hotel space for additional concurrent services. Temple Beth Am, located on the Westside, has four locations for the High Holy Days, including the Marriott Hotel at Century City.

Smaller synagogues often culminate their annual membership drives in the days before the High Holy Days, drawing on appeals to lure unaffiliated Jews that differ from the approaches used by well-established congregations.

An advertisement for Rabbi Naomi Levy’s Mishkon Tephilo in Santa Monica said it will present the Mommas and the Poppas--not the 1960s rock group, but Abraham, Isaac and Jacob; Sarah, Rebecca, Rachel and Leah. “They’ll be present in our prayers and thoughts throughout the Days of Awe,” said the ad.

Where the Jewish community is sparse and scattered, such as in the Sunland-Tujunga area, the 54-year-old Verdugo Hills Hebrew Center changed its name to Temple Shomrei Emunah, spruced up its building at 10275 Tujunga Canyon Blvd. in Tujunga and announced that tickets to the High Holiday services would be free.

In San Bernardino, where the 104-year-old Congregation Emanu El has been served by Rabbi Hillel Cohn for the last 32 years, the synagogue announced that guidance and assistance offered to interfaith couples and non-Jews interested in conversion has been expanded in preparation for the High Holidays.

PEOPLE

* The Rev. Robert H. Schuller, who turned 69 last Saturday, is celebrating 40 years of ministry in Garden Grove, the last 15 under the Crystal Cathedral name. To mark the occasion, his 8,000-member church will have a series of guests at its 9:30 and 10:30 a.m. services this fall. On Sunday, actor Hugh O’Brien will describe his youth foundation aimed at leadership-quality high school sophomores. Among other upcoming guests are singers Crystal Gayle (Oct. 1) and Naomi Judd (Oct. 15), ex-U.S. Secretary of Labor Elizabeth Dole (Oct. 22) and singer Glen Campbell (Dec. 3). Information: (714) 971-4000.

* His Beatitude Michael Sabbah, 62, the Latin patriarch of Jerusalem, will begin a four-day California visit Monday at St. Joseph’s Catholic Church in Pomona where he will concelebrate a Mass at 7 p.m. The prelate will speak Tuesday night at the Sheraton Suites at Pomona’s Fairplex on “The Peace Process and the Christian Presence in the Middle East,” before departing for San Francisco.

* Actor Richard Kline, who played Larry on the TV series “Three’s Company,” is performing a one-man show, “Yahrzeit,” next weekend at Stephen S. Wise Temple in the Sepulveda Pass. Written by playwright Richard Krevolin of USC, the play is about a man’s journey to enlightenment and spirituality after he is asked to return to the synagogue and say prayers for his deceased father. Shows are at 8 p.m. next Saturday and 3 and 7 p.m. on Oct. 1. Tickets are $25. Reservations: (310) 476-8561.

DATES

* In a talk sponsored by the South Coast Ecumenical Council’s South Bay Cluster of churches, Carol Ann Taylor of Women Against Gun Violence will speak Friday night after a light supper, starting at 6:30 p.m., at First Presbyterian Church of Gardena, 1957 Redondo Beach Blvd. Her talk at the open two-hour meeting is titled “Not Even One Child’s Death by Firearms Is Acceptable or Inevitable.” A $5 donation is requested for the supper. Information: (310) 595-0268.

* The Rev. Paul Egertson, Los Angeles bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, will preach at the 11 a.m. service Sunday at the Lutheran Church of the Master, 10931 Santa Monica Blvd., West Los Angeles. Celebrating its 55th year, the white-facade church hosts three Alcoholics Anonymous groups and on weekdays leases its education building to the Linden School for abused children. Information: (310) 473-1055.

* Ralph Reed, the executive director of the Christian Coalition, will speak at the meeting of the conservative lobbying group’s state organization at 5 p.m. next Saturday in Palm Desert. Reed will address a prayer breakfast on Oct. 1 during the California Republican Party Convention, according to a spokesman for the Tarzana-based California Coalition of California. Information: (818) 786-4270.

* The Jazz Celebration Vespers at Glendale First Lutheran Church will observe its second anniversary at 6:30 p.m. Sunday with performances by the Bill Cunliffe Trio and the Joe La Barbera Quintet. There is no charge, but an offering is taken at the church at 1300 E. Colorado St. Information: (213) 245-4000.

* A two-week statewide tour sponsored by Murder Victims Families for Reconciliation will include a forum at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday at the Sepulveda Unitarian Universalist Society, 9550 Haskell Ave., North Hills, and a march Thursday night from Westwood Park to the Westwood Federal Building, 11000 Wilshire Blvd., for a rally against the death penalty. Information: (310) 815-0450.

FINALLY

* Biola University in La Mirada hopes next week to put a final cap on disavowed racist views of its seminary founder.

In the 1930s, Louis T. Talbot, who founded what became Talbot School of Theology at Biola, espoused on radio and in his writings a now-discredited view among conservative evangelicals that the Bible provides a basis for racial prejudice against blacks.

Talbot cited Genesis 9:25, in which Noah curses Canaan, the son of Ham (which means “dark”), declaring Canaan will be the lowest of slaves. In a book published in 1938, Talbot said black people’s skin color resulted directly from the curse of Canaan. Talbot also wrote that God intended black people to stay with others of their own race.

Thirteen months ago, the Biola faculty formally distanced itself from the curse-of-Canaan views of its late founder. Declaring that Biola does not teach that position, the statement said that the view embraced by Talbot was “based upon prevailing cultural influences of the time, which resulted in inaccurate interpretation of particular portions of the Scriptures.”

To address lingering frictions and discuss racial reconciliation, Biola is holding a five-day conference next week, “Repairing the Breach: Healing the Wounds That Divide.” There will be three student chapel sessions and evening forums featuring speakers on the subject, culminating in a community rally at 7 p.m. Friday with Tony Campolo of Eastern College as the main speaker.