Most Muslims in Southern California will gather...

Most Muslims in Southern California will gather Tuesday for early morning prayers marking the end of Islam’s holy month of Ramadan, when able-bodied adults were expected to abstain from food and drink during daytime hours since Jan. 22.

Some Muslim groups, such as the Mosque of Riverside, began the fasting month one day earlier based on overseas sightings of the new moon, and thus may mark Ramadan’s end on Sunday if the crescent sliver of the new moon is seen in other countries tonight.

However, the majority of large Islamic centers and mosques in Southern California, following the decision of the new Islamic Shura Council of Southern California, determined from astronomical calculations that it would be impossible to see the new moon on Sunday night in North America, leaving Monday as the final day of fasting.

As many as 10,000 people are expected at each of the three largest gatherings for the Eid al-Fitr (eed-ahl-FIT-ter) three-day holiday. The sites are:

* Orange County Fair and Exposition Center in Costa Mesa, 8 a.m., with Muzammil Siddiqi speaking. (714) 531-1722.

* Los Angeles County Fairgrounds in Pomona, 8 a.m., with Ahmad Sakr giving the sermon and leading prayers. (818) 964-3596.

* Los Angeles Convention Center’s South Hall, 7:30 a.m., with Maher Hathout of the Islamic Center of Southern California speaking. (213) 384-6324.

Among smaller Eid prayer gatherings is one at 9 a.m. at Rancho Cienega Recreation Park in Los Angeles, sponsored by Masjid Felix Bilal.

After the communal Eid prayers, Muslims typically celebrate the holiday with gifts to children, open-house parties, outdoor activities or visits to amusement parks.

GRANT

The Los Angeles Jewish Federation’s Board of Rabbis has received a $50,000 grant from the Edna and Mickey Weiss Foundation to administer a program that over five years will send 10 pairs of rabbis and their spouses to Israel for two-week seminars at the Shalom Hartman Institute. Institute Director David Hartman, a professor at Hebrew University, was praised by Board of Rabbis President Abner Weiss, an Orthodox rabbi, as “someone who has the respect of rabbis across denominational lines.”

Two couples will be chosen for the first program in July. Calling pulpit rabbis “unsung heroes of our Jewish community,” philanthropist Mickey Weiss said that participants will later hold workshops for their congregations and other rabbis.

MUSIC

* The 62nd annual Los Angeles Bach Festival will open at 8 p.m. Friday at the massive First Congregational Church with the West Coast debut of organist Gottfried Preller of Arnstadt, Germany, and culminate March 3 with Johann Sebastian Bach’s “Passion According to St. John” with soloists and the Festival Chorus and Orchestra led by Thomas Somerville.

Acclaimed harpsichordist Patricia Mabee of the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, and flutist Lisa Edelstein, another Southern California performer, will be featured in a special program at 8 p.m. next Saturday in Shatto Chapel at First Congregational, the oldest Protestant church in Los Angeles, located at 540 S. Commonwealth Ave.

The Los Angeles City Schools Bach Honor Chorus will appear at 3 p.m. Feb. 25, and I Cantori, a vocal and instrumental ensemble conducted by Edward Cansino, will perform at 8 p.m. March 2. Tickets are $50 for the series, with varied prices for separate performances. (213) 385-1345.

* Next weekend’s 37th annual Concert of Negro Spirituals at Holman United Methodist Church by the 100-voice Holman Choir comes at a momentous, but worrisome, time.

The congregation at 3320 W. Adams Blvd. in Los Angeles is celebrating its 50th year with pride in a 300-space parking structure, large education and multipurpose buildings and a full ministry under Senior Pastor James Lawson Jr. At the same time, the church is under city orders to retrofit its 8,000-square-foot sanctuary for earthquake safety or demolish the building by September 1997.

The Holman Choir performances under the direction of J. David Bowick will be Feb. 24 and 25, starting at 3 p.m. both days. Tickets range from $10 to $50. (213) 731-7285.

CONFERENCES

* Nearly identical Clergy Network conferences on “Probing the Managed Care Health Delivery System” will be held in Sherman Oaks on Feb. 29 and in Orange on March 26 for physicians, clergy and attorneys.

Miriam Cotler, professor of health administration at Cal State Northridge, will give the keynote talk at the Ventura Club, Sherman Oaks, on ethical challenges in managed care. Loyola Marymount’s David Blake, who is director of St. John’s Hospital Bioethics Institute, will deliver the main address on “boundary issues” in managed care in the conference at Turnip Rose Conference Center in Orange. The free conferences are sponsored by Clergy Network-Summit Care Corp. and UniHealth Foundation. Registration deadline for the Feb. 29 conference is Thursday. (800) 707-2224.

* Faculty and administrators from five Southern California seminaries will hear Catholic theologian David Tracy of the University of Chicago and ethicist and feminist theologian Rachel Adler, a visiting faculty member at Hebrew Union College, discuss “Conflict Between Faith and Culture” Thursday and Friday at the Breuer Conference Center in Malibu. The second annual interfaith conference is sponsored by the Skirball Institute on American Values.

DATES

* Ralph Reed, national executive director of the Christian Coalition, will be the principal speaker Monday at a luncheon in the Bel-Air Hotel. The event, emceed by entertainer Pat Boone, is a fund-raiser for the California Christian Coalition’s 1996 election voter guides.

* Leila L. Bronner, president of the Los Angeles chapter of AMIT Women (Americans for Israel and Torah), will talk about her book “From Eve to Esther,” published by Westminster/John Knox Press in 1994, at 10 a.m. Wednesday in the Jewish Community Library, 6505 Wilshire Blvd., Los Angeles. A $5 donation will be asked. (213) 653-6605.

* Musician-author Gloria Gaither will be the keynote speaker at First Presbyterian Church of Hollywood at an all-day, nondenominational retreat for women called “Faithlift.” The deadline for the $25 registration is Wednesday. (213) 463-7161.

* Dr. Abraham Twerski, founder and medical director of the noted Gateway Rehabilitation Center in Pittsburgh, will speak at 8 p.m. Tuesday at the Yeshiva of Los Angeles Beit Midrash, 9760 W. Pico Blvd., on “Life’s Too Short: Pulling the Plug on Self-Defeating Behavior.” The program is free. (310) 553-4478, Ext. 285.

* On the second night of a four-day revival meeting at Los Angeles First African Methodist Episcopal Church, 2270 S. Harvard Blvd., popular guest preacher Beverly “Bam” Crawford will speak at the Wednesday service, which starts at 7 p.m. The revival is part of the church’s schedule of events noting Black History Month.

* The Chinese New Year and the open house of a new Buddhist temple in the San Gabriel Valley will be celebrated Feb. 25 at Waken Ray Tseng Temple, 11657 Lower Azusa Road, El Monte. A special New Year blessing will be given by Master Allen Hou, the principal designer of the temple, followed by a free lunch. The temple is affiliated with the True Buddha School, a Seattle-based, Tibetan-Tantric sect founded 25 years ago by Grand Master Sheng-Yen Lu. The temple’s grand opening will be held Sept. 7 when the grand master will officiate at the ceremonies. (818) 455-0077.

FINALLY

Looking ahead to Easter on April 7, Roman Catholics, Episcopalians and Protestants will begin the penitential season of Lent next week on Ash Wednesday.

Tens of thousands of people will go to Southern California parishes for “the imposition of ashes,” the marking of the worshiper’s forehead with ashes, a church symbol for penance.

Eastern Orthodox churches will observe Easter one week later than Western churches this year, on April 14, but following tradition, will mark the start of Lent with liturgies Feb. 25.

Roman Catholic churches in Latino communities will be especially busy on Ash Wednesday, but other churches with liturgical heritages will conduct traditional rites.

All Saints Episcopal Church, 132 N. Euclid Ave., in Pasadena, for instance, will have a Eucharistic service and distribute ashes at 7:15 a.m., noon and 7:15 p.m.

The Rev. Afrie Songco Joye of Tarzana United Methodist Church, 5619 Lindley Ave., will distribute ashes during services at 11:30 a.m. and 6:30 p.m. Wednesday.

Most old-line Protestant churches plan special study and reflective programs during Lent.

Members of Epiphany Lutheran Church, 7769 Topanga Canyon Blvd., Canoga Park, on Sunday will begin a 50-day Bible study and action series, titled in part, “Trusting Christ When Life Gets Confusing.” On March 3 at Pasadena First United Methodist Church, 500 E. Colorado Blvd., psychotherapist-minister Ed Aluzas will begin a four-part discussion series, “Dancing With the Lord of Life.”