Events to Honor the Contributions of Mothers

Services honoring women and motherhood will be held this Mother’s Day weekend in venues around the Southland. The programs include a “Women’s Day” of prayer today from 9:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. at the Holy Spirit Retreat Center, 4316 Lanai Road, Encino. Individual and group prayer, music, praise and a luncheon will be featured. Photographs and mementos of special women in participants’ lives are requested. Tickets are $40. (818) 784-4515

West Hollywood Presbyterian Church will hold a Mother’s Day service with the Rev. Lisa Bove on Sunday at 11 a.m. She will speak about her journey as a lesbian single mother. Crazy Cat George, a women’s acoustic band, will perform. The church is at 7350 Sunset Blvd. (323) 874-6646.

EVENTS

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A conference to help men redefine their identities and become better role models in their families and communities will be held today from 8 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. at the Ontario Convention Center, 2000 Convention Center Way. Speakers will include prominent Christian ministers Chuck Smith, Raul Ries, Don McClure, Pancho Juarez and David Rosales. The free conference is sponsored by the nonprofit church-based ministry called A Foundation for Living. (888) 397-6238.

* A conference to help couples strengthen their marriages and family life is scheduled for May 20 at the Arrowhead Pond in Anaheim. The “I Still Do” events, held in cooperation with Promise Keepers, Women of Faith and other Christian groups, will focus on communication skills, conflict resolution, restoration of romance and renewal of the marriage commitment. Group tickets are $45 apiece; individual tickets are $75 at the door. (800) 358-6329.

* A weeklong festival celebrating Yiddish culture, art, music and literature will be held at 20 Southland venues from Sunday through May 21. The events include klezmer performances by Brave Old World and others; “Shtick!”--a theatrical exploration of lesbian identity; and a family festival featuring storytelling and arts. For full events listings, call (323) 692-8151 or visit https://www.yiddishkaytla.org.

* Scholar Michael Berenbaum will explore major controversies in Holocaust studies at four weekly sessions beginning Wednesday from 8 to 9:30 p.m. at the University of Judaism, 15600 Mulholland Drive, Bel-Air. Topics will include the Americanization of Holocaust studies, whether the Holocaust is unique and the failure to bomb Auschwitz. (310) 476-9777, Ext. 246.

* Twelve new rabbis--nine men and three women--will be ordained Tuesday by the University of Judaism’s Ziegler School of Rabbinic Studies at 7:30 p.m. at Sinai Temple in Los Angeles. The ceremony marks the second time Conservative rabbis have been ordained on the West Coast. (310) 440-1282.

* The Claremont School of Theology will celebrate the leadership of Robert W. Edgar, the school’s fourth president, who recently assumed leadership of the National Council of Churches, today at 2:30 p.m. The day’s events include a buffet lunch and program. To honor Edgar, the school recently established the Robert W. Edgar Presidential Scholarship, with a funding goal of $100,000. (909) 626-3521, Ext. 1280.

* Leo Baeck Temple will hold a Tot Shabbat celebration today from 10 a.m. to 11:30 p.m. at 1300 N. Sepulveda Blvd., Bel-Air. The events will include Shabbat activities, a brief Torah service and a story led by Rabbi Emily Feigenson and Cantor Wally Schachet-Briskin. (310) 476-2861.

* A concert featuring classical and flamenco guitarist Jeffrey Briggs to benefit AIDS vaccine research will be held May 20 at 7:30 p.m. at South Bay Community Church, 2761 190th St., Redondo Beach. The concert will be sponsored by Mary Hoffman and Patti Levenson, who are participating in a six-day Alaskan benefit bike ride. (310) 568-5416.

BUDDHIST TEACHINGS

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The Los Angeles Buddhist Union will observe Vesak, Buddha’s birthday celebration, Sunday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. at 7833 Emerson Place in Rosemead. The festivities will include a vegetarian feast, exhibition of religious art and relics and a presentation by the Venerable Chao Chu on the 1999 India tour featuring Buddhist holy sites. (626) 280-1213.

* A daylong program on “Tibet Journeys to the West” will be offered May 21 from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m in Room 2160E of the Dickson Art Center at UCLA. The UCLA Extension program will feature Sogyal Rinpoche, author of “The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying”; Howard Cutler, co-author with the Dalai Lama of “The Art of Happiness”; Tenzin N. Tethong, visiting history professor at Stanford University; and Lobsang Rapgay of the UCLA School of Medicine. Tethong and Rapgay both served in senior posts with the Dalai Lama. Tickets are $65. (310) 825-2301.

* His Holiness Jigdal Dagchen Sakya, head of the Sagya school of Tibetan Buddhism, and his wife, Dagmola Jamyang Sakya, one of the few female Tibetan Buddhist lamas, will offer a week of empowerment and teaching from Friday through May 28. The week includes a program on “Spirit of the Dharma” Friday at 7:30 p.m. in the Pepperdine University chapel. On May 20, a Vajrapani empowerment to protect and purify against disease will be offered from 10 a.m. to noon at Westwood United Methodist Church, 10497 Wilshire Blvd. On May 21, a Green Tara empowerment to release distress and liberate beings will be held from 10 a.m. to noon at Yujean Kang’s, 8826 Melrose Ave., West Hollywood. For information on other events, call (310) 276-6232.

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Notices may be mailed for consideration to Southern California File, c/o Religion Editor, Los Angeles Times, Times Mirror Square, Los Angeles, CA 90053; faxed to Southern California File at (213) 237-2358; or sent by e-mail to religion@latimes.com. Items should arrive two to three weeks before the event and must include pertinent details about the people and organizations involved, with address, phone number, date, time and cost, if any. Because of the volume of submissions, we cannot guarantee publication.