Women of Faith Conference Focuses on Spiritual Renewal

More than 16,000 women are expected to gather Friday and next Saturday for spiritual renewal and encouragement at a Women of Faith conference at the Arrowhead Pond in Anaheim. The conference will feature Christian inspirational speakers sharing stories on how they dealt with depression, family members’ suicide, terminal illness and other challenges and still managed to find joy and humor in life. The speakers will include Patsy Clairmont, Luci Swindoll, Sheila Walsh, Barbara Johnson, Marilyn Meberg and Thelma Wells.

Women of Faith has attracted more than 1 million people to 99 conferences since its beginning in 1996. The conference starts Friday at 7 p.m. and continues next Saturday from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Seating in the Arrowhead Pond is sold out, but overflow seating is available at Calvary Church in Santa Ana. (770) 813-0000 or (800) 581-7544.

LABOR DAY SERVICES

Cardinal Roger M. Mahony will celebrate a Labor Day Mass on Monday at 10 a.m. at St. Vincent Catholic Church, 621 W. Adams Blvd. in Los Angeles. The Mass will mark the Los Angeles Archdiocese’s observance of the Jubilee Day of Workers, one of 34 days set aside by the Vatican and the U.S. church to recognize different groups during their worldwide celebration of Jubilee Year 2000. Immigrant workers especially deserve “the dignity and honor afforded all people,” the cardinal said in a statement, adding that many are underpaid and abused.

BUDDHIST TEACHING

Tibetan Buddhist monks from the Gyudmed Tantric Monastery in India will demonstrate the sacred art of making sand mandalas beginning Wednesday at the AGAPE International Center for Truth, 5700 Buckingham Parkway, Culver City. The opening ceremony will begin at 10 a.m., followed by an evening meditation at 6:45 p.m. The mandala, regarded as a map to enlightenment and a symbol of the divine, is expected to be completed on Sept. 11. (310) 348-1250.

* Dagmola Jamyang Sakya, a female Tibetan lama, will speak on how to overcome burnout and generate patience next Saturday from 10 a.m. to noon and from 2 to 4 p.m. at UCLA’s Fowler Museum. Founder of the Mother Tara Sakya Center in Los Angeles, the lama will also offer a meditation Friday in Malibu and an initiation ceremony at Yujean Kang restaurant, 8826 Melrose Ave., West Hollywood, on Sept. 10. (310) 276-6745.

* Vietnamese Zen master Thich Nhat Hanh will lead a retreat on “The Path of Understanding and Love” at UC San Diego, Wednesday through Sept. 11. The Zen monk, poet and scholar is the best-selling author of “Living Buddha, Living Christ” and other books. (800) 301-3158.

EVENTS

Dadi Janki of the Brahma Kumaris World Spiritual University will speak on building a culture of peace Thursday at 7 p.m. at the Celebrity Centre International, 5930 Franklin Ave., Hollywood. The program, held in conjunction with the United Nations’ International Year of the Culture of Peace, will also offer Los Angeles residents an opportunity to sign a commitment to six principles for peaceful living. (323) 655-5064.

* A concert featuring Sephardic, Armenian and Middle Eastern music will be held Wednesday at 8 p.m. at the University of Judaism, 15600 Mulholland Drive, West Los Angeles. Gerard Edery, a composer, singer and guitarist, and George Mgrdichian, a master player of a lute-like instrument called the oud, will be featured. (310) 476-9777, Ext. 203.

CLASSES

Yeshiva of Los Angeles will offer a two-class seminar Sept. 10 to prepare for Rosh Hashana at YOLA Beit Midrash, 9760 W. Pico Blvd., Los Angeles. Rabbi Yitzchak Etshalom will teach “Repentance and Prophecy” from 9 to 9:45 a.m. and Rabbi Dovid Landesman will teach “I Have Nothing to Do Teshuva For” from 10 to 10:45 a.m. The program is free.

* A series of adult classes will be held Tuesday through Oct. 6 on the laws of Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur, the laws of food preparation on Shabbat and Yom Tov, and Hasidic insights of the Yamim Noraim. (310) 772-2487 or e-mail hgreenspan@yola.org.

* The Workman’s Circle/Arbeter Ring will begin Yiddish language classes Tuesday for continuing, intermediate and advanced students and Sept. 11 for beginning students. Tuition for the 18-week semester is $90 for members and $140 for nonmembers. (310) 552-2007.

* Rabbi Moshe ben Asher and his wife, Khulda bat Sarah, on Tuesday will launch “Kids Kehilla,” an after-school program to strengthen Jewish identity in children ages 6 to 13. The program will focus on drama productions, Jewish music and art, Hebrew language lessons, instructions on designing a sanctuary and community improvement projects in the Fairfax neighborhood. The program will take place at the Westside Jewish Community Center. (323) 934-2925.

GRANT

The National Endowment for the Humanities has awarded the University of Judaism a $5,000 grant to preserve rare book collections in its Ostrow Library. The collections include 4,500 Bibles, some dating to the 1400s, donated by Ben Maslan of Seattle, and the Kalman-Friedman collection of more than 200 volumes of Sephardic publishing from 17th century Italy. The Ostrow Library houses one of the largest collections of Judaica west of the Mississippi, with approximately 120,000 volumes.

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