Opening council meeting with prayers not offensive, one rabbi says
Irma Lemus
CIVIC CENTER-- Rabbi Paula Reimers likens the flap over prayers before
City Council meetings to the Old Testament story of the Prophet Jeremiah,
who asked Jews exiled from Israel to pray for peace in their city.
Reimers of Temple Emanu El said that although the Jews were driven
from Israel to Babylonia in 586 B.C., Jeremiah told them to pray for
peace and enlightenment for the rulers.
“People should be allowed to pray. Our elected officials need all the
help they can get. It’s a tough job,” Reimers said Tuesday.
Reimers said she disagreed with activist Irv Rubin, who said last week
that he will seek a federal injunction against public prayers in Burbank
and other Southern California cities.
Rubin, the national chairman of the Jewish Defense League and a
candidate for the 24th Assembly District seat held by Brad Sherman
(D-Sherman Oaks), spoke at the Nov. 23 Burbank City Council meeting,
accusing the city of making a “Christian pageantry of the proceedings by
allowing Christian prayers and songs before the session. Rubin said the
practice blurred the line between church and state in violation of the
U.S. Constitution.
But speaking at her Glenoaks Boulevard Temple, Reimers said that
because Burbank embraces all religions and denominations at its meetings
the invocation is not offensive. As a member of the Burbank Ministerial
Association, she has been invited and delivered prayers before City
Council meetings, she said.
“I don’t see this in the same category as prayer in public schools. In
schools there are people from many denominations and it is a Christian
prayer that is said. City Council members “accept all traditions and
they try to get people to volunteer and give a prayer,” she said.
Reimers added that at council meetings it is mostly adults in
attendance and that no one is required to pray. Instead, she said, the
prayer is intended to offer guidance to public officials, whatever their
religious affiliation.
Father Chuck Mitchell of St. Jude’s Episcopal Church agreed that
prayer in City Council meetings should remain.
“I feel that this is something the community wants and desires,” said
Mitchell.
Just as the separation of church and state gives citizens the right to
choose what church they want to belong to, they also have a right to
choose whether the practice has a place in City Council meetings.
“It’s a blessing,” he said.