Religion Briefs
Star-Bulletin staff &
Associated Press
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Audio Hawaiian Bible project receives grant
The Office of Hawaiian Affairs released $191,849 in a grant to the Hawaiian Bible Project to produce an audio version of the Scriptures available online.
The audio feature will be helpful for Hawaiian-language students who will hear the correct pronunciation of words as they read along, said Jack Keppeler, project manager of Baibala Hemolele.
The Bible project was begun in 2002 by Partners in Development Foundation. Translators are inserting diacritical marks into the written text as pronunciation guides. The text was translated by 19th-century Christian missionaries and originally published by the American Bible Society. The Hawaiian-language Bible is available online, and the developers intend to publish it in print form.
Keppeler said the grant supporting the project reflects OHA criteria to support the Hawaiian culture and Hawaiian language.
The written text can be viewed at www.baibala.org.
Musician pays tribute to late activist Bower
A musician whose songs are a humorous commentary on political, ecological and social issues will be featured in a concert tonight at Church of the Crossroads.
Singer and guitarist Tom Neilson will perform in the 7 p.m. event at 1212 University Ave. Neilson, who has released five albums, recently won the South Florida Folk Festival. He has sung at campaign rallies for former presidential candidates Dennis Kucinich and Ralph Nader, and appeared at Washington National Cathedral and New York City Town Hall.
The concert is a memorial for Peter Bower, former YWCA executive and an activist in local peace and justice organizations, who died earlier this month.
Donations will be accepted.
Expert on Holocaust to speak on research
Ann Weiss, author of "The Last Album, Eyes from the Ashes of Auschwitz-Birkenau," will speak about her research on the Holocaust tomorrow and at other events next week.
Weiss will speak at 6 p.m. at the University of Hawaii Spalding Auditorium during the Kirk Cashmere Jewish Film Festival. Her talk will follow the 4:30 p.m. showing of "Watermarks," a documentary about a Jewish swim team disbanded by the Nazis and its reunion 65 years later.
The daughter of two Polish Holocaust survivors, Weiss has worked for years to compile stories of some of the 6 million European Jews who were put to death in Nazi concentration camps. Her documentary film "Eyes from the Ashes" featured photographs that were confiscated from Jewish prisoners at Auschwitz. She is the founder and director of Eyes from the Ashes Educational Foundation and an analyst for the Transcending Trauma Survival Project.
Weiss will speak at the following events, which are open to the public:
» Monday, 7:30 p.m. Chabad of Hawaii at the Ala Moana Hotel, 401 Atkinson Drive. Tickets are $10 for adults, $5 for children.
» Wednesday, 7:30 p.m. Windward Community College, 45-720 Keaahala Road, Kaneohe.
» Friday, 7 p.m. Shabbat service at Temple Emanu-El, 2550 Pali Highway.
She will also talk to classes at Iolani School and Mid-Pacific Institute.
Minister to discuss Buddhism in America
A Buddhist minister and professor who grew up in California will talk about Buddhism in America at a program next weekend at the Mililani Hongwanji Mission, 95-257 Kaloapau St.
"Nirvana for Americans" and "Laugh 'Til You Cry" Buddhism will be the topics of the Rev. Kenneth Tanaka, author of "Ocean, an Introduction to Jodo Shinshu Buddhism in America." Tanaka is a professor at Musashino University in Tokyo and formerly taught at the Institute of Buddhist Studies in Berkeley, Calif.
The free program from 6:30 to 9 p.m. Feb. 25 is offered for members of the faith and for people who are curious about Buddhism as well, said the Rev. Mary David, Mililani minister.
David has begun teaching a 12-week evening class on "Introduction to Buddhist Concepts." Daytime sessions of the course will begin Feb. 27. The cost is $10. For registration information, call 625-0925.