PBS to show film on Father Damien

A PBS Hawaii program will air tomorrow a feature filmed on Molokai by a national Public Broadcasting System crew.

The legacy of Father Damien DeVeuster, who served leprosy patients at Kalaupapa in the 19th century, is the subject of the film to be shown at 6 p.m. on the “;Religion & Ethics Newsweekly”; program. The Catholic Church is expected to declare Damien a saint later this year.

The show will also include coverage of the various religious events tied to the inauguration of President Obama.

Jewish scholar to present lecture

Chabad of Hawaii will provide a Honolulu lecture hall tomorrow for a local audience to hear Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz, an internationally known Jewish scholar, in a televised talk being broadcast around the world.

The telecast will be seen here at 9:30 a.m. at the Ilima Conference Room on the second floor of the Ala Moana Hotel, 410 Atkinson Drive. Admission is $10 per person.

Steinsaltz, 70, author of more than 60 books, is an expert on the Talmud, traditional rabbinic commentaries on Jewish law. He founded the Institute for Talmudic Publications in Israel. He founded institutions for Jewish studies in the former Soviet Union. He has lectured in many countries including speaking at Yale, Columbia and Princeton universities. He was presented Israel's top “;Israel Award”; for fostering Jewish education internationally and was called a “;once in a millennium scholar”; by Time magazine.

His speech tomorrow from Israel is the first of four Unity Lectures to be sponsored this year by the Rohr Jewish Learning Institute of New York, education arm of the Chabad Lubavitch international organization. For information, call Chabad of Hawaii, 735-8161, or see http://www.UnityLecture.com.

Speaker to discuss faith in Holy Land

An Episcopal clergyman will speak here next week about the life of Christians in the Palestinian territories.

“;What Does the Gospel Mean While Living Under Occupation?”; will be the topic discussed by the Rev. Richard Toll at 6 p.m. Wednesday at St. Clement's Episcopal Church, 1515 Wilder Ave.

He will explore “;What Does It Mean to Be a Christian in the Holy Land?”; at 9 a.m. Feb. 1 at Church of the Crossroads, 1212 University Ave.

Toll is chairman of Friends of Sabeel-North America, supporting the efforts for interfaith understanding by the Sabeel Ecumenical Liberation Theology Center in Jerusalem. The Hawaii chapter of Friends of Sabeel is sponsoring his visit.