Sarah Price Brown starts off Tuesday’s RNS report with a review of a new book, “The Modern Jewish Girl’s Guide to Guilt,” edited by Ruth Andrew Ellenson: It came to her, the rabbi’s daughter, while she was sitting in her grandmother’s church. It was the voice of guilt. Ruth Andrew Ellenson, whose mother converted to Judaism and whose father runs Hebrew Union College, where most Reform rabbis are trained, had gone to church to hear her grandmother sing in the choir. But it wasn’t easy. “Was it worse to betray my Judaism by sitting in front of a giant cross, or to disrespect my beloved grandmother by bolting?” she wondered. Unable to decide between the two, Ellenson sat still, “paralyzed by guilt.” As Jews around the world observe the High Holidays, beginning with Rosh Hashana Oct. 3, the Jewish New Year, and culminating Oct. 12 with Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, many of them are bound to feel guilty about some of their behavior the past year.

An article by Dan Murtaugh, Virginia Bridges and Guy Busby out of Mobile, Ala., looks at the role of religious organizations in hurricane relief, and what their response will mean for future faith-based efforts: While some traditional disaster responders have been faulted for their pace in the face of Hurricane Katrina, many religious organizations have quickly welcomed, clothed and fed thousands of storm victims. Their no-red-tape response follows a trend of faith-based organizations playing an increasing role in functions traditionally performed by the government and secular charities. And it has Gulf Coast area church leaders and some government officials-emboldened by the large role houses of worship assumed after the storm-saying they want congregations to do even more.

Joy E. Stodghill writes about how Mormons are taught to be prepared in the face of disaster: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (the Mormons) always has a “disaster plan in place before the storm,” said Mary Strength, a church member. Strength was one of more than 100 people who sought shelter in the church in St. Martin, Miss., during the storm. The building was constructed to withstand Category 5 hurricane winds and proved to be that sturdy. Mormons are taught to keep enough food at each family’s home for one year. Strength credited the church’s push for preparedness as a reason for their survival. “Our preparation has come in handy this time,” Strength said.