Another Jewish holiday! Tonight begins the seven-day Festival of Sukkot, where Jews give thanks for the harvest. So get yourself an etrog (it’s like a lemon) and, as the Torah instructs, shake your lulav. (Don’t get too excited – it’s the closed frond of a date palm tree.)
Israel and Hamas struck a deal to free Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, held captive by Hamas for five years, in exchange for 1,027 prisoners held by Israel, many of whom were convicted of attacking Israelis. Jews around the world, some of whom had left a seat empty for Shalit at their Passover seder tables, celebrated as CNN’s Richard Allen Greene probes the dilemma of the deal. Greene writes: “There is a question in Jewish law about whether it’s moral to free a captive in a deal that could potentially endanger other lives – as many Israelis fear will happen when Palestinians who have killed Israelis are released.”
For his second act, the “Red Bishop” of Honduras, Luis Santos Villeda will run for president of his country – as long as Pope Benedict XVI says it’s OK. Villeda turns 75 next month, and will resign as bishop, as required by canon law, freeing himself to declare his candidacy with a progressive faction of the Liberal Party. The faction has long promoted a Villeda presidency, and its symbol, a red flag, helps explain the bishop’s nickname.
The Pope at the moment seems more focused on the Middle East, saying today that he is “deeply saddened” by the recent violence in Cairo, which claimed the lives of 26 people, most of them Coptic Christians. He condemned attempts to “undermine the peaceful coexistence” among Egyptian communities.
An Egyptian general denied that troops opened lethal fire during the clashes between the Copts and military police. Said General Mahmoud Hegazy, a member of the army council that has ruled the country since the ouster of Hosni Mubarak: “Egypt’s Copts are part of the fabric of this society. All Egyptians are citizens with the same rights and obligations.”
Popping up on militant websites: A video from Al-Qaeda’s new leader in which he calls on Libyan fighters who overthrew Moammar Gadhafi to set up an Islamic state in Libya.
Paul Crouch Jr. is leaving the Trinity Broadcasting Network, the largest Christian television network in the world, which his parents founded nearly 40 years ago. Crouch says its time to pursue other ministry work. He was vice-president and chief of staff of TBN, and often hosted its flagship program, Praise the Lord.
When bad weather in August forced the cancellation of the dedication ceremony for the new Washington monument to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., many of the celebrities who had planned to grace the stage offered their regrets. Some, like Samuel L. Jackson, who will be playing King on Broadway, won’t be able to make the rescheduled dedication ceremony this coming weekend. But there will still be stars and pols: President Obama will give the keynote. Aretha Franklin will sing. Dan Rather will speak.
Americans United for the Separation of Church and State has asked the IRS to investigate whether Dallas Pastor Robert Jeffress flouted federal law when he put a video clip about his endorsement of presidential candidate Rick Perry on the church’s web site.
And in other Jeffress news, the Catholic League today reminds us that Jeffress, who is getting a lot of press lately for condemning Mormonism. Buddhism, Hinduism and Islam, last year had this to say about Catholicism: “Much of what you see in the Catholic Church today doesn’t come from God’s word. It comes from that cult-like pagan religion. Isn’t that the genius of Satan?”
Happy Sukkot,
Lauren Markoe
