Spiritual Lives

Famous people representing various faiths and occupations were interviewed by Larry King and
Rabbi Irwin Katsof. Here, in their own words,
is what some Jewish celebrities had to say about the importance of prayer

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Attorney Alan Dershowitz: "It's a very
special part of our family. I do formal
prayer every Friday night with my fami-
ly. ... We use traditional blessings as a
way of marking important events. I
think that's a form of prayer. It's also a
form of family communication. I think
a lot of those prayers as more directed
toward my family than necessarily
toward heaven. But we know we are
praying to something beyond us."

Alan Dershowitz

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Actor Elliot
Gould: "Prayer is
a sign of hope. It's
an awareness that
we are composed
of perishable mat-
ter. Prayer puts
oxygen in my
cells. It reminds
me that I'm still
living and there's a
chance for another
moment — to
detach from the
outside and come
back inside."

Noah Wyle

Actor Noah Wyle: "I'm
actually between believing
and praying to a higher
power, and praying inward-
ly to myself. I vacillate
between the power of posi-
tive thinking and the power
of prayer and not quite
knowing which is in exis-
tence at a particular time."

Goldie Hawn

Actress/director Goldie
Hawn: "I've been praying
since I was a little girl. I'd
have my own private
moments talking to God, and
I found such peace. My
mother told me, 'You don't
have to go to a church or a
synagogue to pray.' I remem-
bered that — that I could talk
to God wherever I was."

Elliot Gould

Former Israeli Prime
Minister Shimon
Peres: "I usually ad-
lib my prayers. I
always pray for peace
or in memory of
somebody. ... [Prayer]
is committing yourself
to something which is
above you, be it the
Lord or your con-
science, but it's a spe-
cial effort to be as
close as possible to
something that is
nobler and higher."

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Marianne
WilliamSon, New
Age spiritualist and
leader of Warren's
Church of Today:
"I'm Jewish. In my
regular prayer life, I
simply talk to God
and ask, on some
level or another, for
Marianne Williamson
His help — asking
that He correct my perceptions or show me what it is I need to
see. ... If more people would pray, more consistently, we could lit-
erally, through the power of our prayers, lift the clouds of darkness
that envelop the planet. It would wake us up to our essential
nature and we would become our more noble selves."

Shimon Peres

10/16

1998

Detroit Jewish News

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