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12 Detroit Jewish News
Featuring Andersen Windows
Licensed & Insured
voice and arms to project a larger image.
She is not afraid to be provocative.
"We.run the risk of going down in his-
tory as the generation of Americans who
blew it big time. We are sensing a threat
to our survival ar a very deep level."
At the same time, she is optimistic.
"I believe there is a critical mass (of
people) in this country and around the
world and that we must interrupt cer-
tain patterns in the world, patterns that
are dark and limited and fear-based, and
replace them with light and a vision of a
compassionate god," she said.
"It's not that hate is so loud — it's
that love is so quiet."
The crowd's reception was warm,
but reviews were decidedly mixed.
Many younger attendees were wowed
by her message of peace and love, but
older listeners voiced confusion,
unable to make sense of the contradic-
tions that Williamson embodies.
Several admitted to a sense of betrayal
that this talented Jewish spiritualist
would be running a church.
Williamson, 47, didn't argue about
the inconsistencies in her life.
She answered audience questions
gamely after her talk, responding to
queries ranging from "Are you
Jewish?" (yes) to "Are you a Jew for
Jesus?" (absolutely not).
She explained that she was raised in
a large, extended Conservative Jewish
family in Houston, but was never com-
pelled by Judaism. She recalls her child-
hood religious education as boring and
pointless.
Williamson spent her 20s finding
herself until she fell upon and was
"claimed by" a set of books called A
Course in Miracles, a three-volume set
of lectures and worksheets that she
),
describes as "spiritual psychotherapy.
Williamson soon became the most
popular teacher of the course, and
found fame and fortune preaching
optimistic New Age messages from a
base in Los Angeles. She befriended
stars such as Elizabeth Taylor and
Oprah Winfrey.
After a decade in L.A., Williamson
says she wanted a more real experi-
ence. A fortuitous meeting led to her
appointment at the 3,000-member
Church of Today in Warren last year.
The Church of Today is affiliated
with Unity, a 1 00-year-old worldwide
Christian organization that is not tra-
ditional Christianity. Unitarians revere
Jesus as a "way-shower" or divinely
inspired person, but also say Jesus is
not the only son of God.
"I do believe in universal spiritual
themes," she told the audience at Beth
El. "But I believe that if I had and
stood the mystical traditions of my
own religion, I'd probably be a rabbi
today.
Showing characteristic frankness,
Williamson admitted that she has a lot
of "angst" about her commitment to
Judaism. She said laughingly, "My
mother has been saying for years, 'Go
to rabbinical school. We'll pay for it.'"
She does have a firm commitment
to providing a Jewish education for
her daughter, Emma, 10. Emma is
enrolled in Sunday School at Beth El,
Marianne Williamson with Rabbi
Daniel Syme at Temple Beth El.
where she and Williamson, a single
mother, are members.
According to Temple Beth El Rabbi
Daniel Syme, Williamson plans to read
from the Torah at Beth El and will
become a bat mitzvah there as well.
Syme said his decision to invite
Williamson to speak at his congrega-
tion, as a part of the 1999 Milton M.
Alexander Lectures, was easy. He
admires her work, he said, and intro-
duced her to his congregation as "bril-
liant, compassionate and an uncom-
promising idealist who insists the
world can be made better."
"What a shame that this is the first
time she spoke in a synagogue," he
told the assembly after her talk. 17
Caption information in last week's
story "Flicks with Neshama" gave
an incorrect date for the showing
of the film A Life Apart: Chasidism
in America. It will be at 5 p.m.
Thursday, June 10, at the D. Dan
& Betty Kahn Building of the
Jewish Community Center in
West Bloomfield.
The four quarters of Jerusalem's
Old City are Jewish, Armenian,
Christian and Muslim. The
Armenian quarter was not listed
in last week's Editor's Watch.
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