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After Friday night services will
come an all-night reading of texts
from the Jewish Psalms, the Hindu
scripture Bhagavad Gita, the
Buddhist text Dhammapada, the
Taoist Tao Te Ching and
Christianity's Gnostic Gospel of
Thomas, said Rabbi Rami Shapiro.
On Saturday, he will run a day of
silent sitting meditation, inter-
spersed with text study, Rabbi
Shapiro said. "One of the hallmarks
of religion in the 21st century will
be interspirituality, a sense that
while each of us comes from our
own tradition, we also recognize that
the truth is not contained in any
one, and we can learn from different
traditions."
Other religious
organizations are also
capitalizing on the
coincidence of special
days in the Jewish and
secular calendars.
Reform Temple
Emanuel in Beverly
Hills, Calif., is encour-
aging people "to start
the millennium with
God" by coming to
Friday night services
before continuing on
to whatever party is
planned, said Rabbi
Laura Geller.
Most Reform con-
gregations are expand-
ing their Friday night
celebration of Shabbat
into something a little
longer and fancier to
mark the occasion, said
Emily Grotta, director
of communications for the Union of
American Hebrew Congregations.
The United Synagogue of
Conservative Judaism sent out a
booklet of programming, sermon
and publicity ideas to each of its
member congregations, suggesting
that Conservative synagogue leaders
try to turn the focus of the weekend
away from "expensive, extensive,
explosive, exotic styles and loca-
tions" and to themes related to tran-
sitions, which are to be found in
that Shabbat's Torah portion in
Exodus.
A Conservative synagogue on
Manhattan's Upper West Side,
Ansche Chesed, will try to keep its
members busy that Friday night with
worship services, a dinner and enter-
tainment late into the night.
Champagne will be served at mid-
night, of course, and children will have

a sleepover party with Israeli dancing.
"This cuts across the lines of people
who are more interested in doing
something Jewish and those who are
not," said synagogue President
Michael Brochstein. "It's a way to
build one community."
Somewhere between 10,000 and
50,000 sets of Shabbat candlesticks,
candles, kiddush cups and bubbly
grape juice will be sent out by the
National Jewish Outreach Project to
those who call 1-888-SHABBAT.
The organization will spend
between $100,000 and $250,000 to
try to persuade people to turn New
Year's Eve into Shabbat, said Rabbi
Ephraim Buchwald, its director.
Yet even for some synagogues it

"Any Jewish
hoo-ha about the
millennium is
essentially playing into
Christian hands.
It's not our party,
not our millennium,
and let's cut it out."

— Rabbi Arthur Hertzberg

isn't going to be a particularly signifi-
cant Shabbat.
The Jewish Reconstructionist
Federation solicited a "minyan of
opinion" about whether to organize
something movement-wide for the
Shabbat, said executive director Mark
Seal, but though it is a classic conflict
between two civilizations, people don't
feel it profoundly.
"A lot of people feel the hysteria in
terms of a crisis is overblown and are
planning low-key Shabbats," he said.
Other Jews say they would like to
get as far away from both the Jewish
and secular aspects of the weekend as
possible.
Filmmaker and writer Lilly Rivlin is
hoping "to go to India, to totally avoid
it and go to an ashram," she said,
where she will devote herself to medi-
tating and dancing to what she
described as New Age Indian music. LI