What is the the Qur’an? An Agnostic Jew Speaks. Lesley Hazelton at TEDx

Of African Princes and Russian Poets – NYTimes.com. Alongside the luminaries of the town and province were high representatives of Russia and Estonia, as well as the ambassador of Cameroon and the sultan of Logone-Birni (now in Cameroon), resplendent in the colorful garments of their African homeland.  The requisite speeches were delivered, and all shivered at attention as the local marching band wrestled gamely with the European Anthem (more familiar as Beethoven’s “Ode to Joy”). Then the sultan, Mahamat Bahat Marouf, was ushered forward to pull the veil off a modest plaque affixed to the wall. The legend, in French…

I really don’t know what to make of this story. Jewish women want to wear the burqa for modesty and the religious authorities say to be modest is a sign of sexual deviancy. I am so confused on so many levels with this story. h/t Talk Islam Israeli rabbis clamp down on burka – Telegraph. “At first, I just wore a wig,” one burka-wearing woman told the Haaretz newspaper. “Now when I see a woman with a wig, I pray to God to forgive her for wearing that thing on her head.”

National Religious Campaign Against Torture – Litany on or before September 11. You are invited to use or adapt these prayers for your congregation, community or interfaith gathering. You can use the litany in its entirety or portions of it. You can use several leaders. You might light candles or use another symbol during each line of the “Remembering our Grief” section.