Shalom Talk

On Sunday, November 13, our guest was Dallas Raines, award-winning weatherman and media personality. Georgia born, now living in the los Angeles area, Dallas has been with KABC since 1984.  In our interview time, it soon became apparent that Dallas not only analyzes the weather and predicts what is coming up soon, he also creates some weather of his own.

What do I mean?

Dallas self-identifies as a religious believer and as a positive person.  In recounting his journey to his current fame and fortune, he told of times when he went out and created opportunities for himself.  Fascinated by weather patterns ever since  being in the fourth grade, when he was fifteen he went to the local radio station in his small Georgia town, Thomaston, which describes itself on the web even today as "only an hour drive from large cities, (yet) a whole world away. Thomaston, Georgia's charm is in the fact that it is quite ordinary."  He asked the station owner/manager if he could just read the weather over the air. The manager not only let him do that, but also had him spinning records and reading news. Thus began Dallas' broadcasting career.

Later, when he graduated from Florida State University in Meteorolgy, the next day he drove to Baton Rouge, Louisiana and was waiting in the doorway of a station there when they opened, and asked for a job doing ANYTHING, 

Here again, Dallas was making his own weather.  Instead of waiting for the world to beat a path to his door, he went out and knocked on doors, confident that it is not so much opportunity that knocks, as that opportunity opens to the one who goes a-knocking!

Dallas attributes his positive outlook to his upbringing and also to his faith.  He believes in a benevolent God who delights to open the way for those whose heart is seeking to serve and to count for something.   Obviously, positive actions and mindsets cannot thrive in people who view life as a hostile environment.

So the lesson for all of us today is just this: to go out and make our own "weather."  In the words of the Yeshua the Messiah, in Matthew 7, to ask (and keep on asking). to seek (and keep on seeking), and to knock (and keep on knocking), because every one who asks recevies (sooner or later), and he/she who seeks finds, and to him/her who knocks the door will be opened.

That's the way it will be for us in dealings with people, and in dealings with God, because, as Yeshua says, "if you being evil know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give to those who ask him?"

Now, go out and make some good weather for yourself!

Our interview with international businessman Richard Irving about AIPAC (the American Israel Public Action Committee) touches on issues that are far more volatile now than they were fifty years ago. 

As I have said on the air more than once, fifty years ago, Israel was universally perceived to be the underdog in the area.  Now even a former American President, Jimmy Carter, labels Israel the oppressor, in his words, "an Apartheid state."  Has Israel changed?

Not exactly.  Three factors are working together resulting in Israel's bad image and bad press in our day. 

1. Representatives of the Palestinian cause have been very skillful in presenting themselves unremitingly as victims, with Israel as the oppressing force. This is no accident: it is propaganda.  My friend Dr. Michael Rydelnik points out how conspicous it was that Hanan Ashwari, right hand woman to Yassir Arafat and member of the Palestine Natiional Council, would always refer to the Palestinians as "the victims."  Repeatedly linking this word to the Palestinians frames perceptions. 
2. Israel is now stronger than it was fifty years ago, and those who are perceived to be weaker tend to be perceived as oppressed underdogs, while the more powerful parties are assumed to be the victimizers.  But the answer to this is a sentence I once heard from Dore Gold, former Israeli Ambassador to the U.N. who said:  "The weaker party is not necessarily right, and the stornger party necessarily wrong."
3. Antisemitism and antijudaism, like a mold, infest Western Civilization. Under certain conditions, the mold grows and casts off its spores.  One condition when the mold grows is times of financial instability. For centuries it has been common to blame "those damned Jews" for the problems.  This is an old canard, frequently unearthed. It is virulent and pervasive under our current unsable conitions. 

Make no mistake, all of us have been propagandized.  But the truth is out there.  It is always a good idea to discover and reexamine one's deepest assumptions. Sometimes we will discover we have been harboring an untruth or half truth that has skewed many of our judgments.  Let's open our eyes, and weigh things carefully, rather than being suscepible to the latest wind of change. 

Join us at our next Shalom Talk Forum at 4:00 PM, Sunday, December 4, at the Beverly Hills Interfaith Center. Rabbi Dauermann’s guest will be terrorism and post-traumatic stress expert Dr. Kathleen Arai, speaking on Zionism Without Apologies.

Christians call Israel the Holy Land and recognize Israel as a special place. Jewish people around the world consider Israel as their Homeland. Whether Israel is your homeland or Holy Land, your place of birth or pilgrimage, or you are unconvinced that Zionism is relevant today, Zionism Without Apologies will inspire and challenge you.

Admission is free, with free parking behind the building. 

The Beverly Hills Interfaith Center, 315 S. Beverly Drive, Beverly Hills, CA 90212.

Phone: 424-245-4342
Email: info@interfaithcenter.us

Experience greater shalom with Shalom Talk Forums.

Shalom Aleichem!

 

Dr. David Stern is best known as the translator of The Jewish New Testament, a bestselling version of the New Testament which does things like give Jesus his Hebrew name (Yeshua) and put many words back into a Jewish setting, such as translating "law" as Torah. He is also the author of a book which was heavily used in the pioneer days of Messianic Judaism and still is (in a slightly updated version), called The Messianic Jewish Manifesto.

Dr. Stern and his wife, Martha, live in Israel (and have since the 70's). He has a PhD from Princeton in Economics. His ideas about a Judaism centered on faith in Yeshua have been formative for hundreds of thousands of people and his books read by even more.

Rabbi Dauermann says of this broadcast, schedule for May 22, 2011: "This interview has the status of an historical document. To my knowledge, the combined content of this program is available nowhere else. This something no Messianic Jew or friend of Messianic Judaism should miss, and it is a program likely to be revisited again and again in ensuing years."

To see more about Dr. Stern's books, visit:

Martin Montague doesn't mind that he is often known for what his father did. The son of the "Magnificent Montague" continues the legacy of his famous father. Our interview will Mr. Montague will air on Sunday, May 15.

Martin's father, Magnificent, was born in 1928 and perfected a style of broadcasting that was in perfect synch with the soul music of his day. In Houston, San Francisco, Chicago, New York, and eventually Los Angeles, Magnificent became well-known in the 50's and 60's and grew into the business end of radio in the 70's and 80's.

Rabbi Dauermann talks with Martin and Jewish-Black relations, about Martin's astounding collection of African-American memorabilia, about the importance of remembering roots, and, of course, about his famous father and the many musical legends he knew. 

For a piece of American history, ShalomTalk listeners will want to spend some time on the website devoted to Magnificent Montague at www.magnificentmontague.com

On May 8, Shalom Talk will feature Heidi Grant Halvorson, PhD, and the topic will be success. But unlike some who talk about this topic, takes a scientific, careful approach.

Dr. Halvorson is a social psychologist, educational consultant, and most recently Assistant Professor of Psychology at Lehigh University. She received her doctorate at Columbia University, and specializes in understanding how people respond to setbacks and challenges, and how these responses are shaped by the types of goals individuals pursue.  She has been published in a number of the finest professional journals in her field, has received several grants from the National Science Foundation.  She writes a blog, “The Science of Success” for Psychology Today, contributes to Fast Company, the Harvard Business Review, Huffington Post, and more.

In the Shalom Talk interview, Rabbi Dauermann talks with Dr. Halvorson about how people change and the overwhelming evidence that change is possible. With carefully interpreted results of clinical studies, Dr. Halvorson talks about the muscle of self-control. And muscle is a good analogy, since we can "exercise" self-control like other muscle groups. 

Find more about Dr. Halvorson and her research at www.heidigranthalvorson.com.

The Shalom Talk broadcast this Sunday, April 17, was taped in Jerusalem and is an interview with Elazar Brandt. Elazar, or Larry, made aliyah (citizenship) in Israel in 1996, a former Army helicopter pilot from L.A.

He found that his niche in Israel was music and so he founded the music group the Doctor Jazz Dixieland Band, which performs regularly throughout Israel, especially in Jerusalem, and in places needing to be cheered up due to acts of terrorism. He plays ten instruments, and has produced two CDs.  He and his band work regularly in a wide variety of venues in the Land.  He is also an expert on the interrelationship of Judaism and Christianity. 

In this broadcast, Rabbi Dauermann discusses Elazar’s journey from nominal Conservative Jew, to student of Hebrew, working for El Al Airlines, only tenor banjo player in Israel, street musician, to well known Band Leader spreading cheer in the City of Peace.

See videos of the Doctor Jazz Dixieland Band playing in Israel at  www.doctorjazz.co.il.

On the Shalom Talk broadcast this Sunday, March 20, get a historical perspective on the real St. Patrick, a spiritual and why he should be a hero to all people of faith. Our guest is Roger Nelson, a Staley Distinguished Christian Scholar, whose presentations have enriched over 1,600 audiences in 32 countries.

We'll be separating fact from fiction about St. Patrick, including sober consideration about how one person can bring revolutionary change to his time, his context, his people, and the world.

Roger Nelson is known for his two one-man shows: “The Man From Aldersgate,” in which he portrays John Wesley, and “The Confession of St Patrick,” in which he portrays the Patron Saint of Ireland. Among many honors and awards, Roger has received the International Christian Visual Media’s Crown Award for Best Actor! 

The February 27 broadcast of Shalom Talk will feature Dr. Michael Rydelnik, author of Understanding the Arab Israeli Conflict: What the Headlines Haven‘t Told You. 

Dr. Rydelnik will reflect on the current turmoil in the Middle East and in the Arab and Muslim world. He discusses the validity of the notion, denied by Muslims and now commonly by some Christians, that the land of Israel belongs in perpetuity to the Jewish people.

Rabbi Dauermann says of this interview, "This is one of the most dynamic interviews we have ever done due to the expertise of the guest and the tensions of this historical moment."

Dr. Rydelnik is the son of Holocaust survivors, professor of Jewish Studies at the Moody Bible Institute where he has taught since 1994, and also the author of The Messianic Hope: Is the Old Testament Really Messianic? See him on the web at  http://www.michaelrydelnik.com and http://www.messianicjourneys.com/.

How dangerous is rhetoric? How effective is rhetoric? What about the idea that political rhetoric is leading to violence in America? It's a timely topic and Rabbi Dauermann will interview one of the leading experts on the January 30 broadcast: Jay Heinrichs, author of Thank You For Arguing: What Aristotle, Lincoln and Homer Simpson Can Teach Us About the Art of Persuasion. Having spent more than 30 years in publishing as a writer, editor, and executive, Jay currently works as a publishing and persuasion consultant. His largest current clients include NASA and Southwest Airlines. He lives on 150 acres in central New Hampshire, a half-hour from the Dartmouth campus. His wife, Dorothy Behlen Heinrichs, is Vice President of Advancement at the Vermont Law School.

During the interview they briefly touch on the role classical rhetoric played in the Founding Father's deliberations and the course America chose.

You can see more about Jay Heinrichs at thankyouforarguing.com and figarospeech.com

On ShalomTalk's January 16 broadcast, Rabbi Dauermann has a second interview with Marriage and Family Therapist Ellen Goldsmith. Goldsmith brings some true radio shalom to our listeners with her combination of wit and insight into the things that make us healthy and unhealthy in relationships.

In this show, Ellen and Rabbi Dauermann will share with us the relational impact of the Internet culture, and  what needs to happen to prevent damage and foster relational health for our children and ourselves. 

 Tribes are nothing new to readers of the Jewish and Christian scriptures. Israel itself was a tribal people and still one handle for a Jewish person is "member of the tribe."

On October 17, ShalomTalk will feature Dan and Georgia Shaw, Christian missionaries who have worked for years with tribal peoples in New Guinea and in Canada. Imagine bringing the stories of the Jewish scriptures and the Christian New Testament to people with their own sacred writings and stories of tradition. 

Dan and his first wife Karen (now deceased) served as a missionary Translator/Anthropologist among the Samo, a recently rehabilitated cannibalistic tribespeople in Papua New Guinea from 1970 to 1981.  His PhD is from the University of Papua New Guinea, and since 1982 he has served as Professor of Anthropology and Translation at Fuller Theological Seminary School of Intercultural Studies, in Pasadena, CA.  His wife Georgia served for 16 years among First Nation North Americans on Vancouver Island, British Columbia.  Both Georgia and Dan have a deep respect for and intimate knowledge of indigenous peoples. 

Dan says that the Samo people taught him everything he knows about life. The missionary had not only something to teach, but also something to learn from a people who see life in a more simple way. Their skills at survival and the wisdom of living in a harsh world can teach us Westerns a great deal.

Rabbi Dauermann says of Dan and Georgia, "They are the most intelligent and perceptive people I have ever known." Listen in as we bring more radio shalom into your home with topics that are timely and off the beaten path. 

 Tikkun Olam is a Jewish phrase meaning "repair of the world." It is a Jewish concept that pain, suffering, and injustice require resistance and that God works through people whose loving deeds heal the rift.

 

On October 10, 2010, ShalomTalk will feature Chaplains Bill and Anne Bowman. Bill is a retired highly decorated Vietnam era Marine and Anne is a retired L.A. Unified School District Master Teacher with a lifetime teaching credential. 

 

Thirty five years after his Vietnam service, at the advice of friends, Bill sought treatment for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). What he found at the Veterans' Administration was a bureaucracy designed to make obtaining benefits difficult. Bill and Anne will share many stories of their experiences and those of the many they have helped along the way. As part of their Christian devotion, they help people with shattered lives find needed help.

 

Rabbi Dauermann comments about this episode: "This program is an eye-opener concerning the policies of obfuscation and resistance pursue by the Veterans Services Administration in aiding our service men and women.  Bill says there is not enough money available to give all veterans the benefits to which they are entitled, so the government has adopted a policy of not so benign neglect.  Listen in an judge for yourself."

You can see more about Chaplains Bill and Anne Bowman at www.chaplainsbowman.com

 On September 26, ShalomTalk will feature Dr. Mark Nanos, a Reform Jewish scholar who specializes in studies of Paul, one of the major writers of the New Testament. Dr. Nanos's book, The Mystery of Romans, won the 1996 National Jewish Book Award for Jewish-Christian Relations.  

 

His passion is to reinterpret Paul paying due attention to the Apostle's Jewish identity, context, and concerns. 

 

Jewish-Christian relations is a special issue for us at ShalomTalk. Centuries of mistrust between the two communities are tragic in light of what we have in common. Mark Nanos's work is an example of increased understanding between Jews and Christians, which has been the fruit of numerous Jewish and Christian scholars interacting over the decades since the Holocaust.

Dr. Nanos's work might be called a Jewish New Testament commentary. He has brought to the ancient letters of Paul the concerns of modern audiences, including those interested in history, sociology, Rome, Second Temple Judaism, Jewish and Christian identity, and greater understanding and shalom between Jews and Christians today.

You can see more about Dr. Mark Nanos at http://MarkNanos.com

 On September 19, ShalomTalk will feature Richard Irving, managing partner of Pond Venture Partners, the largest Venture Capital firm working in Europe. British born, now an American citizen, Mr. Irving is an electrical engineer by education, an entrepreneurial  business manager by experience, and a venture capitalist by passion. 

 

Among the topics Rabbi Dauermann and Mr. Irving discuss, ShalomTalk listeners will be intrigued by his knowledge of Israeli business, the issue of divestment in Israeli markets by groups who oppose Israel's right to exist, and reasons why divestment is harmful to true peace in the world. Mr. Irving also discusses business ethics.

Host, Rabbi Dauermann, says of this broadcast: This broadcast is both informative and fascinating, providing the kinds of information which would give an entrepreneurial person a leg up in seeking to fund successful new endeavors. 

 

You can see more about Richard Irving and his work at www.pondventures.com

ShalomTalk features guests whose work and ideas advance Jewish-Christian relations and bring shalom to the world. We're a good home for some radio shalom. Shalom aleichem to you from L.A. and may your fast be easy (for our Jewish listeners) and may the love of Jerusalem grow in you to overflowing.

 On September 12, ShalomTalk will feature Dr. Bruce Stokes, Anthropologist, Dean of California Baptist University as well as Chairman of their Departmenet of Behavioral Sciences.  

 

Dr. Stokes has specialized in issues of identity and marginality in religious groups. He write his dissertation on the Messianic Jewish Movement, an example of a hybrid and marginalized group. He remains a sympathetic participant/observer in the Messianic Jewish world, with much to say about what the Jewish, Christian, and Messianic Jewish worlds stand to learn from each other. 

 

The show also examines Dr, Stokes as a clergyman, and his church in Anaheim Hills, The Disciple Center, which seeks from a Christian viewpoint to learn what the Jewish community has to teach about community development, without seeking to be mere imitators of Judaism or to lose Christian identity. Host Rabbi Stuart Dauermann says of Dr. Stokes, "He is a bright man whose distinguished career arose from the wreckage of a chaotic childhood and morass of life difficulties.  His brilliance and integration is especially impressive when viewed against these factors."

 

You can read more about Dr. Stokes at www.disciplecenter.com and www.hbrucestokes.com.

This episode is a good example of Jewish-Christian relations and how it can be improved in our world today. Jews and Christians can learn a great deal from Dr. Stokes. His perspective on Jewish scripture and Messianic synagogues helps move many of us past stereotypes and to understand a marginalized community.

Journey to Jerusalem is a unique ministry providing a monthly resource via subscription service that will help you experience the wonders of Jerusalem without ever leaving your home. Every month, you'll receive a CD in the mail that will teach you about the life of Yeshua (Jesus) the Messiah, along with insights into His return on Jerusalem's Mount of Olives.

Each CD will help you unlock the past, and reveal the future, of this incredible part of the world, and how it impacts your everyday life and faith.  You also get access to exclusive online content that takes your experience even further, even richer. Plus, pack the Your first month is free! And this blog supplements your learning even further.

If you've always hoped for a holy land journey or a pilgrimage to Jerusalem, then subscribe to Journey to Jerusalem.

 On September 5, 2010, Radio Shalom, or ShalomTalk, featured an interview with Dr. J Dudley Woodberry. Dean Emeritus of the Fuller Seminary School of Intercultural Studies, and Senior Professor of Islamic Studies. Dr. Woodberry has served in pastoral and teaching roles in Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Saudi Arabia. He has traveled and done religious work in thirty-five other Muslim countries.  Formerly Advisor to the Carter White House on Islamic affairs, he is widely considered to be the premier evangelical Christian expert on ministry amongst Muslims.  

In light of today's strident and monolithic rhetoric about Muslims, Dr, Woodberry presented an introduction to core Muslim beliefs and practices. He explains the panorama of the various kinds of Muslims we are likely to encounter. Most in America are what he calls "Adaptionists," who are seeking to accommodate Muslim faith to the realities of modern, and Western, life. 

There could hardly be a timelier topic with much in the news about the Ground Zero Mosque, with concerns about tensions with Iran, and with lingering unrest in America about our military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. Can we promote some shalom in the world by talking intelligently about Islam, the very real people who are devoted to this religion, and ways forward for America and the Middle East?

See more about Dr. Woodberry's school, the Fuller Theological Seminary, at www.Fuller.edu

If you like Shalom Talk, you'll love Journey to Jerusalem!

 On August 29, 2010, ShalomTalk will feature Reverend Fumio Taku, president of Christians and Jews United for Israel.

Reverend Taku's parents survived Hiroshima and sent Fumio to Yale University. As a young atheist, Reverend Taku profoundly discovered Jesus and his life and career were changed dramatically.

Reverend Taku lived and worked for three years in Israel with his wife and three children. He became the president of CJUI as a result of his journey in biblical thinking and his experience on the ground with Israelis and Arabs. He discusses with ShalomTalk host, Rabbi Stuart Dauermann, the perils of radicalized mosques in the U.S. He gives reasons why Jews and Christians in the U.S. should support the right of Israel to exist and to claim Jerusalem as capital.

Learn more about Christians and Jews United for Israel at www.cjui.org

 On August 22, 2010, ShalomTalk will feature Rabbi David Zaslow, Rabbi of Havurah Shir Hadash, a Jewish Renewal Community in Ashland, Oregon.

Rabbi Zaslow is a leader in the Jewish Renewal movement founded by Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi. Rabbi Zaslow serves his congregation as a teacher, poet, musician, ritual facilitator, and catalyst for prayer and relationship with God and teaches Bible and spirituality at South Oregon University's Elderhostel program.

At one time, a nominal Jew, Rabbi Zaslow was immersed in Native American spirituality and Eastern religions. He remains pluralistic in his understanding of religion and promotes understanding between people of different faiths. In our interview he also discusses his views on the Israeli-Palestinian issue. 

See more about Renewal Judaism at www.aleph.org and about Rabbi Zaslow at www.havurahshirhadash.org.