A sure recipe for failure! If THIS is how they plan to beseech Hashem for rain, they have it all wrong: on the contrary, we will have persistent drought! Avoda Zara and Chillul Hashem, smack in the middle of Israel, by our chief rabbis? And Benedikt involved? PLEEAAASE!

Religious Community Leaders discuss freedom of religion By JONAH MANDEL , Jerusalem Post 11/28/2010  Clerics also hold interfaith prayer session for rain.   Israel’s religious leaders met on Thursday in lower Galilee to discuss freedom of religion and worship in the Holy Land, as well as to offer a joint prayer for rain. The Council of Religious Community Leaders in Israel, whose fourth annual convention took place at the Domus Galilaeae International Center near the Mount of Beatitude, is comprised of the heads of the various religious communities in Israel, including both chief rabbis, heads of churches, the head of the Druse community, the head of the Islamic Appeals Court and heads of other communities such as the Baha’i, Ahmadiyya, Lutherans, Anglicans, Samaritans, Copts, Ethiopians and Assyrians. Bahij Mansour, director of Inter-religious Affairs Department at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, attended the event and said that beyond freedom of worship, the council’s Thursday session also dwelt on the role of religious leaders during crises. The body was formed some four years ago at the initiative of the Foreign Ministry and the Interior Ministry to provide a forum for cooperation and dialogue among the different creeds. Besides holding workshops to that end, since its inception the council has been involved in numerous counts of lowering tensions between religious groups, such as those that arose between Muslims and Jews in Acre, Christians and Druse in Shfaram, and Druse and Jews in Peki’in, Mansour noted. And – as one would expect from a congregation of men of faith a short distance from the alarmingly expanding shores of the Kinneret – the religious leaders held, prior to the Thursday meeting, separate and then joint prayers for an end to the drought. Mansour noted the council’s growing recognition from organizations and bodies around the world, and an invitation to its members by Pope Benedict XVI to a meeting at the Vatican in January, which constitutes the Holy See’s official recognition of the forum and its importance in conducting dialogue and relations among the various religions in Israel.     Annual conference of Council of Religious Community Leaders in Israel 25 Nov 2010 The council members will meet with the Pope at the Vatican in January.       Pope meets religious leaders during his trip to Israel (GPO archive photo) http://www.mfa.gov.il/MFA/About+the+Ministry/MFA+Spokesman/2010/Council__religious_community_leaders_annual_conference_25_Nov_2010.htm Communicated by MFA Spokesman’s Bureau On Thursday, 25 November 2010, the Council of Religious Community Leaders in Israel will hold its annual convention at the Domus Galilaeae International Center, near the Mount of Beatitudes in the lower Galilee. The Council is comprised of the heads of the various religious communities in Israel: the chief rabbis of Israel, heads of churches, the head of the Druze community, the head of the Islamic Appeals Court, and heads of other communities such as the Baha’i, Ahmadiyya, Lutherans, Anglicans, Samaritans, Copts, Ethiopians, and Assyrians. This year’s conference is particularly significant considering the meeting of the council members with Pope Benedict XVI, scheduled to take place at the Vatican on 13 January 2011. This historic meeting constitutes official recognition by the Vatican and the pope of this forum and its importance in conducting the dialogue and relations among the various religions in Israel. The theme of this, the Council’s fourth, convention, is freedom of religion and worship in Israel. During the convention, the film “Faith”, which deals with religious freedom in Israel, will be shown, with a discussion afterwards about the role of religious leaders.