Donald R. Berlin will be the featured speaker at the monthly Brown Bag Lunch on Thursday, March 20, at the Easton Branch of the Talbot County Free Library, 100 W. Dover Street. “Religion and Sports: Contrast or Complement” promises to be a thought-provoking discussion of the relationship between the two.
There is no charge for this public program sponsored by the Friends of the Talbot County Free Library. Guests are invited to bring their lunch or just come to listen. Coffee and sweets will be provided. The program begins at noon and lasts approximately one hour.
Berlin has been an avid sports enthusiast throughout his life and, as a native Canadian, played semi-professional ice hockey as a youth. In the process, he noted a surprising relationship between sports and religion – both competing and complementary aspects.
This Brown Bag talk will illustrate dimensions of team play and practicing individual skill, religious directives and rule books, uniforms and religious garb, officials and hierarchy, penance and penalties, congregation and audience, symbols and regalia, coaching and ministry, proper play and faithful behavior.
Every religion must explain its affirmations and its occasional contradictory actions just as sports need to square both fair and foul play. What life lessons do individuals learn? How do these affect and reflect on our communities? Ultimately, all of us who engage well in the life of the game realize the important ingredients we bring to the game of life.
Berlin, a retired rabbi, has lived in St. Michaels with his wife, Norma, since 2000. Previously, he served Temple Oheb Shalom in Baltimore for 23 years as Senior Rabbi and is currrently its Rabbi Emeritus. He has served as a lecturer at Goucher College and as an adjunct professor at St. Mary’s Seminary and Univeristy Ecumenical Institute of Theology. Locally, he is proud to be a member of B’nai Israel Congregation and serves as Secretary of Chesapeake Chamber Music, where he is also co-chair of its Youth Reach Committee. In addition, he has taught at the Academy for Lifelong Learning at the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum.
For more information, please contact the Talbot County Free Library at 410-822-1626.
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