Teanecks Temple Emeth holds its One Book, One Synagogue Shabbaton on Zoom on Saturday, January 8. The program will explore the themes of And After the Fire, a work of historical fiction book by Lauren Belfer that is set both in late 18th- and early 19th-century Berlin and in modern-day New York.

Participants are encouraged to read the book before the Shabbaton, but it is not necessary. The discussion is intended to pique the interests of people who have not read it as well as those who have.

At 9 a.m., Rabbi Steven Sirbu will lead a text study on the writings of Moses Mendelssohn, who was both the foremost thinker of the Haskalah (Jewish enlightenment) and the grandfather of Felix Mendelssohn. The elder Mendelssohns work shaped the society in which his grandson composed and it continues to affect our view of Judaism in the modern world.

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At 10:30, the Shabbat morning service will include excerpts from And After the Fire, reflecting how the themes of the book are interspersed throughout the siddur. Cantor Ellen Tilem will sing selected liturgical music from 19th-century Germany.

And After the Fire takes readers into the salon of Sarah Itzig Levy (1761-1854) in Berlin. Music, including work composed and performed by Johann Sebastian Bach and Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy, was central to those gatherings.

Both composers were controversial in the Berlin Jewish community, Bach for his antisemitism and Mendelssohn Bartholdy because he converted from Judaism to Christianity.

The programs continues at 1 p.m., when Thomas Mustachio, a Temple Emeth accompanist, will perform music by Bach and Mendelssohn Bartholdy to help participants appreciate the importance of Sarah Levys salon. He will be joined by virtuoso violinist Bela Horvath.

For information on how to watch, email SMercado@emeth.org.

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Shabbaton focuses on And After the Fire - The Jewish Standard

The free exercise of religion or, more precisely, the free exercise of conservative Christian religions is increasingly assuming the cultural, and even legal, stature of an inalienable American right. In the name of "religious freedom,"county clerks,doctorsandbakersopenly discriminate against LGBTQ citizens. Our rightward-charging judiciary lets worshippers congregate during a pandemic; religious devotion, apparently, trumps public safety.

To understand where this free-exercise fundamentalism may lead us, we need look no further than theinsurrectionists of last January and their boundless sense of religious entitlement. Michael Sparks, who was among the first to breach the Capitol, enthusedon Facebook: "We're getting ready to live through something of biblical purportions [sic] be prayed up and be ready to defend your country and your family." Jacob Chansley, the so-called QAnon Shaman, intoneda prayer about the rebirth of America on the floor of the Senate, whose evacuation he and his co-rioters had just triggered.

On Jan.6, 2021, a mob filled with religious extremists, among others, nearly upended one of the world's oldest and stablest liberal democracies. Could any comparable display of free exercise have occurred in Franceor Canadaor Uruguayor India, or any country with clear constitutional guidelines about the relation between government and religion?

RELATED:How Christian nationalism drove the insurrection: A religious history of Jan. 6

This unfortunate instance of American exceptionalism has many explanations. I call attention to one: the weakness of secularism in the United States. "Secularism" is a term that has been so relentlessly maligned by its enemies that its meaning is difficult to discern. Having just written a primer on the subject, let me note that political secularism, at its core, is a philosophy of governance.

Far from being equivalent to atheism, as its critics allege, secularism's origins may be traced to medieval Christian disputes about the papacy's expanding powers. During the Protestant Reformation, the terms of the debate shifted. The dilemma no longer involved curtailing the authority of the church, but rather how a government could prevent unfathomable violence between churches. Enlightenment thinkers concluded that religions those force-multipliers of human passions needed to be governed.

In "A Letter Concerning Toleration"(1689), John Locke outlined secular protocols of governance. The state must let citizens believe anything they wish about the divine (this is known as "freedom of conscience"). It must never establish, favoror ally itself with one or more faiths(this is often referred to as "disestablishmentarianism" or "state neutrality''). It must treat all religions and religious citizens equally (I call this the "equality" principle).

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Naturally, a secular state must permit citizens the free exercise of their religious beliefs. Yet here Locke added one crucial caveat. The right to free exercise, he insisted, is not absolute. Free exercise cannot diminish or endanger the rights of others, or the security of the state.

This position was neither controversialnor original. It was common sense. The 1663 Charter of Carolina granted free exercise as long as persons "do not in any wise disturb the peace." After a similar grant, the 1776 constitution of North Carolina warned: "nothing herein contained shall be construed to exempt preachers of treasonable or seditious discourses, from legal trial and punishment."

Which brings us to the First Amendment, whose relevant clauses simply read: "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof." Our Constitution fails to acknowledge what was abundantly clear to lawmakers a century earlier, not to mention almost every subsequent constitution in secular countries:Namely, there must be a limiton free exercise of religion.

Why James Madison omitted this obvious proviso is beyond my comprehension. I simply observe that his omission undercuts secularism's governing function. It thus leaves American democracy vulnerable to the types of ructions we witnessed last January.

American secularism must confront the poor hand dealt to it by the Constitution and chart a new legal course. Secularists might invoke the "equality" principle mentioned above. Letting the 14th Amendment interrogate the First, secularists could argue that unchecked free exercise deprives religious minorities of equal protection under the law.

Latter-day Saints were prohibited from practicing bigamy in the 1878 Reynoldscase. Native Americans' free-exercise right to ingest peyote was denied in the 1990 Smithdecision. As for "nones" those with no religious affiliation can they even possess free exercise rights?

For right-wing Protestants (and, increasingly, right-wing Catholics) free exercise has been a godsend. Via the Supreme Court, conservative Christian theological prerogatives are poised to shape every aspect of everyone else's life on issues ranging from reproductive freedomsto educationto gun legislation. Free exercise, as currently practiced, is a boon to the majority.

Secularists should steward a more sophisticated discussion of "religious freedom." Politiciansand assorted intellectuals lazily depict public expressions of faith as providing exponential benefits for the commonweal. Prayer circles at football games, candidates who do "God talk" on the campaign trail, Latin crosses on federal property all of it is assumed to make our nation stronger.

Perhaps, but the January insurrection reminds us of a craggy secular intuition: Religious passion has a dark side, a volatility that only the state can contain. Much is made of the condition of our democracy's "guardrails"; the time has come to recognize a functioning, re-energized secularism as a crucial defense against what happened lastJan.6.

Read more on the current state of America's religious wars:

Jacques Berlinerblau (@Berlinerblau) is a professor of Jewish civilization at Georgetown University. He is the author of numerous scholarly articles and books on secularism, including the just released "Secularism: The Basics"(Routledge).

Link:
After Jan. 6, secularism is the crucial "guardrail" and it's fatally weak in America - Salon

Pray, what be the most curious of casualties of New Year season?

Nah, we arent alluding to the balderdash being belted out by the Blokes of Breaking News. The toll of two cities.

Talking tolls and tales, as is customary, Season 2022 rings in its share of curtain-raisers. And again, curtains of social distancing.

Ah, but did you notice, on New Year, theres one thing thats a conspicuous casualty of the coronascape? Like life itself.

New Year resolutions.

Nobody diligently does them in the New Normal, like before, do they?

Blame it on pandemics not taking too kindly to resolutions. Pandemics are possessed with a nasty habit of meddling with expiry dates. Of New Year resolutions (NYRs), as also of those deigning to dabble in them.

The Pandemic, perhaps, has spawned a new vocabulary that could best be or better be described as New Year Non-Resolution.

A state of vacillation that entails eyebrows shooting heavenwards at the stroke of midnight hour, like a million fireworks saluting the skyscape, petitioning for enlightenment from the galaxy of Gods, about whether or not we would survive 2022 Toll Lists to be bothered with trifles like NYR Long Lists or Short Lists.

Of New Year Hit Lists and With-It Lists

This Post New Normal vocabulary denotes all demeanour defined by the dilemma: To do or not to do what we were wont to do - New Year Resolution Hit Lists, With-It Lists, Miss Lists, Dismiss Lists, Consolation Lists or Disconsolation Lists.

The Pandemic has indeed robbed us of the days when New Year resolutions stood scripted more religiously than Amarnath Yatras or Ayodhya andolans. Never mind, if NYRs proved as fickle as our political coalitions or Donald Trumps Twitter renditions. Whether it was passionate pledges to quit smoking or saving crash diet plans from ending in smoke, pre-pandemic, there was spelt out a resolution for every reason, every season. Alas, the treason of this season has robbed us of many a reason.

This new narrative of New Year Non-Resolution thus tosses up tormenting thoughts:

To join or not to join power yoga to empower fitness quotient. For, one knows not whether one would end up learning the likes of shirshasana or end up in a position bearing uncanny resemblance to shavasana.

To give up or not to give up vices catastrophic for curves, such as splurging on sinful Double Trouble Donuts. For, one scarce can figure out whats ordained by the Covid curve, whether it will be Death by Chocolate or Death by Delta.

Of bad hair days and being in bad books

To sport or not to sport makeovers to better bad-hair days in 2022, like a hair transplant or hair sauna from that neighbourhood Chinese hairdresser. First, not to forget that all things Chinese are to be blamed for the Covid spate. Second, not to forget the Third Wave could render inconsequential follicular fate, scarce would it matter whether one exits the stage sporting curly waves or a bald pate.

The curious case of hair today, gone tomorrow.

This New Year Non-Resolution narrative can be a boon or bane, depending on whos at the receiving end.

How about a New Year resolution to devote more time to textbooks than texting? mummy-hood egged on ones Millennial at the dawn of 2022. Running the risk of further being in bad books.

Cmon, havent you heard Third Wave prophesies? the Millennial glared up from Zoom, to gurgle gyaan as a prophet of doom. Come Omicron, what matters more is one book - how to book a berth in a Covid centre!

New Year resolutions shall never be the same, it did dawn.

The curious case of the untimely demise of a New Year tradition, by book or by crook.

chetnakeer@yahoo.com

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Witerati | Of third waves and New Year second thoughts - Hindustan Times

AMRITSAR: The birth anniversary of 10th Guru of Sikhs Sri Guru Gobind Singh was celebrated with great enthusiasm here on Sunday. Thousands of devotees took a holy dip in the sacred sarovar of Golden Temple .

an exhibition of ancient traditional Sikh jewellery was held at Sachkhand Sri Harmandir Sahib, Akal Takht and Gurdwara Baba Atal Sahib. A religious Diwan (Congregation) was held at Gurdwara Manji Sahib in which several raagi dhadis preachers recited the Gurbani and thrown the light on teachings of Guru Gobind Singh ji.

Raagis Singh were reciting the gurbani shabad like "waho waho Gobind Singh aape Gur chela..." "Amrit naam nidhaan hai mil pivo Bhai....."

The entire Golden Temple complex was tastefully decorated with colourful lights.and fireworks was organised after bhog of reheraas Sahib path in the evening.

The birth anniversary of Guru Gobind Singh falls within the months of December or January each year. The annual celebrations of the Gurus birth anniversary take place as per the Nanakshahi calendar.

Meanwhile Giani Harpreet Singh Jathedar of Akal Takht Sahib highest seat of Sikh religion has congratulated the Sangat on the birth anniversary of Guru Gobind Singh Ji, the Tenth Patshah, and urged them to follow the path shown by Guru Sahib.

He said that the life of Dasam Patshah Ji is a beacon for humanity, from which the priorities of life should be determined.

He appealed to the sangat to raise their voice against social evils on the occasion of Guru Sahib's enlightenment and to pay homage and respect to Guru Sahib by following his life and teachings and he also appealed to Sikhs they should become Amritdhari by taking amrit.

It may be mentioned that Guru Gobind Singh (1666-1708 C.E.) is the tenth and last Sikh Guru after his father, Guru Tegh Bahadur Ji. The guru had relinquished his life while fighting against the injustice of the Mughal rulers of that time. Guru Gobind Singh Ji Jayanti is a day that witnesses vast parades and social gatherings across gurudwaras.

Guru Gobind Singh was the only son of the ninth Sikh guru, Guru Tegh Bahadur. His mothers name was Mata Gujri. He was born on December 22, 1666, in Patna, Bihar India. His original name was Gobind Rai. Guru Gobind Singh was a spiritual leader, philosopher, a great warrior, a port, and was the tenth and the last Sikh Guru.His father Guru Teg Bahadur was the ninth Sikh Guru and was a very courageous man. In 1675, he was beheaded publically by the orders of the fifth Mughal emperor, Aurangzeb as he refused to convert to Islam.

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Birth anniversary of 10th Guru of Sikhs Sri Guru Gobind Singh was celebrated with great enthusiasm - Punjab News Express

The entire Declaration of Independence is saturated with Enlightenment-era ideas and influences, the most noticeable and famous of which stem from John Locke. It can itself be labeled a product of the Enlightenment and an illustration of Enlightenment-era political thought.

Like Locke, the leaders of the American Revolution envisioned politics...

The entire Declaration of Independence is saturated with Enlightenment-era ideas and influences, the most noticeable and famous of which stem from John Locke. It can itself be labeled a product of the Enlightenment and an illustration of Enlightenment-era political thought.

Like Locke, the leaders of the American Revolution envisioned politics as fundamentally contractual, being based on a contract between the rulers and the ruled. This tradition of political theory, known as social contract theory, was one of the most famous strands of political thought associated with the Enlightenment, one which stretches outside of Locke to also embrace the absolutist Hobbes (who predated Locke), as well as the later Rousseau. The entire argument sketched out in the Declaration of Independence is contractual at its core, stating that Great Britain has failed to uphold its obligations to the colonies, and therefore the colonies have a legitimate claim to independence. Note how the entire Declaration of Independence is almost structured like a court case: after setting the basic logic and argumentation, it presents a series of very specific grievances, the aim of which is to prove the claim that the original contract has been broken.

In addition, where Locke's influence is particularly strong lies in his vision of what that original social contract entails. Ultimately, social contract theory has involved imagining what human existence looks like in the absence of functioning society and governance. From there, one can then extrapolate the original social contract that would have given rise to governance to begin with. For Hobbes, the state of nature was a state of lawless brutality (from which he constructed his absolutist vision of the social contract), but Locke defined it first and foremost as a state of freedom that is fundamentally rational but also deeply fragile, with the potential for violence.

For Locke, thus, people surrender to governments and society some of that boundless freedom to protect those freedoms that are most foundational to living and enjoying life: for Locke, they were life, liberty and property. This same vision can be applied to the Declaration of Independence, which argues that government, likewise, was founded for the purpose of defending the natural rights to "Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness."

Finally, both the Declaration of Independence and these larger currents of Enlightenment thought were deeply concerned with the problem of tyranny. One can look towards Montesquieu and his differentiation between legitimate monarchy and despotism, a differentiation that ultimately boils down to the rule of law. For Montesquieu, absolutist kings (as powerful as they were), still ruled according to traditions and customs, as opposed to despots who (so Montesquieu claimed) ultimately ruled according to their whims.

To this, one can also refer to the ideas of the resistance theorists (Locke among them) and their own concerns about abuse of power and the breaking of the social contract. "Tyrant" would have been a powerful and politically charged word in an Enlightenment context, and it is not by accident that the word is invoked in the Declaration of Independence. It is not simply that the social contract has been broken, but the monarch is explicitly being charged with acting tyrannically, a claim that held power within the intellectual and emotional climate that shaped the Declaration of Independence.

Jefferson's idea of "unalienable rights" in the Declaration of Independence is similar to the idea of natural rights, which comes from Locke. According to Locke, people are born with certain inherent rights that the government cannot remove. Jefferson writes in the Declaration that "all men are created equal." This idea is derived in part from Locke's idea of the "tabula rasa," which means that all people are born without prior knowledge and are therefore equal in status.

The idea that the government owes its existence to the consent of the governed and that once the government goes against this so-called social contract, it should be overthrown, comes from Locke and Rousseau. According to their philosophy, people give up some of their rights to the government for protection and security, but the government must still protect individuals' natural rights. Another Enlightenment idea in the Declaration is that people have the rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. These rights come from those Locke felt the government should protect, though Locke defined these rights as life, liberty, and property.

One Enlightenment idea is that government derives its power from the consent of the governed. This idea went against the previous idea that rulers ruled by divine right; for example, the king was God's secular representative on Earth. By putting the people in charge of government, government would hopefully be more responsive to the needs of the people.

A second Enlightenment idea is that all people had inalienable rights. John Locke stated that these rights were life, liberty, and property, but Thomas Jefferson amended these rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Even with Jefferson's amended version, the thought that people were born with rights was still regarded as radical. Though this idea did not apply to women, slaves, or native peoples in America, it was novel for a government to put this idea down as part of its philosophy.

A third Enlightenment ideal is that government exists in order to protect the rights of the people. Jefferson states this and then goes on to list multiple abuses of the British government against its American colonists in order to point out that reconciliation with Britain is impossible and that independence is the only recourse left.

The Declaration of Independence draws heavily on the ideas of Enlightenment thinkers such as John Locke. Much of what Jefferson wrote in the Declaration comes directly from Lockes ideas about government. Let us look at three examples of this.

First, the Declaration of Independence says that people have certain rights just because they are people. These rights are not given to them by the government and cannot be taken away from them. They have these rights simply because they are human. This is a major idea of the Enlightenment.

Second, the Declaration of Independence says that a government is only legitimate if the people consent to be ruled by it. It is possible for a government to force its will on the people, but that government is not a legitimate government and it has no right to rule the people. Enlightenment thinkers wondered why governments had the right to rule people. They did not believe that kings had a divine right to rule. Instead, they believed that governments were legitimate if the people agreed to be ruled by those governments. This idea is found in the Declaration as well.

Finally, the Declaration of Independence says that the only reason to have government is to protect the rights of the people. This, too, comes from the Enlightenment. Enlightenment thinkers did not think that governments should exist to give power to kings. Instead, governments should exist to protect their citizens. This is the third Enlightenment idea found in the Declaration of Independence.

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What are three Enlightenment ideas used in the Declaration ...

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The Enlightenment influenced society in the areas of politics, philosophy, religion and the arts. Both the American Revolution and French Revolution were based on Enlightenment ideals.

Age of Enlightenment The Age of Enlightenment, which lasted throughout much of the 17th and 18th centuries, was an intellectual movement, which resulted in overturning many old ideas. Leading European thinkers advocated for personal freedoms and free thought. The Enlightenment is sometimes called the Age of Reason because of its emphasis on rationality. Enlightenment thinkers did not trust the established authorities, such as monarchies of the church. They believed individuals could find the truth for themselves and improve society by looking to science, reasoning and dialogue.

The Effect on Revolutions This mistrust of authority and faith in the rational abilities of the common man resulted in profound political change, not only in Europe but across the world. The leaders of the American Revolution were acting on Enlightenment principles when they overthrew the British government and demanded independence. The French Revolution was also an attempt to overcome absolute authority and usher in a new age.

Enlightenment and the Intellectual The Enlightenment is most credited with bringing forth new thoughts and transformative works. These works include historically notable books, inventions and laws. Everything from Principia Mathematica by Isaac Newton to Philosophical Dictionary by Voltaire shaped the way society thought and approached problems. Other notable thinkers of the era include John Locke and Jean-Jacques Rousseau.

Enlightenment Schools of Thought There are six different schools of thought that were born out of the Enlightenment philosophy. These include deism, liberalism and republicanism. Additionally, the ideas of conservatism, toleration and scientific progress were also a product of the Enlightenment.

Deism was part of the French Enlightenment, which shifted the understanding of religion from being polarized between different religions like Protestants versus Catholics to an understanding of God through common sense. It later influenced the development of paganism and atheism.

The ideas of liberalism, republicanism and conservatism are still in place today in modern times but during the Enlightenment, differed from modern interpretations. For example, the Enlightenment liberalism understands the world through science without religious interference, which later gave rise to classical liberalism, which established a persons natural born rights.

Secret Societies and Alternative Knowledge During the Enlightenment, secret societies grew, such as the Freemasons, Illuminati and Rosicrucians. Alongside scientific discoveries, alternative knowledge also grew. For example, Jean Sylvain Bailly purported that the Atlanteans who live near the North Pole created all science. This thought influenced the Nazis as well as the founder of the Illuminati.

Modern Effects of the Enlightenment The effects of the Enlightenment are still felt today. The founding fathers established the United States according to Enlightenment ideals. For example, the separation of the government into three branches: Legislative, Executive and Judicial, and the system of checks and balances was originally developed by French Enlightenment thinker Montesquieu. The system holds the authorities accountable to the people and is an implementation of the Enlightenment theory that governments should exist only by the will of the governed. It is difficult to imagine a world without scientific methods and thought, which are all in thanks in part to the Enlightenment.

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How Did the Enlightenment Influence Society?

Celebrating Louise Taff and 50 Years of Service

Join us in celebrating Louise Taff in achieving 50 years of service to young children, families, educators and other professionals working with young children in Wake County!

Louise has been employed for all 50 of her WCPSS years at Project Enlightenment, an early childhood prevention program in the Office of Early Learning.

Throughout her career, Louise has served in multiple capacities from classroom assistant to assistant director.

Her various talents, knowledge and experience have been instrumental in moving Project Enlightenment onward in its mission to provide early childhood programs and services to young children from birth through 5 years old and the adults in their lives including parents, teachers and other professionals.

Louise is dedicated to supporting the important cause of building, A brighter future for the young children in Wake County.

In her honor, Project Enlightenment staff have dedicated the Production Area located in the Parent Teacher Resource Center as the "Louise Taff Production Area."

Congratulationsto Louise Taff upon this amazing lifetime achievement!

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Project Enlightenment / Homepage

EVERYONE about knows the transformation of Ebenezer Scrooge. Dickens also wrote a justifiably less-well-known Christmas story, The Chimes, in which an economist, Filer, appears a man who knows the price of everything and the value of nothing.

An early attempt at the Gradgrind character in Hard Times, Filer, like Thomas Malthus, clearly believes the poor will always be with us and will always be miserable. He justifies Carlyles dismissal of political economy as the dismal science.

Yet economics need not be like that. Throughout his two main works, Theory Of Moral Sentiments and The Wealth Of Nations, Adam Smith maintained a confident optimism that society would improve over time. Knowledge, embodied in literature, would overcome ignorance and superstition and would lead to the widespread cultivation of public virtue.

As 2021 stutters to its locked down close, and we invest hope in 2022 as the year of renewed liberty, in which we reduce the pandemic to a mere annoyance, let us look back to the Scottish Enlightenment for inspiration about how to build a better country. This week and next, I am setting out ideas which might go into a book.

Edinburgh in the winter of 1746. The city occupied by British government troops. The council dismissed for surrendering the city too readily to the Jacobites in September 1745. The university suspended for fear of its students spreading sedition. And a young man, Adam Smith, barely 23, launched his career by giving public lectures on rhetoric, the ancient art of arguing well. The Jacobite rebellion of 1745-46 had come surprisingly close to displacing the Hanoverian King George II. British involvement in European wars had left Scotlands military defences almost completely unmanned. The Jacobite army had been able initially to evade the four UK army regiments in Scotland and then to defeat them humiliatingly.

But the rebellion had been a last, desperate gamble. As the rebel army headed south, it became clear that its cause lacked the popular support necessary for it to succeed. The final defeat at Culloden bound Scotland firmly into the United Kingdom.

Over the next four decades, clever Scots took part in what we know as the Enlightenment. Meeting together regularly, often in supper clubs, they argued over almost every subject, but most frequently about the principles of a science of man, and how to apply those principles so that society would be well-ordered.

That is the context in which we should read Smiths books. In Robert Heilbroners phrase, he was the first of the worldly philosophers.

Sir John Sinclairs work has enabled historians to deduce much about the state of Scottish society

READ MORE:From a stock market crash to Covid what to expect in 2022

This is to think of the 18th-century Enlightenment as an intellectual response to nearly two centuries of simmering religious conflict, which had often spilled over into civil war. Across the Holy Roman Empire, the Thirty Years War, in which one-third of the population died, was an experience never to be repeated.

In this Age of Reason, the political context in Scotland gave a distinctive edge to discussion. For young men such as Adam Smith, direct experience of violent conflict was a seminal experience. They saw it as a disastrous failure of politics. They aimed to learn from it, and to ensure that it would never happen again.

An important element of that was the need to secure what we might now call losers consent. The Jacobite defeat on the battlefield meant that the problem was to define how to manage Scotland as a stateless nation.

FORMER rebels could be part of the ongoing debates. And if they could argue well, and persuasively, then their ideas might be adopted. The ideal, then, was inclusion.

In this intellectual ferment, knowledge became almost entirely secular, with the assumption that people should be able to find natural causes to explain everything which they observed. God was departing; literature was in the ascendant.

Imaginative projections, predominant in classical thought, could have no place. David Hume famously dismissed such metaphysical thinking, arguing instead that knowledge required experience and observation.

Reading The Wealth of Nations, a modern economist will be struck by the lack of such evidence. Adam Smith spent years carefully refining his argument. He had a fund of anecdotes, but very little systematic data.

Quite simply, at the time, there was scarcely any available to him, especially when compared with astronomys basis in more than 2000 years of careful observation. Enlightenment scholars realised that they needed to initiate a similar tradition as part of their social scientific enquiry.

And so, in 1790, Sir John Sinclair of Ulbster began what should be considered as perhaps the ultimate expression of the Enlightenment: The Statistical Account Of Scotland. He sent a questionnaire to the minister of every parish in Scotland, inquiring about its history, topography, climate, settlement, industry, customs and much else happily mixing up anything which might allow him to set out the wealth, and wellbeing, of the country. Over the next decade, he was able to compile the responses, which were eventually published as 21 volumes of essays.

With its hundreds of participants, and free-form replies to the questionnaire, it was an early attempt at citizen social science.Sinclairs work has enabled historians to deduce much about the state of Scottish society in the 1790s. Yet, acquiring such an understanding requires a huge amount of work because its compilers had no template of how to collect and present data. In all its glorious complexity, it is at once fascinating and infuriating.

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Let's look to the Scottish Enlightenment to help build a better country - The National

INTRODUCTION

It has been an enormous project to regain the spirited momentum that many arts and cultural organizations in Utahs creative industries had amassed before the pandemic brought everything to a ground stop in the early spring of 2020. With resilience and durability exercised to their intrinsic advantages for respective organizations, many creative producers also have used the moment to take more risks, forge new alliances and expand their networks. They also are producing work that jolts audiences back into thinking critically about their worldviews and supporting efforts that seek to put real action into the talk about fortifying equity, diversity, access and inclusion in the realm of creatIve expression.

Utahs politics may be stuck in reverse but the states demographic portrait continues to change dramatically. The 2020 census showed Utahs population grew by 18.4% over the last decade, making it the countrys fastest growing state, easily outstripping the national pace of growth in the same period, which was 7.4%. By the end of this decade, many cities and towns in Utah will see a new generation of potential leaders with far more enlightened and earnest perspectives about the states history and its capacity to make way for a population that looks far different than at any point in the last 125 years when Utah was granted statehood. There already is growing pressure to push the way toward greater sociopolitical enlightenment, even as the antediluvian resistance fights desperately in a last stand to sustain the status quo. It is through the infrastructure of the arts and cultural communities where that pressure could mobilize fresh thinking and different mindsets.

The entrepreneurship of Utahs arts and cultural industries has meant that the state performs well above its per capita expectations, a point frequently made in The Utah Review. With resilience, there is durability and a recognition that locally produced work is indispensable not only because it is home grown but also because it is translatable and transferable to other communities in the epiphanies that spring from original work. Regarding durability, several organizations this year either have marked or about to mark major anniversary milestones. The Utah Museum of Contemporary Art (UMOCA) marked its 90th anniversary this year. Salt Lake Acting Company is celebrating its 50th anniversary. Three organizations have marked or are about to celebrate their 45th anniversary: the Gina Bachauer International Piano Foundation, NOVA Chamber Music Series and the Utah Arts Festival. Plan-B Theatre completed its 30th anniversary season.Pygmalion Productions, a theatrical company founded in Ogden and dedicated to stories about women by female playwrights, also marked its 25th anniversary in 2020 as well as its 15th year as one of the companies in residence at the Rose Wagner Center for Performing Arts.

Dance continues to wear the empress crown for the performing arts in Salt Lake City. Ballet West premiered a free, public documentary series of nine episodes on social media platforms In The Balance: Ballet for a Lost Year about the behind-the-scenes preparation for a November 2020 concert production that almost was canceled because of the pandemic. The twin giants of contemporary dance Repertory Dance Theatre (RDT), which marked its 55th anniversary last season, and Ririe-Woodbury Dance Company returned to live performances in superb fashion. Ririe-Woodbury opened its 58th season with new works by Daniel Charon, the companys artistic director, and Keerati Jinakunwiphat, a young Thai-American choreographer who dances with Kyle Abrahams A.I.M and was named in Dance Magazines 2021 25 to Watch. RDT opened its 56th season with a concert of dance works by Lar Lubovitch, one of the countrys most distinguished choreographers. Last month, the company brought Virginie Mcne from the Martha Graham Dance Company to stage two works from the 1930s by the legendary choreographer. Also, internationally renowned choreographer Ihsan Rustem, who is based in Zurich, set a new work for RDT dance artists.

Independent dance concerts also have become popular in the area. For example, Dan Higgins is an RDT dance artist in his eighth year with the company and who is about to take on a new role in the company next year as both guest artist and resident choreographer. This year, he co-produced two concerts, as part of the RDT Link Series. The first was in June with dancer and choreographer Laura Brick where the two artists gave the first live dance performance in the Rose Wagner Center for Performing Arts since the pandemic shuttered public shows. The second, in November, was co-produced with Rebecca Aneloski, featuring new works by And Artists and Higgins.

Salt Lake Citys independent theater companies also are setting the pace for staging works by Utah playwrights, particularly those by women and persons of color. Plan-B Theatre and SLAC are among the foremost leaders anywhere in the country on this metric. Likewise, NOVA Chamber Music Series, with the unique arrangement of having members of the Fry Street Quartet as its music directors, is in the midst of an already thrilling season best described, in the words of Robert Waters, the quartets first violinist, as not your grandparents chamber music concerts of Mozart and Beethoven. There is only one Beethoven work in the season and two works from before 1700 and just a handful of works from the 19th and 20th centuries, including Clara Schumann, Prokofiev, Brahms, Dvok, Bartk and Samuel Coleridge-Taylor. One work is a 1944 string trio written by Gideon Klein which is believed to be the last piece of music he wrote while imprisoned at a Nazi concentration camp. The rest is an impressive bounty of 21st century composers, with a solid representation by female composers. For example, female composers Clarice Assad, Gabriela Lena Frank and Jessie Montgomery will have works performed on two separate concerts.

These accumulating developments sharpen a point that has become central to The Utah Reviews chronicle of the artistic and creative works placed under the aegis of the Utah Enlightenment. As mentioned in previous years, they do more to serve than the purpose of art for arts sake. They elevate the contemporary experience with the sum of its tensions, problems, conflicts, disappointments and crises to an enthralling sensation of healing, revelation, atonement and empowerment.

This years list includes nine first-time mentions. The following top 10 moments are not ranked in any particular order.

TOP 10 MOMENTS OF THE UTAH ENLIGHTENMENT IN 2021

One of this years Utah Arts Festival highlights came in the form of an outstanding dance commission concert produced by Allison DeBona and Rex Tilton, Ballet West artists who also are the co-founders of the artmotion Ballet School. Their efforts set new standards in the festivals dance commission program, with five works, some of which were performed with live music, and featuring Ballet West artists, including company soloists and principals. In particular, Experience by Chase OConnell was a spectacular closer in every regard. OConnells work made full effective use of the Festival Stage, featuring 18 dancers and three pairs of principals. OConnells choreography magnified the inherent value of the recorded music including Architect, by Kerry Muzzey in a Chamber Orchestra of London recording and Ludovico Einaudis In a Time Lapse, Experience. There is a special gift in a choreographer who elevates music that sometimes can seem quite so ordinary to enrich the dimension of its emotional pull, and the movement set for this piece accomplished that with abundant results. The three pairs of principals were excellent but the performance of Katlyn Addison and Hadrial Diniz stood out especially.

The year heralded the confirmation of a golden age of public and street art with large murals being produced for shows including the Utah Museum of Fine Arts (UMFA), Utah Museum of Contemporary Art (UMOCA) and Ogden Contemporary Arts (OCA). Making an impressive presence in all three venues is the locally based trio known as the Roots Art Kollective (RAK) Miguel Galaz, Alan Ochoa and Luis Novoa.

It was RAK which helped organize the UMFA mural project 2020: From Here on Out, as artists were selected by a committee of community partners including Artes de Mxico en Utah,The University of Utahs Department of Art and Art History, University Neighborhood Partners and the Utah Division of Multicultural Affairs. As UMFA senior curator Whitney Tassie said in a prepared statement, We developed this exhibition with Roots to acknowledge the great work being created as well as to continue important local dialogue.

RAKs murals signify the expanding cultural presence embodied in the tectonic shifts in Utahs demographics and the blossoming prospects of the Utah Enlightenment. For UMOCAs All Wall exhibition in the museums main gallery, RAK produced a commanding piece titled, Colibr dorado. Effusive in radiant optimism, there was the hummingbird, a symbol of a new joyous day, emerging from the pandemic.

For the UMFA piece, easily triple the size of the UMOCA mural, the trio created Fuerza del Amor, which includes beautifully rendered graphic text on opposite sides of the mural. On the left, in English, is the phrase, Find strength in love to heal, while on the right, in Spanish, the text reads, Encuentra fuerza en el amor.

For OCAs exhibition Vida, Muerte, Justicia | Life, Death, Justice, they produced Amor Eterno, resplendent in the incorporated symbols of the Day of the Dead in Aztec mysticism and Monarch butterflies, the definitive representation of transformation in life. Following a signature trademark in their other murals, RAK turned to musical lyricism in Spanish with calligraphy inspired by songs such as Facundo Cabrals No soy de aqu ni soy de all, Chavela Vargas Las simples cosas and Juan Gabriels Amor eterno.

RAKs work has an unmistakable signature attached to it, in its many iterations, which reflect core interests of each artist. The RAK artists have developed a symbiotic relationship over the last five years. As Ochoa says, We really have a strong sense of trust with each other. Indeed, their murals convey a potent sense of lyricism, fueled in part by their interests in older generation Mexican songs and music as well as their home countrys canon of poetry. RAK also produced murals for two SLC homeless resource centers, a project coordinated by the Salt Lake City Arts Council.

Utah filmmakers are continuing to gain attention in numerous venues. Winning the Fear No Filmmaker Award in the Utah Arts Festivals 2021 Fear No Film slate of short films was Luis Fernando Puente for La luna y el colibr (The Moon and the Hummingbird). Representing the film school at Brigham Young University, Puente helmed the film as an outstanding allegorical narrative highlighting the tensions of immigration as seen from those who migrate. It is not political but it emphasizes what is at stake personally, as immigrants wonder if they can truly let go and move on and perhaps deciding if staying with loved ones is more important than their destination of migration. Puente recruited a richly talented crew, which included Oscar Ignacio Jimnez, one of the states most sought after directors of photography for film (e.g., The Killing of Two Lovers, which premiered at Sundance in 2020 and was among last years Top 10 Moments of The Utah Enlightenment).

Puente, a Monterrey native from the Mexican state of Nuevo Len, recently surpassed the crowdfunding goal for his Kickstarter project, which will lead to a new narrative short film, I have no tears, and I must cry. In this film, he crafts a narrative about a young woman, a recent immigrant to the U.S., and her husband, who is an American citizen. The film talks about the anxiety and stress of waiting for the immigration process to proceed on a timely basis. Puente is a filmmaker to watch closely and the production team he has assembled for this project, which includes Jimnez, assures that this latest short film will become a major award-winner on the festival circuit.

Last season, Plan-B Theatre premiered works by several Utah playwrights in audio-only productions. Among them was Matthew Ivan Bennetts Art & Class, which was inspired in part by a 2017 incident at Lincoln Elementary School in Utahs Cache County, which led to art teacher Mateo Rueda losing his job. Rueda came under fire when he showed his students reproductions of classic art works, some of which portrayed nude figures, that were pulled from The Art Box postcard collection in the schools library.

As The Utah Review noted in April, in a long string of original productions written by Utah playwrights, Plan-B Theatre has scored many grand slams. Bennetts plays are part of that impressive record. But, in Art & Class, extraordinary for many reasons, Plan-B set a new height of excellence. Bennetts Art & Class stands with Eric Samuelsens Borderlands (2011), one of the companys most successful productions and one of the greatest works of the Utah Enlightenment.

Bennett stands out for his facility as a playwright to synthesize the relevant problems and issues that truly matter in Utah but also impart timely lessons that extend well beyond the Land of Zions borders. In Art & Class, the emotional battles ultimately intersect and become intertwined between and among all four main characters, notably as issues of immigration, academic freedom, unintentional racism, self esteem, grief, social status, faith, suicide and addiction join art censorship and aesthetics in the plays holistic canvas. Bennett wisely leaves the ending open, inviting listeners to discuss and suggest where the story goes after the 110-minute audio production has ended. The cast delivered an exceptional rendering in the audio production, even more remarkable given that, at no time, were the actors ever in the same location during recording: Flo Bravo (as Luca, the teacher), Bijan Hosseini (Riley, as Lucas husband), Roger Dunbar (Leland Hess, as the school principal) and Stephanie Howell (Mindy Van Tassel, the parent who brings the matter to the schools attention). Indeed, it is a play that should receive a fully staged production. Its dramatic punch is astounding.

In its return to live concerts this season, the Gina Bachauer International Piano Foundation has organized a series that stands out among the memorably innovative of recent years. The opener was a blockbuster featuring the husband-and-wife piano duo of Ran Dank and Soyeon Kate Lee. The concert also featured a world premiere: Texu Kims Flow and Composition for solo piano. It coincided with the awarding of The Barlow Prize, one of Utahs signature composer commission programs. Chosen from among 574 submissions coming from 41 countries, Kim, a San Diego State University music faculty member who also is among the most recently prodigious recipients of commissions, received the $12,000 prize from The Barlow Endowment for Music Composition at Brigham Young University.

Lee produced a memorable premiere of Kims work, born out of a deep love for both artists Korean culture. In particular, Kim musically interpreted the motions and technique of Korean calligraphy, also known as Seoye and which involves both Hanja and Hangul. This is the instinctive love of a tradition that stands out for more than its elegant technique. There are multiple dimensions of how this particular form of calligraphy has evolved in modern Korea, retaining its classic artistic structures but weaving in appropriately the new lines of influence. It was a perfect moment in the series return to live performances. The Bachauer series is a stellar fixture in the Utah music scene and its 45th anniversary season is an exciting celebration that will continue through the upcoming spring.

Since Jorge Rojas left his position as director of education and engagement at UMFA to devote more time to his work as an independent artist, teacher and performer, the momentum has expanded rapidly. Born in Mexico where he also went to art school, he has divided his time between Salt Lake City, New York City and Seattle. Last spring, he installed Flower of Life, among the largest corn mandalas he has ever created, at UMOCA. As The Utah Review noted at the time, Rojas is driven by the sacred geometry that leads to the ancient symbol of the Flower of Life. It is perhaps the purest icon shared among all ancient civilizations and faiths, rendered by each in their own unique expression. Made entirely of corn kernels placed by hand, the mandala epitomized an extraordinary exercise of patience. In preparing to install the largest corn mandala of his career to date, Rojas engaged in a ritual of fasting, meditation and prayer. He burned incense made from Mexican resin, a substance of sacred significance to the Maya and Aztec civilizations. His personal meditative care was crucial to the eye for detail needed in installing a mandala on a 10-foot by 10-foot platform. Taking two full days to install the mandala, Rojas and his two children were joined by UMOCA curator Jared Steffensen and his assistant. Up to an estimated 200 pounds of seeds were used.

Rojas is a multidisciplinary artist who works in numerous genres and media. For example, he has performed as the Tortilla Oracle, which was inspired by his experience of reading tarot cards. As the Tortilla Oracle, Rojas asks individuals to place their hands in mixing a ball of masa dough, which is then made into a fresh tortilla on the spot before he performs divinatory readings.

It has been a year of many highlights for Rojas. Last summer, he became the first artist-in-residence at the Kimball Art Center in Park City, incorporating a new edition of a project he initiated in Houston. The genesis came from Rojas engagement with the 1949 novel Hombres de Maz by Miguel ngel Asturias, the Guatemalan writer who won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1967. It is centered around the belief that the peoples flesh was made from corn.

During the fall, he joined Mara del Mar Gonzlez-Gonzlez, assistant professor of global modern and contemporary art history at Weber State University, in curating the exceptional exhibition Vida, muerte, justicia: Life, Death, Justice: Latin American and Latinx Art for the 21st Century at Ogden Contemporary Arts. Just recently, Rojas and fellow Utah artist Vicky Lowe returned to the States after representing Utah at the Binational Convention of Mexican artists in the U.S., as arranged by the Instituto de los Mexicanos en el Exterior SRE. They met with other Mexican artists at the Mexican Embassy in Mexico City.

Creative entrepreneurs are becoming prominent in numerous fields of art and music. Among them are Zac Ivie and Dumb Luck, hip hop artists who performed at this years Utah Arts Festival. The musicians are outstanding exemplars of the resilience that artists have demonstrated during the last two years when a pandemic scotched live performances. Ivies indie label Get Write Records has become a valuable conduit for Utahs hip hop artists, as they become more visible and significant in the local music scene. Many locals know Ivies All for U, which was released in 2019 on the day of the Pac-12 championship game pitting The University of Utah against Oregon (which unfortunately the Utes lost). Ivie performs with Ocelot, whom he describes as a great MC, which included an appearance at the recent Das Energi Festival at Saltair. Ivie has opened for many outstanding hip hop artists, including Talib Kweli, Ghostface Killa and Hieroglyphics. Next month, during The Sundance Film Festival, Ivie and Ocelot will join artists including Chali 2na, who has been associated with the groups Jurassic 5 and Ozmati, and DJ Logic in a Jan. 27 show at The Cabin in Park City.

Dumb Luck, who has performed with Ivie, also has been on the stage with artists including Elzhi, Bronze Nazareth and George Watsky. His output suggests a wide range of traditional hip hop styles along with boom bat beats and punch lines which can evoke either gripping raw emotion or lyrics where he is comfortable poking fun at himself. Ideally positioned for the duality of his artistry, his latest music signifies the results of a long, steady evolution as a self-taught musician who absorbs the trial-and-error lessons with growing skill and confidence.

Before returning to live performances, dance companies tinkered with the concept of virtual programs to explore dances complicated relationship with filming, which started historically by archiving performances. As The Utah Review explained last winter, while creating dance specifically for the screen already had been gaining traction long before the pandemic hit, many choreographers also were interested in finding a third way. This led to a hybrid approach that strives to replicate as best as possible the kinetic effects and impact of a live stage performance of dance.

A memorable example, Ririe-Woodbury Dance Companys Home Run delivered on its title promise eminently in an hour-long film that comprised six pieces presented as if they would have been part of a documentary film festival program. Five of the six pieces were premieres, including works by Molly Heller and a series of three short compositions created by pairs of Ririe-Woodbury dance artists. Daniel Charons Winter Light was inspired in part by the energy of absorbing the cold open sequences, for which the popular West Wing television series was known. The work was a veritable showcase of the movement excellence that one links directly to Ririe-Woodburys core of six dance artists. Charon filmed, edited and scored the music entirely for the piece, which was performed in The Monarch complex space in Ogden, Utah. This piece alone was worthy to be submitted to any shorts program for a documentary film festival.

To reiterate a point made several months ago in The Utah Review, there is no pending question that would challenge the assertion that Roger Beningtons Psychopomp deserves a place in the Utah Enlightenment canon.

The 2017 play received its U.S. premiere in Salt Lake City, with Paul Kiernan in the role of a Mormon father whose personal and economic fortunes have collapsed. Kiernan was joined by Tyler Fox, who took on the role of a son whose own troubles point to a deadend that he sees as inescapable. Both actors gave brilliant performances to a brilliant script.

Benington led Tooth & Nail Theatre for many years before moving to New York City. The script was commissioned in London for production, which premiered at the Canal Cafe Theatre. The SLC venue carried a bit of irony, as it was once the gym in a former Mormon chapel, now known as The Art Castle, owned and operated by Utah Arts Alliance. The space is surrounded by closets, which served handily critical elements in the plays storyline.

Benington laid out a finely nuanced critique of Mormonism that navigated away from the doctrinal pillars, which formally bind the faith to its members. Instead, he zeroed in on the irreconcilable paradoxes of satisfying the cultural demands of perfectionism, which eclipse a sincere pursuit to accept the confessional premises of faith on its most basic spiritual expectations. Both father and son were so pained by the sting of their respective failings to achieve the idealized form of perfectionism that they became ever more endangered and vulnerable to the lure of shapeless, faithless excuses, which permitted them to avoid a serious personal reckoning with their greatest shortcomings. Mormonism is no different than any other confessional faith in falling short to provide perfect answers to personal or spiritual crises or to soothe the pain of loss, disappointment and rejection. In Psychopomp, the multidimensional betrayal engulfed and blinded both of the characters, thereby shutting them off from attempting to find solace as a path toward abittersweet, poignant sense of atonement.

One of the most successful immersive theatrical experiences of the year came from the Myriad Dance Company. The dance artists handled the challenge of the immersive performance experience with excellent results in its restaged production of Overslept: Obscura. The show was presented at Dreamscapes, the immersive art museum at The Gateway, which has been an ongoing project of the Utah Arts Alliance and Utah Artists and Builders. In fact, this was the last show at The Gateway location, as Dreamscapes is expected to reopen in the summer of 2022 in a new venue.

A splendid show, it allowed audience members to freely explore the museums spaces as dance artists performed choreography that followed a story outline and text elements set by R.J. Walker. Audience members embarked on a journey akin to that of Professor Liddell, a character clad in fancy lounging pajamas and whose dreams encompassed his search for the ideal person of his romantic desires.

The company had premiered the show last May but then decided to restage it, based partly on audience feedback. The prevailing vibe in Overslept: Obscura was actually lighthearted, coy, coquettish and teasing. Professor Liddell as with so many of us is confounded by the complications of distinguishing romantic idealization from fantasy. It was one of the most gratifying experiences in the Dreamscapes museum for a theatrical production.

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Lots of new energy: The top 10 moments of The Utah Enlightenment in 2021 - The Utah Review

Let's share hope for enlightened New Year

U.S. Sen. Johnny Isakson said of his friend Rep. John Lewis, who both lived through segregation and have now passed, both so deeply respected, "John and I represent how things can change if people really want them to."

Perhaps we can hope for a sliver of light in the coming year, in which those who represent us can take a step to find enlightenment, common ground a miracle awakening where leaders might put country over party.

I don't want to believe that the example of statesmen like Republican Isakson and Democrat Lewis, representatives who crossed the aisle to talk to the other side and actually talk, are gone forever, replaced with those who live in the dark, and don't work for us anymore, but rather for special interests themselves.

I'm probably naive, but I need to see past the despair. I don't know that I can stand another year of ugly partisan warfare. Pray for courage that some may walk into the light.

Kerry Lansford

Food co-op would be community boon

Chattanooga needs a food co-op. A community-run food co-op that is open to the public allows access to more sustainably sourced local foods, and it helps stimulate the local economy because the money made in the co-op would get recycled into the Chattanooga community. This community-run grocery store would give opportunities to local farmers and businesses to sell their products and give consumers a way to give back to their community.

A co-op would allow Chattanooga residents to be more sustainable shoppers and would help decrease plastic and packaging waste by allowing members of the community to shop in bulk. Access to high-quality organic produce is expensive in grocery stores like Whole Foods and Publix, and shopping there helps the corporations. The only other option for locally sourced organic produce is the farmers' market, which is not accessible to many people because it is only open a couple of days a week and there are many people who work during the hours of operation. Co-ops offer higher quality food at lower prices and provide community support.

Reagan Madden

Dual justice system continues in U.S.

A far-left North Dakota man with ties to Antifa was convicted in federal court of destruction of government property for attacking a Republican U.S. senator's office with an ax. He was sentenced to probation and fined $2,784. And, the FBI gave him back his ax. A man wearing buffalo horns (Chewbacca Man) walked into the Capitol on Jan 6, never attacking or hurting anyone and didn't destroy any property. Yet, he got sentenced to 41 months in prison.

With clear and convincing evidence, Kyle Rittenhouse was found not guilty and that he acted in self-defense in his trial in Wisconsin. The far left and the fake media still call him a murderer. On the same day of the Rittenhouse verdict, a Black Florida man was found not guilty via self-defense in the shooting death of his girlfriend. This was despite the fact that he was shooting at police officers and was in criminal possession of a firearm. Not a word from the fake media that this guy is a murderer.

This should convince anyone that there's a dual system of justice with political persecution against conservatives and Trump supporters.

Gary Hayes

Ooltewah

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Opinion: Let's share hope for enlightened New Year and other letters to the editors - Chattanooga Times Free Press