When an Orthodox Jewish scholar got invited to Houston, Texas attorney Mark Lanier's mansion for Shabbos and a bible conference.
"Yet quite beyond the academic papers, the weekend conference in the
heart of the Bible belt offered me an opportunity as an orthodox Jew to
appreciate the variety and profundity of religious experience."
"Fifty
guests attended the dinner at the Lanier mansion Friday night. Mark’s
staff had written me in advance, asking if I would recite the blessing
on the wine and bread. The guests gathered in a circle in the massive
rotunda at the center of the house, and on a little table I set out the
challah rolls, Kiddush cup and wine I had brought from Israel."
"My sense
was that this was a first for many present, and I offered explanations
of what we were doing based on biblical verses, with which they were all
familiar."
