__ISSUE 3

1) JAINA attends U.S. Conference of Religions for Peace’s Council of Presidents meeting
2) VEGETARIAN……a misnomer???
3) President’s Message
4) Y JAin? To See, To Know, To Realize
5) From The Editor of JAINA SPECTRUM
6) JAINA is recipient of WMR Award
7) BBCI launches Jainism Website
8) JAINA helps BIDADA Sarvodaya Trust & Saurashtra Sarvodaya Trust (Upleta)
9) History of Jainism & Jains in North America
10) The Jain Society of Metropolitan Chicago elects new officers
11) Interfaith News

Arvind Vora, Chairman of the Interfaith Committee of JAINA attended along with many senior U.S. religious leaders in Boston a meeting to discuss religion, U.S. foreign policy, and international affairs. The meeting was hosted by the Council of Presidents of the USCRP and grew from increased concerns over the role religion has played in U.S. policy decisions since the Cold War, and, particularly, since 9/11 and the advent of the Iraq-War-II. In order to foster honest and frank discussion, it was a confidential meeting. Representatives spoke from the perspective of their traditions, but often spoke only as individuals and not representatives of their traditions. Arvind Vora spoke of Ahimsa- the message of Jainism as the only way to bring peace. He said to the delegates: “Live in Peace, Practice Peace and Teach Peace.”

Beginning with reflections on a soon-to-be-published paper by Profs. Elizabeth H. Prodromou and Andrew J. Bacevich, entitled “God is Not Neutral: Religion and U.S. Foreign Policy after 9/11,” Prof. Prodromou laid out three questions for the nearly 50 participants representing nearly 40 different religious communities and institutions. The questions were: 1) What is the new reality for (domestic and) foreign policy?, 2) What does this mean for religion?, and 3) What does this imply for religious leaders?.

Other presentations made at the conference were:
What is the new reality of the current US foreign policy?

• Religious initiatives and perspectives are driving foreign policy decisions
• Fundamentalism in the form of violence and evangelical thought seems to be making attempts to change the world map
• Increasing unilateralism in US foreign policy decisions
• Tone of self-righteousness in the actions of US leaders with regard to foreign and domestic policies.

What does this mean for religions?

• Need to ask political leaders not to take on religious roles
• Life is not black and white (with us or against us). It comes in shades of grey.
• Proliferation of faith supremacy by evangelical leaders in collaboration with politicians.

What are the implications for religious leaders?

• Urgent need to reclaim religious voices from political leaders
• Work in collaboration with other faith leaders as peacemakers
• Promote righteousness and humility over self-righteousness
• Need to do a self-critical analysis
• Be peacemakers in times of no war too
• Use media more proactively, especially TV, radio, and print
• Need to stand up against bigotry
• Need to get more effective in advocacy at the grass roots level
• Come out of our faith boxes / confines and witness the world today with other people of faith
• Be a pubic witness, example walk hand-in hand to the statehouse / Congress / White House
• Need to refocus the discussion away from “Just War” to “Just Peace”

What can we do within our own faith communities?

• Dialogue with fundamentalists (monologuers) in our own faiths
• Promote separation of Church and State
• Promote diversity of opinions within our faiths
• Minority faiths need to cooperate with one another to maintain their identity
• Minority faiths need to build bridges with majority faith communities
• Promote dialogue on visions of Just Peace within our own faith

What advantages do we as religious leaders offer for public use?

• Be the spiritual and moral voice of the community
• Voice of conviction and humility
• Work on common social justice concerns (hunger, poverty, economic disparity, environment, etc.)
• Promote a US Department of Peace
• Can promote peace and understanding among religions
• Provide leadership for truth and reconciliation efforts

VEGETARIAN……a misnomer?

Do you like to or have to eat out in America and are you vegetarian? If so, you will be shocked by the time you get to the end of this and find out that some of the popular items that look vegetarian are really not what they appear to be.

Tortilla Chips, Rice and Beans generally APPEAR vegetarian on the face of it but many restaurants use lard, chicken and/or beef stocks to make these items. I used to eat Caesar salad for a long time before I realized it is not vegetarian.

Last year I found out that use of chicken stock in Alfredo sauce is a common practice industry-wide. My regular waitress at Marie Callander knew that I was vegetarian as I used to go there regularly for Lions Club meetings and mostly used to eat the same Fettuccine Alfredo due to lack of vegetarian choices. She had specifically confirmed that their Fettuccini Alfredo is vegetarian. After finding the secret about the Alfredo sauce, I asked her to specifically ask the chef about the ingredients. And that’s when she confirmed that it was non-vegetarian all along! BTW, this same Alfredo sauce at Olive Garden does not contain chicken stock as the use of it is not a must for the sauce! They do use eggs, however, even in their pastas.

The reason for such ignorance could be that most of the waiters do NOT know about every ingredient that goes into our favorite dishes which may be less popular as they are "vegetarian". Here are some first hand experiences of a few of my friends and relatives.

"After just having had dinner with my father this evening at EL TORITO GRILL in Irvine, we were informed by our waiter and shocked to find out that their BEANS & RICE are made with chicken and/or beef stock!! We've been eating there for over 10+ years and had no clue about this!" Hansni Kamdar

"I just realized after eating moist, tasty and so far considered safe to eat cheese & macaroni as a vegetarian entree that they use chicken or beef stock to keep it moist and flavorful. I couldn't feel the flavor but extra-ordinary moist macaroni made me curious to know the recipe. There was no indication in taste that it has anything else but Cheese and Macaroni." Archana Shah

"I tell every Jain not to eat at any Mexican Restaurant as they do not know how to cook rice without chicken broth and others without lard. From my experience of working at a restaurant company, I have learnt that to make the sauce thicker they use some kind of broth. Also the vegetarian soup has some broth. We just found out recently that the Bazuki at BJ has eggs." Geeta Khona

"I always go to the restaurant with a skeptical eye. I have found out that soups, Mashed Potato, Hashed Brown Potato and Rice are mostly made with Beef/Chicken Broth. As a rule, I avoid those items. My source of these items is normally the restaurant wait staff. I frankly ask for his/her opinion and it does a magic. Yes, I remember them when tipping." Aarti Mehta

"Many of us Indians quite often either eat at or for parties have the Indian Food catered from the local Indian Restaurants. I am sure, most of us know that nearly 90% ( I am told by several restaurants) use eggs in their plain and other Naans. This is a very general practice. In fact many of them supply (on a catered basis) to many Religious functions where it is distributed as Prashaad. The funny thing is that no Indian Restaurant tells you this on their printed menu. It is only, when we specifically ask, then many of them will admit and some may even deny. I am told, same thing goes for all their fried items ( Samosa, Pakoras, Kofta, Paneer etc) which are fried in the same pan and oil where they fry all non veg items. In this case, some will say that they use a separate Pan. I don’t know the whole truth. In another case, where Tandoori Naans were being cooked in a tandoor ( oven), there on a string (right on top of the tandoor) was hanging a dead chicken and the juice from this was dripping onto the Naan." Sulekh Jain

If all this wasn't enough, my uncle says the law does not require manufacturers to list minor ingredients if they constitute less than 2%. It means the product is defined as vegetarian or non-vegetarian based on the printed ingredients! If this is true, then the restaurant industry is getting away with the so called vegetarian food that contains minor quantity of chicken broth and animal fat like flavoring, coloring agents etc.

Isn't this an eye opener? It is about time issues like this are taken up with government agencies like USDA and consumer interest groups. In the meantime, please try to ask the waiter to check with the chef about the doubtful ingredients whenever you go to a restaurant. If possible, call the restaurant on your way to it from your cell and speak to someone responsible about what you probably feel like eating there. Even if nothing else, it would be a good start and a worthy try!

One more thing. A centralized database of vegetarian food could help the issue a lot as there should not be a need for everyone to reinvent the wheel every time they have to or would like to eat out. For example, if there is a centralized database which indicates that El Torito's beans and rice are not vegetarian, than we should automatically know that their burrito is going to be non-vegetarian! Or the database can go forward and actually list every dish that is vegetarian and list everything that is non-vegetarian but looks vegetarian!

Narendra Sheth of Jiv Daya has also done lot of research on this so you can find more information on the Jiv Daya website at www.jivdaya.org.

-Tejas Mehta, CPA Email: TejasMehta@aol.com * Phone: 714-491-4000

You will soon be receiving a beautiful JAINA CALENDAR. Thanks to Rajeev Pandya and his team for doing a superb job in executing this project. Thanks also to Lataben who has greatly improved JAINA-AT-A GLANCE which is available on our website.

Yogendra Jain, Chair, Long Range Planning Committee, is working hard with his committee members. He is going to come up with new ideas and fresh thinking for JAINA leadership.

We have established two new committees: (1) Legal Advisory Committee (2) Media/Public Relations Committee. Both of these committees are going to fill a long-term void that has existed in our operations. As we grow, we may need help in legal area as well as in media and public relations. I am happy to inform you that Prakash Parekh (NY attorney), Neel Shah (NJ attorney) and Nitin Talsania (NJ) have agreed to help us on a volunteer basis in their respective committees.

I would like to wish you all and your loved ones Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

Best Regards,
Anop Vora

The Sixth Biennial Young Jains of America (YJA) Convention will be held July 1st-4th, 2004 in sunny California. The convention's goal is to serve as a forum where youth can openly learn and discuss the ideals of Jainism to help further incorporate the religion into their daily lives.

To be held in the Bay Area, the activities of the 4-day convention will center around the theme, "Y JAin? To See, To Know, To Realize." Often, today's youth question why they should practice Jainism or how they can apply Jainism into their everyday lives. The convention will help the participants answer these questions by introducing the daily activities they experience (To See), discussing Jainism's interpretation of these events (To Know), and combining the two into our daily reality (To Realize).

Further information regarding the convention can be found by visiting www.yja.org/convention. Those interested in attending this biennial event can begin registering on January 12, 2004 by visiting the website. For comments and suggestions, please feel free to email Samir Ajmera and Rina Shah at baccchairs@yja.org.

In the last issue of JAINA SPECTRUM a report on Retirement community was given. It has been pointed out to me that the readers should be made aware that JAINA is "not participating" in the Clearwater project. And Jaina has no financial interest in Florida project and parties need to conduct their own evaluation of the project before investing in it.

Month of January is especially busy for many JAINA activities here and in India such as Medical camps and the Pilgrimage from Jaisalmer to Palitana. Many JAINA leaders are visiting India during that month and I will be in India for most of the January and part of February. Consequently, JAINA SPECTRUM will not be published in January. See you in February. If you have any comments or wish to have any news you think may be of interest to Jain community here, please email it to me: dilipvshah@aol.com

Dilip V Shah
Philadelphia, December 24, 2003

BBCI launches Jainism Website

www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/jainism
BBC Religion and Ethics launched the Jainism website on 7th December 2003 which communicates the philosophy and culture of Jain Religion. The launch of the BBCI Jainism website is a pioneering development in communicating the essence of Jain culture. The newly launched website will allow people worldwide to appreciate and understand the Jain values of ahimsa, aparigraha and annekant as a highly relevant and essential part of modern living. Mr. Alan Bookbinder, Head of BBC Religion and Ethics speaking at the launch said "I am delighted that the values of Jainism including respect, compassion, tolerance and concern for all living beings are now visible allowing audiences to appreciate Jain values in today's world."

“For 3rd Medical & Surgery Camp in Upleta, Jan.2nd through Jan 11th, 2004, we have 28 registered Doctors and Volunteers from USA. That number compares to only 5 last year.” Said Uka Solanki, Camp Organizer. “We are very excited about our relationship with JAINA and what it can do for us and our people in Upleta.”

JAINA is promoting 7) Medical Camps in India for the months of Jan-Feb, 2004 and has shipped Medical Supplies and Equipment through “Wheels of Hope” Program.

The Jain Society of Metropolitan Chicago elected the following Executive Committee members for year 2003- 2005 term.

Arvind Shah, President; Bhanu Shah, Vice President; Atul Shah, Secretary; Girish Shah, Treasurer; Nilesh Shah, Joint Treasurer; Membership Secretary; Khushalraj Singhvi, Youth Secretary, Nirav Shah; Education Secretary,Mukesh Doshi; Food Secretary, Hitesh Shah

The following Trustees were also elected for the year 2003-2007 term Samprati Shah, Jyotindra Doshi.

The Gandhi-King Season for Nonviolence runs from January 30-April 4 and is dedicated to promoting the principles of nonviolence in our daily lives. The two dates commemorate the memorial anniversaries of Mahatma Gandhi and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. The opening program will be held at the United Nations, New York, on Friday, January 30, 2004, from 1:00 PM to 2:45 PM in Conference room 1. This program is sponsored by several major international interfaith organizations.

The President of the Season for Nonviolence at the Association for Global Thought is Rev. Michael Beckwith. He is coming from Los Angeles along with his gospel choir. There will be a flag ceremony, slides on Gandhi and King's lives and presentations from youth. WE are also hoping that an invited star will be joining this program and use his video from Sierra Leone. "Nonviolence in Our Home, Nonviolence in Our Schools" is the topic.

If you want to attend this program, please send the first name, last name, telephone number, age and school of child/youth, contact person, and e-mail for each attendee to Naresh Jain, e-mail: njain52253@aol.com