© St. Petersburg Times, published April 14, 2003
The Bible, the Torah, the Koran -- sacred books such as these are the cornerstones upon which many people build their lives. For the people whose life's work is to study the books' teachings and share them, reading is essential.
This week we meet a rabbi who enjoys a good detective story, a pastor who gives the Harry Potter series a big thumbs up and a deacon who reads for inspiration.
By JUSTIN LEISER
Rabbi Arthur I. Baseman sees the purpose of his job clearly: "I try to bring God nearer to people and to help them be kinder to each other." The word rabbi means "my teacher."
For 33 years, Baseman has led the congregation at Temple B'nai Israel, a synagogue in Clearwater. He has conducted hundreds of bat and bar mitzvahs, baby naming ceremonies, weddings and funerals, not to mention his weekly Friday and Saturday services.
Growing up in Malden, Mass., not far from Boston, Baseman was more interested in being active than sitting around reading books. Then as a college student he found a book by Ernest Hemingway that inspired him, The Old Man and the Sea. The rabbi says that this novel was more than just an entertaining story. It changed his life.
"So much depends upon what is happening to you at the time you read a book, especially if you're searching for a direction," says Baseman, 65. "A book can be your lighthouse in the sea of life."
Baseman identified with the message of The Old Man and the Sea, which deals with how life can frustrate an individual's personal fulfillment. He was searching for a career direction as a senior at Harvard University, and soon after reading that book, he decided to attend Hebrew Union College in Cincinnati to study to become a rabbi.
Even though he has very little spare time, Baseman still tries to find time to enjoy a book. For his professional reading, he likes books about Jewish philosophy and world history. When he's reading for recreation, he enjoys detective mysteries.
One book that he uses often in counseling is Be Your Own Best Friend by Thomas A. Whiteman and Randy Petersen. He says that the book's message is to not beat yourself up about things in your life. "You wouldn't treat your best friend the way you treat yourself when you feel bad about yourself," he says.
Books can serve as a companion as well, "because you can go places with them, and you can learn things from them," Baseman says. "You can experience life through books, and," he says with a twinkle in his eye, "they will never talk back."
-- Justin Leiser, 13, is in eighth grade at St. Paul's School in Palm Harbor.
By MARY ELLIS GLYMPH
Joe Glymph walks into a cluttered room where papers are piled on a desk and books are stacked to the ceiling. He sits at his desk and opens the day with a verse from the Bible.
Although reading is part of his daily life now, Pastor Joe, as members of the Prince of Peace Lutheran Church in Largo know him, was not an avid book reader when he was a boy. Like so many kids, his reading habits usually centered on magazines such as Sports Illustrated.
"My parents weren't really strong readers; they kept up with the newspaper but not book after book," he says.
Pastor Joe, who is my dad, remembers that his parents read Dr. Seuss books to him when he was a child. He went on to read The Chronicles of Narnia as a boy, and he suggests that kids read those stories. They are still some of his favorite books.
"I also read the Hardy Boys mysteries (by Franklin W. Dixon) and Tom Sawyer (by Mark Twain) when I was a kid, but I really didn't read everything I could get my hands on," he says.
You may think that because Pastor Joe is a minister, it means that he is superreligious and doesn't have fun, but he is a normal guy. He likes to have fun and play games like everyone else. And religious books aren't the only books he reads. Although his favorite book is Saint Maybe by Anne Tyler, he loves to read biographies, which are his favorite kind.
"I've read biographies on Babe Ruth through John Adams," says Pastor Joe, 48. "It's very fascinating."
Pastor Joe reads for his work as well.
"You can say that I read for a living, because I read the Bible and devotions and all sorts of other things for my work."
Although some church leaders disapprove of the Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling because of all the magic in the books, Pastor Joe is a big fan. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets is his favorite.
-- Mary Ellis Glymph, 12, is in sixth grade at Oak Grove Middle School in Clearwater.
By HAYLEY GERMACK
"I like reading of the lives of the saints because they inspire me," says Michael Columbus, 71. A deacon at Holy Family Catholic Church in St. Petersburg, Columbus enjoys reading for work and pleasure.
"Recently, I've read Yiches, a story about grandmothers, by my niece, Amanda Yannella," he says. Yiches is a Yiddish word that means "good family background." Columbus describes this book as a young woman's quest for self-discovery while exploring her roots, beginning with her immigrant Yiddish "bubbe," or grandmother.
As a church deacon, Columbus spends much of his time reading the Bible, and he has studied the lives of saints. "I read The Book of Saints (by George Angelini and Victor Hoagland), which tells of the lives of the saints and all they did," Columbus says.
He recently finished reading Angela's Ashes: A Memoir by Frank McCourt. It tells the story of McCourt's early life growing up in poverty in Limerick, Ireland.
"I didn't know that I was going to be a deacon," Columbus says. Born in Elmora, Pa., in June 1931, Columbus graduated from Carroltown High School. During the Korean War, he joined the armed services and left two decades later as an E8, which is a senior master sergeant. Columbus moved to Homestead in 1962 and came to St. Petersburg in 1969. He worked at a Cadillac dealership in Tampa as a service manager from 1983 to 1991. "My pastor asked me if I wanted to be a deacon," Columbus says, "and I said yes." Columbus was ordained as a deacon in June 1991 by Archbishop John C. Favalora. "In scriptures, people complained that the widows and poor were not taken care of," he says, "so deacons were created to serve them."
Columbus says that books played an important role in his path to becoming a deacon.
"I had to take college courses and buy my own textbooks. I paid my own tuition," he says. "I enjoy being a deacon because I was able to (officiate at the weddings of) two of my sons and baptize three of my grandchildren."
Columbus is a permanent deacon, which means that he can be married and have children. He and his wife, Irene, have been married for 47 years and have four children, ages 36 to 46. "It feels very good to have a family so close to the Catholic Church," Columbus says.
"The Bible has influenced me to become a deacon. I do not only preach it, but I try to live it."
-- Hayley Germack, 13, is in eighth grade at Bay Point Middle School in St. Petersburg.