BY LINDA DeNICOLA
Staff Writer
Patty and Jim Whyte in Haifa, Israel. Haifa is the site of Baha’i shrines. It’s the dawn of a new year for members of the Bahá’í faith, of which there are reputed to be 5 million across the globe.
The first day of the Bahá’í calendar was March 21. Monmouth County Bahá’ís, like their fellow Bahá’ís in other countries, broke their 19-day fast on that day. The Bahá’í new year, known as Naw-Ruz, is meant to coincide with the beginning of spring.
On March 24, the Bahá’ís celebrated the new year at Camp Sacajawea Girl Scout Activity Center in Howell with a home-cooked dinner and children’s entertainment.
Red Bank residents Patty and Jim Whyte are both Bahá’ís who met at a Bahá’í event in 1977.
“He was just investigating the Bahá’í faith at the time. Curiously, he had taken out some books at his college library. Actually, he took out all of the books, read them all and decided he was already a Bahá’í in his heart. Then he came and found the Bahá’í community,” she said.
The Whytes have both just completed their sunup-to-sundown fast, which includes prayer upon waking. It is considered one of the most important times for spiritual reflection, Patty noted.
Both Whytes grew up in Monmouth County. Patty explained that she was raised Roman Catholic, which she practiced faithfully until she was 19 years old. In fact, she spent 12 years in Catholic education at St. James and Red Bank Catholic High School.
“I encountered the Bahá’í faith by chance through a friend and went to an informal discussion, called a fireside,” Patty Whyte said. “I was immediately attracted to the teachings, which I found, and continue to find, spiritually and intellectually satisfying.”
She added: “It was important to me to maintain my faith in Jesus, which is part of being a Bahá’í, as we accept the divinity of all the major prophets of God. We see Baha’u’llah, prophet and founder of the Bahá’í faith, as the fulfillment of Jesus’ prophecies.
According to the Web site, www.Bahá’í .org, the Bahá’í faith is a world religion based on the teachings of its prophet founder Baha’u’llah who preached that there is only one God and one human family.
It includes people from more than 2,100 ethnic and tribal groups who live in more than 230 countries and territories. It is recognized as the second most geographically widespread religion after Christianity.
A Bahá’í is a follower of Baha’u’llah, and believes that he is a messenger of God for this age. After accepting Baha’u’llah as the source of guidance for one’s life, the next step is to become a member of the Bahá’í community like the Bahá’í Community of Monmouth and Ocean Counties.
In Monmouth County there are groups based in Matawan, Union Beach, Howell and Red Bank.
Patty Whyte says she finds that being a Bahá’í helps her every day in making moral and practical decisions.
“There are so many guidelines on how to live, especially in terms of developing spiritual qualities such as honesty, courage, love, compassion. We have many lovely prayers as well, and I always turn to God for guidance in difficult situations.”
She explained that all of the teachings center around the oneness of humanity and that it is important to judge people on their character, not race, nationality, religion.
“We are all equal before God. Principles such as agreement of science and religion, universal education, equality of men and women also guide me daily,” she said.
For Bahá’ís, Haifa, Israel, has a special significance. The Whytes went there a number years ago.
“Our trip to Israel was indeed a pilgrimage. It is something each Bahá’í tries to do once in a lifetime,” she explained. “In addition to the shrines in Haifa, there are sites in the nearby towns of Akka and Bahji that are special to Bahá’ís.”
Haifa is the location of the Bahá’í World Centre. Whyte explained that Baha’u’llah was exiled to a prison in Akka (when the area was still known as
Palestine) by the Ottoman Empire in 1868. He remained a prisoner until his death in 1892.
“The Bahá’í World Centre was established in nearby Haifa after his passing. To this day, the Bahá’í have excellent relations with the Israeli government. The Bahá’í shrines and gardens in Haifa and surrounding areas are a major tourist attraction as well, she said.
Bahá’ís attend study circles and devotions and are encouraged to undertake a service project for the community. In addition, they have their own music ensemble. Founded in the summer of 2002, Daystar includes a variety of instrumentalists and singers, and has become a regular attraction at Bahá’í gatherings around the state.
Jen and Claude Chingwe live in Matawan, but Jen grew up in Middletown and Claude is from Zamibia in Africa. They have 3 1/2-year-old twins that they are raising in the Bahá’í faith.
Jen said her parents became Bahá’ís when she was 3 years old, in 1968, so she has been a Bahá’í for most of her life.
She met Claude when they were both doing volunteer work at the Bahai World Centre in Israel.
“He had come from Zamibia and I came from the states. I was there for six years and he was there for four. We were married there, but we decided to settle where my family was and still is.”
Jen and Claude have been married for 14 years. The Bahá’í faith encourages interracial marriage, she said, adding that it has made a huge difference in her family.
“It was a little awkward in the beginning. One side of the family was liberal and open and one side was conservative and took awhile to open up,” she said.
But they did. “One of the main ways to promote harmony is to intermarry,” said Jen, whose parents are Italian and British. She explained that in Zamibia, every family is integrated.
The Bahá’í faithful suffer severe repression in Iran, the land of the religion’s birth, as well as in several other Muslim countries.
Whyte said the 300,000 Bahá’ís in Iran constitute its largest religious minority, and in recent years many have been killed, imprisoned and deprived of employment and education solely because of their religious beliefs.
Jen Chingwe noted that regardless of what is going on in the culture, Bahá’ís “have a very robust community life. It is also very kid friendly.”
For information on the local Bahá’í groups, go to the Web site www.jerseyshorebahai.org.