NO MITZVAH: PORN STAR'S TEMPLE TALK JUST FOR SHOW.

Byline: Joseph Honig Local View

FOR years, promoting sex has been a multibillion-dollar American enterprise - so profitable it's attracted players like General Motors and AT&T.

Now comes word that a Newhall synagogue wants in on the action, suggesting a porn star's adventures may help congregants further their own adult educations.

So if anyone ever doubted we've become a sex-addled nation, they can safely put such thoughts to rest. Now and forever.

Because in less than a generation, pornographers have traveled from living rooms to five-star hotels to cyberspace and now, courtesy of Temple Beth Ami, to the lectern.

``The shock is part of the appeal,'' Rabbi Mark Blazer said, explaining why he's invited porn star Nina Hartley to his temple Tuesday night. ``The idea is to push the envelope when we think of places we can learn from.''

Thus I must take Blazer at his word. I must believe he's not looking for publicity or new members or a cutting-edge profile for his house of worship. And indeed, Hartley, star of almost 600 adult films, is reported to be a registered nurse with a graduate degree. Her latest career is in sex education.

The news here is a rabbi presuming that a sexual entertainer, a principal in coitus for cash, may have significant advice on meaningful intimacy.

As if Hartley's porn performances were accomplished to further serious knowledge of human sexuality.

As if her producers and distributors cared as much for love lives as bottom lines.

As if the San Fernando Valley's adult entertainment moguls are really therapists in Jaguars.

To her credit, the amorous Hartley is no hypocrite. ``I'm not telling people they need to be like me or do as I've done,'' she has been quoted. ``I've done more than most people, and I've learned a lot about sexuality.''

And the marketing of sexuality as well, Nina. Because if there's any serious knowledge to be gleaned from your work in ``Debbie Duz Dishes'' or ``One Size Fits All,'' clinical researchers aren't reporting it.

This is not to say that citizens of all denominations don't consume adult videos or computer sex as if a porn Prohibition Act were just around the corner. Someone is spending all those billions on tapes and Web pages and devices.

And those someones are us.

But to pretend - as so many X-rated industry types insist - that watching strangers devour one another brings us closer as lovers and spouses is to suggest that strip clubs are good places to get aerobics tips.

At Temple Beth Ami, Rabbi Blazer says Hartley can impart much to his members - though they disagree on certain fundamentals, including ``what would be a holy relationship and the holy way we treat our bodies.''

All in all, though, Nina Hartley's synagogue appearance may be a clear win for both the rabbi and the porn actress.

The synagogue has been written up in newspapers across the country; the rabbi has given low-key television interviews.

Hartley also has been mentioned. She couldn't buy this kind of attention. Film work didn't exactly make her a household name.

So expect cameras, lights and reporters at a crowded synagogue this week when the porn actress tells the faithful about the power of love.

``Sexual knowledge is sexual knowledge, and one way you learn it is when you do it,'' Hartley has said. Who knew there was so much to be gained from anonymous partners faking passion for pay?

Maybe Larry Flynt. Heidi Fleiss, too.

Call me the next time you see them attending services.

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Adult film star and registered nurse Nina Hartley - star of nearly 600 films - will be giving a sex seminar at Temple Beth Ami on Tuesday night.