Saturday, July 28, 2007

The Faith Club Coming to Detroit

Many bookclubs have been reading The Faith Club: A Muslim, A Christian, A Jew - Three Women Search for Understanding by Ranya Idliby, Suzanne Oliver, and Priscilla Warner. Now these three authors will be coming to Metro Detroit as presenters at the Jewish Community Center's annual Jewish Book Fair on November 13th, Tuesday at 7:00 PM!! WISDOM will be co-sponsoring this presentation along with the Muslim Unity Center so far, and probably other organizations in the near future. Please mark your calendars and more details will follow.

This is a wonderful book for interfaith dialogue!! From the book jacket:

"After September 11th, Ranya Idliby, an American Muslim of Palestinian descent, faced constant questions about Islam, God, and death from her children, the only Muslims in their classrooms. Inspired by a story about Muhammad, Ranya reached out to two other mothers - a Christian and a Jew - to try to understand and answer these questions for her children. After just a few meetings, however, it became clear that the women themselves needed an honest and open environment where they could admit - and discuss - their concerns, stereotypes, and misunderstanding about one another. After hours of soul-searching about the issues that divided them, Ranya, Suzanne, and Priscilla grew close enough to discover and explore what united them.

The Faith Club is a memoir of spiritual reflections in three voices that will make readers feel as if they are eavesdropping on the authors' private conversations, provocative discussions, and often controversial opinions and conclusions. The authors wrestle with the issues of anti-Semitism, prejudice against Muslims, and preconceptions of Christians at a time when fundamentalists dominate the public face of Christianity. They write beautifully and affectingly of their families, their losses and grief, their fears and hopes for themselves and their loved ones. And as the authors reveal their deepest beliefs, readers watch the blossoming of a profound interfaith friendship and the birth of a new way of relating to others.

In a final chapter, they provide detailed advice on how to start a faith club: the questions to ask, the books to read, and most important, the open-minded attitude to maintain in order to come through the experience with an enriched personal faith and understanding of others."

Please mark your calendars, read this book, and join WISDOM at the West Bloomfield Jewish Community Center at Maple and Drake on Tuesday, November 13th at 7:00 PM.

Thursday, July 19, 2007

Pieces of Peace Quilt Project

Eear WISDOM Women,

Please read about this peace project below, and contact Stacey if you are interested in participating.


Shalom, Salaam, Peace,

My name is Stacey Francis I was raised in Southfield and have lived in Farmington Hills with my husband Tim for the past 10 years. We have 2 sons, Benjamin 8 and Noah 5. Our community is a rich mix of religious and spiritual beliefs. It is easy for us to go through our day without connecting with the people we encounter in our daily lives.

I am participating in a community project for a course I’m taking through Landmark Education. Through this program I have learned how to live powerfully and live a life I love. This program is not a religious program although I do believe I was led by God and I am grateful for the opportunity. I invite you to take part in creating a community peace quilt. Pictures you create on paper will be scanned and transferred onto a piece of fabric which will be stitched into a quilt. My goal is to unite our diverse community by getting to know our neighbors through our ideas of peace in the world. I would be honored if you would participate in this project and invite other people you know to participate. By participating in this project we will see our neighbors as friends who have the same destination in mind but follow different paths to get there.

To participate in this project:

1. Consider Peace as a possibility throughout our world. Use any standard piece of plain 8 ½ x 11 copy paper. Please draw or write what this might look like to you. Be as colorful as possible using crayons, markers, or paint. Leaving ¼ inch borders around your picture will allow for quilting. You are welcome to do this as an individual, a family or a group. Put your name, phone and email on the back in case we need to contact you. Send to 20307 W. 12 Mile Road Suite 105 Southfield MI, 48076
2. Please send an email to me at staceyfrancisdc@aol.com that describes who you are and why you chose to participate in this project with an understanding that this will be posted on the internet next to a picture of your quilt piece.
3. Please join us for the showing of the completed quilt. This is to acknowledge our community as a role model for peace, enlightenment and education. The showing will occur on the date of October 21, 2007 at 3 o’clock pm at Adat Shalom Synagogue 29901 Middlebelt Rd. Farmington Hills, MI 48334 All are welcome to attend.
4. If you happen to have a sewing machine and can sew a straight line, your help is also needed to put the pieces together.
5. Quilt pieces must be submitted by October 1, 2007.

I would like for this to be a traveling symbol that has it’s home in all of our spiritual homes and therefore, once completed, the quilt will take temporary residence in the religious and spiritual centers in our community.

Thank you for taking it on,

Stacey Francis

Thursday, July 12, 2007

WOMEN'S INTERFAITH INITIATIVES AFTER 9/11

Gail Katz, Co-Founder of WISDOM, has been invited to be part of Radcliffe Institute seminar on Women’s Interfaith Initiatives After 9/11!!

The Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard University is going to be sponsoring the exploratory seminar “Women’s Interfaith Initiatives After 9/11,” which will be led by Diana Eck, Director of the Pluralism Project and Professor of Comparative Religion and Indian Studies, Harvard University Faculty of Arts and Sciences. beginning Friday morning, September 28, 2007 and concluding early afternoon on Saturday, September 29. WISDOM will be one of the featured Women’s Interfaith groups presenting at this seminar. The other groups to present are:

Daughters of Abraham, The Faith Club, Spiritual and Religious Alliance for Hope
(SARAH), and Women Transcending Boundaries (WTB).

Professor Eck has described the seminar as follows:

“Since 9/11, the interfaith movement in the United States has grown exponentially, and women’s leadership has played a critical role. Interfaith organizations and initiatives are often decentralized, removing structural barriers to women’s leadership that exist within many religious institutions. The result is both new forms of women’s religious leadership and new venues for women’s participation in American religious life. Notably, the grassroots, women-led interfaith initiatives that have emerged over the last six years offer a critical alternative to the traditional model for interfaith engagement. This seminar will attempt to explore the import and impact of these initiatives on American religious life ­ specifically on the interfaith movement and the women’s movement. An inter-disciplinary team of scholars will be joined by the founders of these various women’s interfaith initiatives, as well as by faith-based and interfaith practitioners and activists. Their task will be to identify the emerging methodologies and new models at play, and to begin to document the changing shape of American women’s religious leadership.”

Gail is so thrilled to be able to share WISDOM’s history, mission, activities and projected plans. After the seminar, Gail will post what she has learned from the other women’s interfaith groups on the blog. Stay tuned for exciting information!!

When Islam and Judaism Sang to Each Other

Rumi and the Sufi School of Mysticism

Come and learn with Rabbi Aaron Bergman
Head of Judaic Studies, Frankel Jewish Academy of Metro Detroit
Co-sponsored by Cong. Beth Ahm and The Jewish Forum

Sunday, August 5
7:30 pm

In the Tauber Family Chapel
Cong. Beth Ahm, 5075 West Maple Road, WB

$10 per person @ the door
No charge for high-school or college students

OPEN TO THE COMMUNITY – EVERYONE IS WELCOME!


ABOUT THIS LEARNING EVENT...

There was a brief moment in history when Jews and Muslims shared a mystic and intellectual vision. Rumi, poet, scholar and aesthete, was part of that world.
Rumi was born 800 years ago, but his popularity is as great today as ever. We will read his poetry and see how he and fellow Sufis influenced Judaism. We will also discuss how the rise of interest in mysticism within Judaism and Islam creates possibilities for a genuine dialogue between Muslims and Jews today.

IT WILL BE PART LECTURE, PART POETRY READING!

Reservations are encouraged but not required. Walk-ins are welcome.

For more information, call Nancy Kaplan @ 248.737.1931
Or e-mail Nancyellen879@comcast.net

Monday, July 9, 2007

Peace Through WISDOM

On July 8th, Sunday, at the Church of Today West in Farmington Hills, WISDOM held their sixth event as a joint venture with Peace X Peace. Peace X Peace focuses on empowering women as the most effective means of enriching lives locally and promoting peace globally. They connect women’s groups, called sister circles, in the United States one to one with sister circles everywhere in the world – via the internet – for direct, private exchange of information and personal experience that results in mutually supportive actions. These personal relationships established through e-mail reach across cultural and religious differences to diminish biases and misconceptions. The mission of Peace X Peace meshes beautifully with the Mission of WISDOM – to expand and intensify our knowledge about each other in order to dispel myths, stereotypes, prejudices, and fear that exist with lack of understanding.

We began our joint venture by welcoming 70 women to “Peace Through WISDOM” and followed that with a beautiful interfaith prayer by the Rev. Barbara Clevenger of Church of Today West. We then watched the 86 minute documentary entitled “Peace by Peace: Women on the Frontlines.” While the media inundates us with violent images and stories of failed peace talks, there are hundreds of thousands of women who are working on the ground to keep their countries from falling apart. In spite of the obstacles they encounter, and the lack of their voices at the peace table, women in all regions of the world are devising creative and effective strategies to advocate for education, health, human rights, increased political participation and sustainable economic development. This documentary profiles the work of women peace-builders in five countries: Afghanistan, Burundi, Bosnia, Argentina, and the United States (New York City), and how they challenge the traditional paradigms of peace-building.

After the showing of the documentary we worked toward forming our own interfaith community based groups to connect with women around the world and help to further peace and understanding. Members from the First Congregational Church of Rochester, who have been successful in forming two Peace X Peace Sister Circles, shared their thoughts about how they got their sister circles started and what has worked for them.

This presentation was followed by dinner – where WISDOM women sat together at tables that were comprised of women of different faiths and ethnic backgrounds. There were dialogue starters at each table to help break the ice. Following dinner, we went through the handouts with everyone. The handouts consisted of the following:

1) “Step X Step” – What to do to join the Peace X Peace Network
2) Registration information for Peace Through WISDOM Sister Circles
3) Peace X Peace Suggestions of possible Circle Interests
4) Peace X Peace Frequently Asked Questions
5) Pertinent Quotes re: Women’s Circles from The Millionth Circle by Jean Shinoda Bolen
6) Key Principles for Sister Circles
7) Information on the Women’s Global Roundtable
8) Closing Prayer

Participants were asked to fill out the Peace Through WISDOM registration information pages in their packets, to put their particular topic of interest (environment, religion, education, health, cross-cultural understanding, preventing violence against women, etc.) on their name tags, and to position themselves around the room next to one of the posters on the wall that had the geographical area listed where they would like their global sisters to be from. Once the women separated themselves by areas of the world, they then sub-divided again according to the interests listed on their nametags.

About 4-6 sister circles were formed. Two interested in the Middle East, one interested in Asia, one interested in Africa, and the possibility of several others who will get back to WISDOM with their circle information in the near future. The directions to the newly forming circles were the following:

1) Before you leave, make a date with your newly formed circle to come together again some time during the summer
2) Remember that before you begin the process of communicating with women on the other side of the world, you must first establish your sister circle here in Michigan. Take the time to get to know each other.
3) Everyone must go home and register on the Peace X Peace website (www.peacexpeace.org) and become a member. (Step One on the instruction page)
4) After you have solidified your circle as to interests, and chosen a name for your circle, the e-mail captain must go to the Peace X Peace website and register the circle (steps two through seven on the instruction page). The e-mail captain will include everyone’s e-mail addresses in this registration.
5) You will receive an invitation to join Peace X Peace after you have registered your circle. You must answer this invitation.
6) You should read through the entire packet of handouts from Peace Through WISDOM on your own, or with your sister circle.
7) The e-mail captain of each circle must fill out the Sister Circle form with everyone’s names, e-mail addresses, and phone numbers, and give it to WISDOM to copy and give back before you leave. That way WISDOM can contact the circle members in the future for a Peace Through WISDOM reunion.
8) Please go to the WISDOM Solutions blog (www.wisdomsolutions.blogspot.com) or go to the WISDOM website (www.interfaithwisdom.org) and click on “News and Events” which will take you to the blog, and add information to the blog about how your sister circles are coming along.
9) Feel free to contact Gail Katz for blogging help. (gailkatz@comcast.net or 248-978-6664 cell phone).
10) Gail Katz will also be sending out periodic e-mails with reminders to check the blog.

A big thank you to Church of Today West and the Rev. Barbara Clevenger and her staff for all their help and the use of their beautiful facility. Thanks to all of you for your participation in the Peace Through WISDOM event, and for your faith that women of all religions can come together to make a difference!

Please stay tuned for WISDOM’s next event!