SOLD OUT: Tri Faith Initiative’s Dinner in Abraham’s Tent

If you can’t join us at the Qwest, consider organizing your own Dinner in Abraham’s Tent, inviting some interfaith friends over for dinner and to watch the webcast.

BREAKING NEWS
We have been able to make arrangements to webcast the “Conversation on Peace” live from the Qwest that night. Just before 8 p.m. Central Time Friday night, log onto this website and you will be able to click through to the webcast at mms://209.200.118.182/tfilive. (If you try to go there now it will just come up as a Windows Media screen.)

WE NEED YOUR HELP
To get the word out about the webcast to everyone you know – around Nebraska, around the country and around the world. Send an email to at least five friends who would be interested, and ask them to send it on to at least five friends and on and on. If everyone receiving this sends it to 5, they send it to five, they send it to five and they send it to five – we can reach over 30,000 in the next 24 hours.

ABOUT THE EVENT
The Tri-Faith Initiative is host for a conversation on peace with national faith leaders Rabbi Peter Knobel, president of the Central Conference of American Rabbis, Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori of the Episcopal Church, and Dr. Ingrid Mattson, president of the Islamic Society of North America. A worship service will include a traditional evening prayer service from each faith.

Faith-Based Initiatives Under Obama

Listen Now [17 min 7 sec]

Talk of the Nation, February 11, 2009 · Last week, President Obama announced that he will continue the Bush administration’s faith-based initiatives through a new Council on Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships. Eboo Patel, founder and executive director of the Interfaith Youth Core, talks about the new council and whether hiring practices will be different on Obama’s watch.

Eboo Patel on CNN “Faces of Faith”

Watch CNN Sunday Morning this
Sunday, February 15th, when Eboo Patel will be interviewed for “Faces
of Faith” by hosts TJ Holmes and Betty Nyugen.

The interview will be broadcast live around 7:45 am CST.– set your DVR.

Community Diversity Dinners

Our very first Community Diversity Dinners were hosted in four Temple Israel homes on Saturday evening with a total of 52 participants.  As promised it was a memorable evening.

In preparation for the conversations on Saturday were asked to respond to the following questions for reflection and discussion:

1. We are all here for different reasons.  Each of us has different experiences when working with/communicating with people of different ethnicity and/or religions.  Please finish the statement, “After tonight, I …”
2. What do you think others here tonight may think about you, simply because of your race or religion?
3. Are there any barriers or difficulties that you may have that will hinder you from having a completely open and honest discussion here tonight?
4. If you’re comfortable, please share an experience in your life in which you have felt discriminated against because of your race or religion.

Thank you to our gracious hosts Deb and Doug Finnicum, Susan Rothholz, Suzanne Singer, Jane and Harlan Rips, and Jan and Les Schneiderman.

Here are some comments from some of the participants:

I just wanted you to know what a wonderful evening we had at Susan’s last night.  I think everyone really enjoyed it–Wendy and Len, 2 lovely Muslim couples, and 2 Episcopals.  It was a very successful evening–fun and interesting. –Suzanne Singer

Hi there, how was your dinner last night? We had a wonderful group and I think it was very worthwhile for all who attended. The questions worked fine as a starting point – my group was off and running – didn’t have time for “check-out” but got through everything else.

Gary and I had the very same reaction – got in the car, said how much we enjoyed the two Muslim couples (very bright, very engaging).  Anyway, thanks for working on this – hope we can do more dinners like this to gain more supporters for tri-faith. –Sally Kaplan

It was a great success. The only problem was I ate too much. The food was great, the company better. More later.
–Nancy Kirk, Executive Director Tri-Faith Initiative

War will not rend interfaith project

Omaha World-Herald 01/14/2009, Page B07

MIDLANDS VOICES
War will not rend interfaith project

BY RABBI ARYEH AZRIEL, WENDY GOLDBERG, NASER Z. ALSHARIF AND THE REV. CANON TIM ANDERSON The writers, all of Omaha, are board members of the Tri-Faith Initiative. Azriel and Goldberg are senior rabbi and program director, respectively, of Temple Israel. Alsharif is secretary of the American Institute of Islamic Studies and Culture. Anderson is canon for development of the Episcopal Diocese of Nebraska. Margaret Mead said, “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed people can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.” In 2006, a group of Omaha leaders made a bold decision to form a partnership with the goal of co-locating to an interfaith campus. Temple Israel, the Episcopal Diocese of Nebraska and the American Institute of Islamic Studies and Culture signed a mutual agreement of understanding to create the Tri-Faith Initiative of Omaha. We remain committed to this goal. Our dialogue actually began nine years ago. From its inception, we knew the day would arrive that would require us to gather at a table in the midst of war in the Middle East. How would we continue building our friendships of mutual understanding? It took place at a meeting involving the emotional sharing of personal narratives of three leaders of the Tri-Faith Initiative — an Israeli-born Reform Jewish American rabbi; an American Muslim professor born in Palestine; and a native Nebraskan Episcopal priest. The tearful conversation was the kind of honest exchange that is necessary to reach peace. The initiative, one said, “gives us all strength to have each other and to each respect our individual relationships with God. To understand and to know each other will move us forward.” Another added: “The pain is so great. What is really at stake in our Holy Land? We are suffering. Who is scoring political points? Is this about geopolit ical struggle? What is the value of every human life? All people are victims. The violence must stop. The violence will not bring safety. “This ongoing war has decimated my entire family. I no longer have a family. Just tears. There is no monopoly on pain. We all have people being killed. Will we strive for justice and peace among all people and respect the dignity of every human being? Our response is, ‘We will, with God’s help.’ ” Our stories are woven together with threads of pain and love for our people and the land. We shared stories of loss of friends and family. We acknowledged our mutual regard for human life, especially those who have died as a result of the ongoing struggle. We heard each other’s memories of war — pain and fear, dreams for the Holy Land. We cried. We hugged. Our years of conversation and education had clear rewards as we witnessed and felt the pain of the others. The participants said, “We stand together in condemnation of the violence, pain and suffering. We hope for peace and coexistence in the Holy Land. We understand that politics alone will not end this conflict.” The Holy Land is more than borders and settlements. The tragedies reach beyond Gaza; our message must be a global one. In Omaha, we are privileged by our influence and freedoms. Yet we feel guilty; our selfishness and greed have desensitized us. Are we assuming our responsibilities? Today we, the leadership of the Tri-Faith Initiative, call upon ourselves to honestly reawaken our consciences, including progressive change to build relationships, to honor a nd respect the other. We raise our voices to work toward peace. Recognizing the challenges ahead requires hope, faith and a commitment to work hard, together, to solve the many problems of our generation. TriFaith gives us hope — hope for the future in the midst of despair. Despite the strong feelings roused around our table by the crisis in Gaza, the initiative continues to move forward and remains committed to its first public event, “Dinner in Abraham’s Tent: Conversations on Peace,” featuring the national leaders of each of our movements: Rabbi Peter Knobel, Dr. Ingrid Mattson and Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori of the U.S. Episcopal Church. The event, set for Friday, March 27, at the Qwest Center, will feature a worship service followed by a dinner and a conversation among the faith leaders on the theme of “Shalom, Salaam, Peace.” In the words of Rabbi Jonathan Magonet, “May our courage match our convictions and our integrity match our hope.” How can we still attempt the Tri-Faith Initiative when there is a war going on in the Middle East? How can we not? For more information about The Tri-Faith Initiative contact 402-934-2955 or 888- 934-9955 (toll free), or info@trifaith.org.

A Breakfast with Sam Fried by Rabbi Aryeh Azriel

Sam Fried has a powerful story to share.  We need to tell our people.  This man’s life project is to establish Heartland Holocaust Educational Fund, is a non-profit entity, in partnership with the Omaha Community Foundation scholarship to teach the holocaust in NE. This amazing treasure the monument commemorating the holocaust in Lincoln.  Our community and the general community should not ignore the need to hear the life stories of the survivors in our community.

Photo from the Jewish Press of Omaha. Frances and Sam Fried stand before the Wall of Remembrance they donated at the Holocaust Memorial in Wyuka Cemetery in Lincoln. Fried was awarded an honorary doctorate last month by the University of Nebraska-Omaha for his role in Holocaust education.

Take a trip to Lincoln a half day.  Go and visit, it’s a place for student, teachers, he is organizing a wonderful project.

The Nebraska  Holocaust memorial is located on the grounds
of the Nebraska State Cemetery (WYUKA)
3900 O Street Lincoln Nebraska

Read more about a new fund to offer college courses on Holocaust.

Thanksgiving Interfaith Service

It has become a joyful custom in our community to share traditions with area churches just prior to Thanksgiving. Hosted by Temple Israel, the service included choirs from five churches and Temple Israel, a handbell choir’s ringing, and shofars. The churches participating were First Christian Church, Dundee Presbyterian Church, First United Methodist Church, St. Margaret Mary Catholic Church and Underwood Hills Presbyterian Church. This year marked the first time the Islamic community joined the celebration. The Thanksgiving service theme was “One God, One Nation, One World.” The Rev. René Rodgers Jensen of First Christian Church delivered a sermon. Cantor Wendy Shermet chanted from the Torah. Text from the Koran was chanted and text from the New Testament read. Nearly 600 people attended. Canned food and cash contributions were collected for Together, Inc.

A special thank you to Sandy Passer for her willingness to chair this effort for Temple Israel. And Toby Fellman and Sheila Tomps, we couldn't pull off an event like this without you!

The service was followed by a dessert reception sponsored by all the congregations.

Dr. Syed Mohiuddin, President of The American Institute of Islamic Studies and Culture and Rabbi Aryeh Azriel, Temple Israel at the Thanksgiving celebration.