{"id":7663,"date":"2006-09-10T12:55:04","date_gmt":"2006-09-10T16:55:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wtb.org\/?p=7663"},"modified":"2018-12-31T10:06:37","modified_gmt":"2018-12-31T14:06:37","slug":"confluence-of-holy-days","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wtb.org\/?p=7663","title":{"rendered":"Confluence of Holy Days"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Compassion and\nConfluence<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

President Jan Garman\nasked for a moment of remembrance for those who died five years ago on\nSeptember 11, 2001. She went on to remind us that out of the tragedy of the\n9\/11 attack, WTB was born, evidence that good can come out of bad and that compassion\ncan heal deep wounds. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gay Montague urged us to\nbe aware of the gift of compassion. After the devastation of 9\/11, compassion\nfilled the streets of New York City and spread across the country and the\nworld. Out of that darkness came light when Danya and Betsy created a bridge to\nshare compassion with one another. Gay asked that each of us recall one\ninstance when we offered or received compassion, or felt its lack, and share\nthat memory with someone sitting near us. After this sharing, Gay reminded us\nthat compassion is what connects us here in this room, and we need to share\nthat with the larger world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Joan Burstyn called our\nattention to a new book, The Tent of Abraham:\nStories of Hope and Peace for Jews, Christians, and Muslims<\/em>,\npublished by Beacon Press. The three authors (a Christian, a Muslim and a Jew)\nuse Abraham\u2019s tent, which opens in four directions, as a symbol of an\nall-inclusive approach to religion. The authors\u2019 goal is to create a way to\ndeepen understanding among Muslims, Christians and Jews by speaking to the\nheart and the spirit about questions of profound spiritual, emotional and\nreligious significance. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Joan reminded us that after next year, the confluence of Ramadan and the Jewish holy days will not occur again for 30 years. She also noted that during this season, holy days are being celebrated in Bah\u00e1’\u00ed, Christian, Hindu, Native American, and other religions. The coming together of these holy days on the calendar should have significance in our lives, so Joan asked us to share with one another how our own faith traditions are related to compassion, to an awareness of others in our communities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Islam\u2014Farah Haq<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

When Farah <\/em>was a child, Ramadan meant only fasting, hunger and thirst.\nAs an adult she sees it as purifying her behavior. She fasts not only from\nfood, but also from bad language, from wasting time, from argument, from love\nof money. Charity is required of every Muslim during this time, but the Arabic\nword for charity actually means purification, as love of money is corrupting\nand decreases our love for others. Farah sees Ramadan as preparation for a\nspiritual marathon: she gets in shape, becomes a better person, and proves herself\nin different ways by correcting herself and by atoning, worshiping, praying,\nand asking for guidance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Judaism\u2014Ann\nEppinger Port<\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ann explained that the\nholy month of Tishrei, the seventh month in the Hebrew calendar, begins with\nthe holiday of Rosh Hashanah. Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur bracket ten days of\natonement, when one makes amends for any unkindnesses of the past year. It is a\ntime for introspection, looking back at mistakes and making resolutions to\nchange. Tradition says that on Rosh Hashanah, God writes in the Book of Life\nthe names of those who will live and those who will die, and how they will die,\nduring the coming year. A person then has the next ten days to try to influence\nGod\u2019s decision in a positive way through repentance, prayer and good deeds and\nthrough fasting on Yom Kippur, so that when Yom Kippur ends and the Book of\nLife is closed and the person\u2019s fate is sealed, the outcome for the next year\nwill hopefully be a positive one. Sukkot, celebrated four days after Yom\nKippur, is a joyous agricultural festival, celebrated in a temporary hut,\ncalled a sukkah, that is decorated with crops from the harvest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A week later, Simchat\nTorah marks the completion of the annual cycle of Torah reading. During the\ncourse of the year, the entire Torah (the five books of Moses) is read, in\nportions, from beginning to end, and as each portion is read, the Torah scroll\nis wound forward to the next portion. On Simchat Torah, the last Torah portion\nis read, and then, amid singing, dancing and celebration, the scroll is rewound\nto the first chapter and begun anew, symbolizing a never-ending cycle that has\nno beginning and no end.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ann explained that during\nthe single month of Tishrei, these holidays take people into the spiritual\nrealm through prayer, repentance and direct communication with God, yet they also\nroot people firmly to the earth through both physical abstinence (fasting) and\nphysical bounties (celebration of the harvest).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hindu\u2014Smita Rane<\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Smita talked about her\ncelebration of Diwali, the Festival of Lights. As a child, she saw it as being\na time of special foods, new clothes, visiting, and competition among neighbors\nfor the best decorations. As an adult, she sees it as a time to share good\nfortune. She donates food and invites homesick, international college students\nto share her holiday meals. Lord Ganesha, the source of all gifts, sits under\nher Christmas tree. As a child in India, she was able to share in many celebrations\nof other religions; now she is fortunate to share her celebration with WTB, her\nnew family.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Native American\u2014Sandy\nBigtree<\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sandy, a Mohawk woman, spoke of the connection that\ntraditional peoples feel to the land. They do not pray but rather give thanks\nfor the Creator\u2019s blessings. They have gratitude for the water and for all of\nlife. The equinox is important. Sandy gave us information about an event on\nTuesday, September 19, that will feature speakers Jane Goodall, Oren Lyons, Tom\nPorter, Michael Johnson, Wendy Gonyea, Robin Kimmerer, Andy Mager, and Denise\nWaterman and that will include food, artisans, music and dancing. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bah\u00e1’\u00ed\u2014Sabra Reichardt<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sabra spoke about the Bah\u00e1’\u00ed celebration of the birth of the B\u00e1b, a prophet in the line of Muhammad. The B\u00e1b recognized the enormous spiritual strength of the Native Americans. He stressed the unity of all mankind, teaching that we all are the leaves of one tree, the waves of one ocean, the flowers of one meadow.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Buddhism\u2014Bonnie\nShoultz<\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bonnie told us that the Dalai\nLama will speak in Buffalo on September 19 and then in New York City. Bonnie teaches\nmeditation at the Justice Center, and she related the story of a woman she met there.\nThis inmate had studied Buddhism as a teenager and remembered that the Dalai\nLama encourages individuals to practice the faith they were born into because\nall religions lead to the same end and inspire the same compassion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Protestantism\u2014Jan\nGarman<\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jan said that World\nCommunion Sunday, which is not a major holiday, commemorates the Last Supper, a\ntime when Christians remember that Jesus was about love, compassion, and reconciliation.\nOn World Communion Sunday, all branches of Christianity celebrate a practice\nthat unites them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sharing<\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Joan asked us to share\nwhat the confluence means to each of us personally, and how we apply its\nmeaning to the problems and opportunities of our own time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kathy Mezzo reminisced\nabout friends celebrating both Christmas and Hanukkah when these holidays fell\non the same day last year. They shared Kathy\u2019s Christmas tree and her friend\nHelene\u2019s menorah candles and prayers. At the Franciscan convent, Buddhist\nfriends helped her through a difficult time and enhanced her own Catholic\nfaith. She explained that Saint Francis stood for simplicity and peace. He\nwanted to return to the word of God in a world and church that had become\nincreasingly corrupt. He stressed connection with nature and compassion for the\nrest of the world (instead of a self-centered, narrow view). He stressed\nfocusing on now, not on what was done by whom in the past. We need to follow\nhis example in order to speak soul to soul.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Joan added that St.\nFrancis\u2019s compassion extended to the community and the natural world. He is a\nmodel for the world today to counteract the destruction of the environment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Joi spoke about the\nequinox, celebrated by spiritualists. What she found particularly interesting in\ntoday\u2019s program was the relation of the equinox to the holy days of Judaism. In\nboth traditions, gratitude for the harvest is being expressed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Peggy Thompson was\npleased that the upcoming Al Gore lecture sold out so quickly. She finds it wonderful\nthat young people want to attend. They care for the planet and the environment.\nTheir interest is a sign of optimism for the future, and she hopes that we and\nthey will make a commitment to carry out the necessary changes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Magda Bayoumi said that although\nwe all are children of God, He did not make all of us the same. He made us Jews,\nChristians, Muslims, or members of other faiths, and He wants us to get along\nwith each other, to become enriched through our interactions with each other,\nto grow up and be part of each other\u2019s lives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Janet Donoghue distributed\ninformation about Deepak Chopra\u2019s Alliance for a New Humanity, formed to\naddress issues of poverty, injustice, war and hatred. Deepak Chopra lists seven\nprinciples that can be implemented alone or by groups. Just as there are cells\nof terrorists, there can be cells of peacemakers. He says the world is as we\nare; to change the world and therefore the course of history, we must go within\nand change ourselves. Janet would be happy to hear from anyone who wants to\njoin her in such a cell.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Betsy Wiggins had looked\nup confluence<\/em> in the dictionary and found\nthat it refers to a series of things coming together. WTB itself is a\nconfluence of women of different ethnicities, beliefs, ages, and walks of life\ncoming together, and we are already making a difference in the way we reach\nout, in the way we educate each other. Betsy said she is regularly asked, What\nis WTB\u2019s secret? She said that the secret is us. We have a synergy not found\nelsewhere, a synergy that comes from within. She thanked all of us for our part\nin WTB and for the messages we take to our friends and workplaces, and she looks\nforward to eventual expansion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ann referred to the Tent\nof Abraham website, which offers ideas about how groups of people can celebrate\nthe confluence. A suggestion that Council members have been discussing is a walk\nthat would stop at a mosque, a synagogue, and a church and that would include\neveryone: men and children as well as women. Magda pointed out that children from\nthe masjid already visit other congregations and love it. Danya Wellmon suggested\nhaving this event at the end of October, but additional suggestions will be\naccepted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Danya reported that our\nteen group now has 25 girls and has expanded to North Syracuse, Liverpool and\nCicero. Joan talked about intergenerational learning among Native Americans, in\nwhich teens are matched up with octogenarians, and other age groups are similarly\nmatched up with each other. It would be wonderful if we could meet with this\nteen group and get their input on what we should do.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Smita said that international\nstudents, with whom she works at Syracuse University, frequently find adjustment\ndifficult. When asked why they do not mix with American students, they respond\nthat there are cultural differences and that Americans do not understand their\naccented English. She asked that we initiate conversation with international\nstudents whenever and wherever we meet them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gay concluded our\ndiscussion by asking us to stand in a circle. Women took turns reading 12 prayers\nrepresenting the diversity of religions. Then we closed up our circle with interwoven\narms and connected hearts.
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We learned about the unusual confluence in October this year of holy days in Judaism, Islam, Christianity, Hinduism, Bah\u00e1’\u00ed, and other traditions.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":7667,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[30,21,15,22,42,16,17,34],"class_list":["post-7663","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-programs","tag-bahai","tag-buddhism","tag-christianity","tag-hinduism","tag-holy-days","tag-islam","tag-judaism","tag-native-american",""],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wtb.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7663","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wtb.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wtb.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wtb.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wtb.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7663"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/wtb.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7663\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9004,"href":"https:\/\/wtb.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7663\/revisions\/9004"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wtb.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/7667"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wtb.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7663"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wtb.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7663"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wtb.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7663"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}