|
The Power of Ideas and Words
|
Greetings!
As we have seen over and over, ideas and words can lead to actions, whether actions that harm or actions that bless. We believe that the impact that Faith House makes is not something soft or elective -- something we can do without -- but direct and necessary. By helping people experience 'the other' and spreading ideas about the values of such encounters, we have a tremendous impact on the world around us through prevented violence, deepened compassion, the courage to speak up for the other, and attention to the acts of service. The work of Faith House is the one of amplifying the words and ideas that bring about peace, elicit generosity, and sustain interdependence. All of us together are the conveners and transformers of good will.
Without a vibrant relationship with 'the other,' our own faith will sooner or later colapse. To be a good Christian, Jew, Muslim, Hindu, or atheists one must learn to live out one's faith in a larger community and be a constructive human being in our newly networked reality. Faith House is a catalyst of ideas and words that can change the world. If you would like to do something to help create a shared environment where an ideology of respect and appreciation can have a chance to supplant the ideologies of exclusion and elimination, please help Faith House do its mission.
To finish our year end fundraising campaign we need to raise another $10-20,000 by this Saturday, January 15. We do not have institutions that dictate our values or limit our risks. For this reason, your contribution is is essential to our work in this coming year. Thank you for taking a moment right now to support the voices, ideas, and words that incite peace and thus affect our lives and communities in a very real way. 
You can read about one example of Faith House's impact beyond Manhattan in the article below about shoes we sent to a school in southwestern Indiana.
We have also included information about our upcoming Living Rooms, new Women Spirituality Circles, and a concert we are supporting called Beethoven for the Indus Valley, for Life and Renewal in Pakistan After the 2010 Floods.
|
|
|
|
LIVING ROOM GATHERING More to Food than Feeding  CANCELED TONIGHT
DUE TO SNOW
Moved to:
March 23, 2011 6 pm Doors, 7 pm Program Intersections, 274 5th Ave Btwn 29th and 30th Sts
With Samir Selmanovic
& YOU (see below)
Food has an important role in every religion. It connects us with God, the earth, our bodies, and each other. Cooking integrates the five senses. Eating stands at the connecting point of science, art, and economy.
Yet, we are part of the culture that promotes feeding instead of having a meal. Come and slow down with us. There will be no lectures. Our founder Samir Selmanovic will share his experience of growing up in a Croatian atheist family where the sacred was communicated through food. Come for stories, tasting, and friends. We will also hear food blessings from different religious traditions as included in 100 Graces: Mealtime Blessings, by Marcia and Jack Kelly, friends of Faith House Manhattan.
|
|
LIVING ROOM GATHERING
A Tu BeShevat Seder:
The Feast of Fruits from the Tree of Life
 Wednesday, January 26, 2011 6 pm Doors, 7 pm Program Intersections, 274 5th Ave Btwn 29th and 30th Sts
With mystic Maggid
Yitzhak Buxbaum and Carole Forman
Suggested Donation of $10-15 for food and drink during Seder
Tu BeShvat is the only Jewish holiday ordained by the kabbalists. At the seder we taste many fruits, drink fruit of the vine, hear mystical teachings, and meditate to soul-stirring melodies. The seder anticipates the redemption of all humanity and our return to the Garden of Eden, when we will eat fruit from the Tree of Life. This celebration of God's creation is about the redemption of the whole planet-- including animals, plants, and Nature itself. Tu BeShvat is mystical, inclusive, and "green." Its theme is One God, one humanity, one planet. On Tu BeShvat, the Jewish people hosts the whole world. And you're invited!
Yitzhak Buxbaum is a maggid (inspirational speaker and storyteller), who specializes in mysticism and hasidic tales. He teaches at synagogues and Jewish institutions throughout the U.S. and Canada, and also at churches, ashrams, mosques, temples and interfaith venues. Yitzhak founded and directs the Jewish Spirit Maggid Training Program, and is the author of ten books, including The Light and Fire of the Baal Shem Tov, Jewish Tales of Holy Women, and A Person is Like a Tree: A Source Book for Tu BeShvat.
Carole Forman is a baal mesapair ruchani- a master spiritual storyteller; a graduate of the Jewish Spirit Maggid Training Program. She has thrilled audiences of adults and of children around the U.S. and Canada. Her Soul Motion - TenuYah! workshops in creative movement bring body and spirit together. Carole is a long-time yoga teacher and a Guidess at Life Works Inc. A professional actress, she currently plays Miriam in the five-woman play In the Voices of Our Mothers.
RSVPs and donations welcome (but not required) on Eventbrite
|
|
NEW FAITH HOUSE OFFERING
Women's Spirituality Circles
Saturdays in 2011
February 5, April 2 & June 4
3-6 pm
Gathering at homes in the Bronx, Manhattan and Brooklyn
RSVP to Jill@faithhousemanhattan.org to attend or learn more
Why do women have a natural affinity to congregate? What is it that draws us together? We know it is happening... in our communities of faith, over our stoves and microwaves, in our emails and blogs! We know it is happening...at board meetings and neighborhood demonstrations, over skype and chai lattes!
We, Jill Minkoff and Ashley Curl, ask you to consider what it would be like to intentionally gather as women of multiple paths converging to share and grow spiritual, inspirational, and devotional space together.
As you consider, we warmly welcome you to join us in exploring the depths of common meal, ritual, experiential learning, and community, as we seek and nurture together an emerging collective of women of "many faiths and none" in New York City within the embrace of Faith House Manhattan.
To begin this journey, we will meet from 3-6 PM on Saturdays February 5th, April 2nd, and June 4th. Space will be limited, as we will be meeting in homes. Please RSVP your ability to attend and interest to Jill@faithhousemanhattan.org.
In the name of that which connects us
and that which makes us diverse,
Ashley and Jill
|
|
|
Mark Your Calendar
| | February - June 2011 Living Rooms |
|
Sponsor a
Living Room | 
| We are thankful to our 2010 Living Room Sponsors!
Music's Lessons for Mystics: Three songs and a talk on secular transcendence with Austin Dacey, May 2010 Co-Sponsored by the Center for Inquiry NYC
Light, Color & the Sacred: Holiday Craft Night with Andy Padre, December 8, 2010 Co-Sponsored and lovingly dedicated to the memory of Lora Padre by Andy Padre, Russell Chin and friends
Sponsor a 2011 Living Room event for $500 or Co-Sponsor for $250. To find out more, Email us or visit our Donations page.
|
Walk in Your Shoes:
A Day in the Life
of An Other | 
|
By Zac Parsons In our suburban, mostly white, mostly Christian city in southwestern Indiana, our private high school has longed for opportunities to interact with the rest of the world... We wanted to better know what it feels like to walk in the shoes of someone who follows Islam, Judaism, or Hinduism. We literally wanted to share of their soles. We asked Samir if he could help us to locate some shoes from his friends to help us to physically experience this in our classroom. Read the full post
|
|
Beethoven for the Indus Valley
A Concert
for Life and Renewal in Pakistan After the 2010 Floods
|  |
Faith House Manhattan is proud to support this humanitarian concert at Carnegie Hall on Monday, January 31 at 8 PM. Learn more about the cause and how to get tickets on the concert website
|
|
|
