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3-Day Summer Immersion, Abrahamic Manhattan!
June 5, 2012
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Greetings!
Imagine walking the streets of New York City! But instead of beaten tourists paths, you are entering its real and pulsing religious life sideways. You are immersed in authentic, colorful, and welcoming spiritual communities with some of the city's most profound guides and teachers. No amount of classroom learning can compare to an authentic immersion experience and no place on earth is quite like New York City. The experiences, communities, and spaces here exemplify the city and world's rich and vibrant religious traditions and spiritual practices. For the vast majority of people in the world, New York City has a "visit at least once in a lifetime" status, making it a postmodern pilgrimage destination. We want to get to know you, your story, and your hopes. So come to New York for Abrahamic Manhattan, a 3-Day Immersion this July! This will not be one of those tourist packages where one is only brought close enough to take pictures, but a journey off the beaten paths, behind the appearances, and into authentic experiences and relationships. |
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Abrahamic Manhattan! 3-Day Immersion
Wed-Fri, July 25-27, 2012
Join our first 3-Day Faith House Immersion this summer! Abrahamic Manhattan will include visits to three different Muslim, Jewish and Christian communities in Manhattan, providing a rich sampling of Abrahamic diversity in NYC.
We at Faith House have worked for 4 years to discover the treasures that this most-religiously-diverse city on the planet hides and have developed relationships to be able to take you through 3 days of prayer, insight, surprises, music, dance, food, and friends that can only come to those willing to experience their neighbors' faith. Or, you can just be present, and hold back, ask difficult questions, or offer the wisdom and experience that you bring. Either way, that song, that scent, that conversation will renew your life like a breeze of fresh air or like a strong wind, and you will find your own faith deepened.
Schedule
Wednesday - Start at 3 PM Dynamic opening with guides, Samir Selmanovic and Bowie Snodgrass: grounding, challenge, survival tips, meeting other sojourners, and first dive!
Thursday - Wall Street and Downtown A day full of heart shifting and mind-bending experiences: "Ways We Worship: Jewish Practice" encounter at the Eldridge Street Synagogue, religious locations near the World Trade Center, and a late-night Ramadan Zikr at Nur Ashki Jerrahi Sufi Order!
Friday - Upper West Side and Harlem Breakfast at Samir's, Jooma Prayers in Harlem, visit an Upper West Side synagogue and conversation with a leading Rabbi, experience the largest cathedral in the USA, St. John Divine, then a paradigm shifting experience of Shabbat with Romemu, a Jewish Renewal Community! (End at 10pm)
Cost - $280
The registration fee covers meals and refreshments, contributions to the communities we will visit, and organizing overhead. Hotel deals for participants for Wednesday through Friday nights will be available. Participants will be responsible for transportation, a metro card, and lodging. We are working on arranging hotels for less than $150/night. Meals include: three dinners, two breakfasts, and two lunches, plus snacks, reflecting the diversity of food in Manhattan, including Kosher, Middle Eastern, and other ethnic cuisines.
Apply Online - Only 15 Spots!
If you are interested, please fill out this short online application. Applications will be considered as received and your spot will be secured with full payment.
Interested, but can't make this trip? Let us know, and we'll keep you up to date about future opportunities.
Guides
Samir Selmanovic, founder of Faith House Manhattan, is a visionary of religious pluralism, focuses on the multi-layered concept of "the other," leading engagement on issues from the Ground Zero Mosque to Occupy Wall Street. Bowie Snodgrass has a strong history in organizing for the Episcopal Church, and has developed relationships with religious leaders around the city. Over the past four years, Selmanovic and Snodgrass have organized more than 100 experiential interfaith events in New York City, partnering with local religious leaders and communities to create "Living Room" gatherings, field trips, service opportunities, and special events.
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Living Room
The Sikh Way: What is higher than Truth? plus music with Sonny Singh & Arooj Aftab
 Wednesday, June 13 Program 7-8:30 PM * Music Set at 9 PM Charlotte's Place 107 Greenwich Street, between Rector & Carlisle St Donations accepted online or at event.
Dr. Balbinder Bhogal, who holds the Chair in Sikh Studies at Hofstra University, will give a presentation introducing various facets of the Sikh Way. These include the importance of genre: music, song, poetry; a textual reading and exegesis of the opening mantra and verse of the Sikh Scripture (the Guru Granth Sahib); the question of how to not only hear the voice of the other but learn from it; and finally, the model of inter-religious dialogue present within the Guru Granth Sahib will be explored. If God/Truth has multiple voices, then is hearing more than one essential for one's maturity as a human being? The evening will also include discussion, music by Sonny Singh and Arooj Aftab, and Bhrigu Sahni, plus reflections from Tony Blair Faith Foundation Faith Acts Fellows, Hannah Shirey and Nomi Teutsch, who are working at United Sikhs this year.
* Sonny Singh, Arooj Aftab, and Bhrigu Sahni will play a set of Sufi music after the Living Room, at 9 pm.
Dr. Balbinder Bhogal joined Hofstra University in the Fall of 2007. Previously he has been a professor at University of Derby, England (1997-2002), James Madison University, Virginia (2002-3) and York University, Toronto (2003-7). His primary research interests are South Asian Religions and Cultures specializing in the Sikh tradition, particularly the Guru Granth Sahib, its philosophy and exegesis.
Sonny Singh is a trumpet player, dhol player and vocalist, educator/activist, and writer based in Brooklyn, New York. Currently, Sonny fires up thousands around the tri-state area and nationally playing trumpet and singing in the 9-piece bhangra funk band, Red Baraat, the first and only dhol n' brass band in the US. Since moving to NYC in 2003, Sonny has worked in the labor movement and as a Community Organizer at the Sikh Coalition.
Arooj Aftab innovates off classical Pakistani, Sufi & pre-partition South Asian music, creating original compositions honoring ancestral roots,for a sound that is fresh, graceful, and musically complex. Originally from Lahore, Pakistan, Arooj moved to the U.S. in 2005 to study at Berklee College of Music. Now based in New York, Arooj is working as a fulltime performing artist, music composer and sound editor.
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In faith,
Samir Selmanovic, Founder & Director for Strategic Planning and Community Engagement
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Help us put in motion something unique, effective, and empowering.
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Maybe you will be able to join us for an immersion, or maybe you will make it possible for others who are agents of change in their context to experience something that can transform them forever.
Please contribute
this June, online
or send a check to:
Faith House Manhattan
P.O. Box 552
New York, NY 10028
Thank you for instigating change!
Thank you for your support!
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Chris Fici
The Journey of a Faith House Monk
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