FAITH HOUSE Manhattan

Park51 Fast-a-Thon

*Due to inclement weather, this event has been postponed to Monday, August 29th.*

 

Park51 invites you to help fight hunger and raise awareness by participating in their Fast-A-Thon. People of all faiths are invited to come and fast, while sharing ideas and strengthening diversity.

 

Samir Selmanovic is speaking, St. Francis Xavier is the church that hosts our annual Interfaith Seder, and all of Faith House is invited! 

 

What: Fast-A-Thon and Interfaith Iftar   How: Fast from dawn to dusk - and come for a free dinner that evening!   When: August 28, 2011 - dinner at 7:35pm sharp   Where: 51 Park Place New York, NY 10007  

To RSVP, please fill out a pledge form 

 

LIVING ROOM Cooking with Consciousness: A Hindu Perspective on a Vegetarian Diet

Wednesday,  May 25, 2011

   

6 pm Doors, 7 pm Program

 

Intersections, 274 5th Ave

Btwn 29th and 30th Sts

 

With Gadadhara Pandit Dasa

Hindu Monk & Chaplain at Columbia University and NYU

 

"Vegetarian food leaves a deep impression on our nature. If the whole world adopts vegetarianism, it can change the destiny of humankind." ~ Albert Einstein

 

When Pandit started as Hindu Chaplain at Columbia eight years ago, he helped launch a Bhakti Yoga club and teach a vegetarian cooking class. In a relatively short time, regular attendance at the weekly cooking classes grew to over 100 students per session. As students became fans of the vegetarian feasts, their curiosity about the traditions and philosophy of India also increased.

 

Faith House invites you all to an evening of meditation, chanting, teaching, conversation and of course cooking and eating with Pandit.  Learn about the connections between the Hindu tradition, vegetarianism, and mindfulness.  Plus you'll learn to cook a dish or two and then have a chance to try them!

 

Gadadhara Pandit Dasa was born in Kanpur, India in 1972, grew up in L.A. and abroad, and moved to New York City in 1995. Desiring further progress in his spiritual life, Pandit spent six months in Mumbai, India receiving monastic training, after which he decided to continue his commitment to monastic life at the ISKCON Bhaktivedanta Ashram in New York, where he has been residing since. He became a disciple of the Vaisnava tradition in 2001, a monotheistic tradition with its roots in ancient India, and received his brahminical (priestly) initiation, in 2002.

 

In 2001, Pandit began his campus ministry efforts in colleges in the New York area, including Queens College, SUNY Albany, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and most recently Columbia University where he now focuses most of his efforts. As a chaplain with the United Campus Ministry at Columbia, he provides representation for the Hindu community and participates in interfaith dialogues on campus. In October 2008, he became New York University's Hindu Chaplain.

 

In the Fall of 2003, Pandit taught an accredited course on the Bhagavad Gita at SUNY Albany. At the same time, he was accepted as a "visiting scholar" at the Center for the Study of Science and Religion (CSSR) at Columbia University.

 

RSVPs welcome on EventBrite. Check out the event on Facebook.

3rd Interfaith Seder Tweets & Photos

Live Tweets from the 3rd Annual Interfaith Seder on Sunday, April 17th by @SamirSelmanovic with Photos by Sean McGinn.  Check out full photo set. 

Exploring meaning of freedom at 3rd Faith House Passover Seder at progressive St. Francis Xavier Roman Catholic church, more than 200 of us!

To dance or to cry? Jews know music and will keep us tonight in this dilemma of life until we burst into both!

Rabbi David Ingber evokes the meaning of Palm Sunday and affirms Rebbe Jesus as a holy teacher of freedom.

  Biblical concept of hope where humans must act to have freedom has been supplanted by passive notion of optimism.

We are born with gift off freedom inside of us. When world oppresses us there is a way back to who we are: 15 Passover steps back to freedom

Time is not cyclical but open. Future is unknown and dependent on human action. Freedom starts with freedom of time.

Close your eyes, imagine you are in total and cold dark. You are going to pieces, there is no hope. You are a slave.

On your lips there is salt from tears of your enslavement. We dip green leaves into salty water recognizing that new shoots of life do come.

  Hebrew word for bread is the same word for brokenness. Hasidic masters say that we cannot live without either of them.

We won't be fooled by movements which free only some of us & in which our so-called "freedom" rests upon enslavement or embitterment of others

Slaves just say 'it is what it is.' The most insidious form of slavery is when we stop asking questions.

Questions are beginning of freedom, like 'why are rich getting richer and poor getting poorer,'

Hebrew word Egypt means ‘narrow place.’ In Jewish mystical tradition narrow place of throat is a holder of bondage. Speech brings redemption.

  Two women saving baby Moses by subverting the edict is the 1st historical record of civil disobedience. From then on human story shifts from might to right

“God help us dream new paths to freedom so that the next sea-opening is not also a drowning, so that our singing is never again their wailing”

Wow, the whole crowd of Jews, Christians, Muslims is bursting into singing, clapping with raised hands singing Dayenu (Enough)!

Breaking of Matzah bread is like breaking the tablets of the law. No absolute can withstand, all are idols. No religion or system has arrived

Here is a pic, 250 of us singing at the end of Passover Seder on Palm Sunday! Heavenly.  yfrog.com/h7yuiylj

Rabbi David finishes with quoting St Augustine, freedom of finding ones rest in who we are made for and with New Testament and Rumi. G'night

The Ethical Kosher Seal: An Evening with Ari Hart of Uri L'Tzedek

Wednesday,  May 11, 2011

6 pm Doors, 7 pm Program

Intersections, 274 5th Ave
Btwn 29th and 30th Sts

With Ari Hart, Co-Founder of Uri L'Tzedek

Join us for an evening with text studies, eating rituals, and a rousing discussion of food ethics as it relates to food certification. In this Living Room, Ari Hart, a co-founder of Uri L’Tzedek, will delve into the inspiration behind Uri L'Tzedek's formation in 2007. This journey begins with the charges against kosher agriprocessors in Postville, Iowa, eventually leading to a particular organizational focus on food justice.

The abuse and exploitation of workers in fields, kitchens, and slaughterhouses across North America where kosher food is prepared alarmed Ari and his colleagues. These injustices needed to be addressed by the Jewish community as consumers of kosher food. Thus, in May 2009, Uri L’Tzedek launched the Tav HaYosher, an ethical seal for kosher restaurants that ensures workers’ rights. As of March 2011, over seventy-five kosher eating establishments throughout North America have been awarded the Tav HaYosher, securing the rights of close to a thousand workers.

Uri L’Tzedek is an Orthodox social justice organization guided by Torah values and dedicated to combating suffering and oppression. Through community-based education, leadership development, and action, Uri L’Tzedek creates discourse, inspires leaders, and empowers the Jewish community towards creating a more just world. In the last three years, Uri L’Tzedek has directly reached over 15,000 individuals in the 175 programs that it has sponsored or co-sponsored nationwide. This number includes programming at over thirty universities, impacting an estimated third of all American Orthodox university students.

For a full list of food establishments certified by the Tav HaYosher, click here.
Find this event on Facebook and MeetUp. RSVP on EventBrite,

LIVING ROOM Sharing the Meal: Early Christian Communion in a Modern Manhattan Community

Wednesday, March 24, 2009
* rescheduled from Feb 10th

6 pm Doors, 7 pm Program

Intersections, 274 5th Ave
Btwn 29th and 30th Sts

With Emily Scott & St. Lydia's

In the earliest days of the Christian Church, Jesus' followers gathered for worship in domestic settings, blessing and breaking bread, sharing food and fellowship, and singing and praying together.  Worship took place in the context of the meal that was shared: a ritual that eventually evolved into the Eucharist.  

Experience this early Christian Communion as practiced by a modern community.  Emily Scott, pastoral minister at St. Lydia's in the East Village will speak about early Christian worship, and give the Faith House community a taste of how the congregation of St. Lydia's lives into this ancient ritual. Simple songs will be sung, scripture explored, and prayers offered in the context of "dinner church."

PLEASE BRING fresh cut fruit or veggies, olives, cheese or dips

Emily M D Scott is the founder and pastoral minister of St. Lydia's, a new congregation in Manhattan that meets weekly to share a sacred meal. Emily is a liturgist and musician with a particular interest in how worship might allow diverse groups of people to pray and praise God together.  She currently serves as Director of Family Music Ministries at the First Presbyterian Church in the City of New York. From 2007-2009, she served as the Director of Worship at The Riverside Church in New York City. She attended Yale Divinity School and the Institute of Sacred Music, where she earned her Masters of Divinity.

Emily is the New Music Project Coordinator at St. Gregory of Nyssa Episcopal Church in San Francisco.  Begun in 2005, the New Music Project is an association of church musicians and clergy from around the country dedicated to promoting "paperless" music - music that can be taught and sung by without written music - in a congregational setting.  As part of this project, Emily oversaw the publication of a new hymnal released by Church Publishing, Music by Heart: paperless songs for evening worship.

RSVPs welcome, but not required on Facebook or Meetup

2nd Annual Interfaith Seder With Rabbi David Ingber at St. Francis Xavier Church

Sunday, March 28, 2010

6:30 - 9 PM

Hurtado Hall
St. Francis Xavier Church
55 West 15th Street
Between 5th and 6th Avenues

Voluntary donations welcome

The Passover Seder is a ritualized meal commemorating the Exodus. This annual journey from slavery and bondage to freedom was also the setting of Jesus' Last Supper. This Seder is hosted by St. Francis Xavier Church, Faith House Manhattan, & Romemu for people of all faiths and no faith at all.  

RSVP required by Wednesday, March 24 to [email protected] or [email protected]

Serve Together: In the Spirit of the Purim Holiday

Sunday, February 28, 2010

1:45-3 PM

Masbia Kosher Soup Kitchen
Brooklyn (RSVP for address;
Masbia has multiple locations)

It is a commandment on the holiday of Purim to give gifts of food to friends, family and those in need in order to insure that everyone has food with which to have a holiday meal.  For our Serve Together this month we will be collecting uncut fruit at our Purim Living Room on February 24, 2010 that will be delivered to a Masbia Kosher soup kitchen in Brooklyn on Sunday February 28, 2010.  We will also partake in a meal at the soup kitchen for a donation.  This is a great way for the soup kitchen to raise funds, spread awareness, and further normalize the restaurant environment they seek to create.  I hope you will join us on Sunday to deliver the package and share in a late lunch.  We will be at the Soup Kitchen, which is located in Brooklyn, from around 1:45-3:00. 

Please RSVP to Bara at [email protected] if you are interested in attending.  Upon RSVP, all location details will be provided.  Even if you can not attend on Sunday, please remember to bring a donation of uncut fruit to the Purim Living Room.  Thank you.

Chag Purim Sameach (Have a happy Purim)

Bara

LIVING ROOM Deconstructed Pre-Christmas Rummage Sale 12/9

Wednesday, December 9

7 to 9 PM
Drop by for 10 minutes
or stay the whole time!

Intersections, 274 5th Ave
Btwn 29th and 30th Sts

"Sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me." 
~ Jesus (Luke 18:22)
 
Looking for good deals for Christmas? 

Come rummage through piles of clothes, books, household items and lots of miscellany.  No cover charge.  Most items are pay as you can; some items will be available for auction.  Antiques and original "Metrocard Man" items for sale too.  Proceeds to support Faith House Manhattan's 2010 operating expenses.  Bring your loose change!  All coins will be given to the Salvation Army.  
 
Jesus had a lot to say about money and the stuff we hang on to.  He praised the widow who gave her last pennies to the temple.  He told us to render unto God that which is God's. He reminds us of how God clothes the lilies of the field, even Solomon in all his splendor was not clothed so well.
 
We'll also have holiday snacks, skits, crafts for kids, and interactive stations where you can rummage through piles of sacred texts and take those you like, write down your own thoughts about stuff, give change for the Salvation Army, ring a bell for others to donate, and more.  Plus time to spend time with the wonderful interfaith community of Faith House people. 

RSVPs welcome, but not required, to [email protected], on Facebook or Meetup.

DE-CLUTTERING Donations for Rummage Sale

This year, give away possessions that clutter your life.  Things you don't use, or have outgrown, or have become baggage.  Not trash, but treasures you are ready to part with. Email Bowie if you would like to donate clothes, household items, books, art, etc. or if you would like to come to a "sorting party" on from 5-8 pm on Sunday, November 29th.  You can also bring donations to the 11/25 Living Room or on December 9, from 6-7 PM. "For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven... a time to keep, and a time to throw away"  Ecclesiastes 3:1,6

Photos from Yardsale Bloodbath Blog