This calendar provides a listing of Ahavat Olam and wider community events, classes, and other happenings of interest.
Register online via Gifttool:
http://www.gifttool.com/registrar/ShowEventDetails?ID=51&EID=5864
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Click here for poster
Kids Club 2009-10 Registration Form (MS Word document) |
Proceeds from the sale of these posters are contributed to our Feed the Hungry project every month a committed group of Jews and Muslims comes together to prepare and to serve a nutritious meal to over one hundred homeless people in the downtown eastside.
Posters are available for $5 each or $50 per dozen.
Non-profit organizations and faith groups are encouraged to display a (free) copy of the poster in their meeting-places and to make copies of the poster available to their members.
If you would like a poster, please phone Maggy Kaplan, 604-736-0877 or Maggyk[AT]telus.net, or Philip Be'er, 604-708-1649 or Philip[AT]beernecessities.org.
Click here to view the poster. (It may take a minute to load, but it's worth the wait.)
Rabbi Dina-Hasida Mercy's interpretive translation of
Ve-Hayah Im Shamo’a (If You Listen) (Deut. 11:13-21),
as it appears on the poster:
If you listen, really listen to the words of teaching that I give you this day:
That is: to love God and serve God wholeheartedly,
Then the difficulties of this life will seem less harsh, because God's presence will guide you.
Be careful not to think that your accomplishments are yours alone,
rather remember that it is God's grace that empowers you.
Know that you are part of the cycles of this life,
that what you do will come back to you:
That if you do not love yourself, the world will appear loveless
That if you do not respect the godliness in others, God's presence will not be apparent to you;
That if you do not recognize God as the source of your strength, your strength may sometimes fail you;
That if you put toxins into your air, earth, and water,
they will reappear as poisons in your food.
Remember that these consequences result from losing touch with your God,
therefore you must concentrate on keeping God ever present in your life.
One way that you can do this is by keeping that God-connection close, close to your heart and to your eyes,
so that you experience the world from a place of holiness.
Put symbols of holiness on your hands, in order to remember that your hands do good work, that is God's work.
See God reflected in all the doings and beings of your life.
See God reflected in your children and teach them this way of living.
Work hard on this connectedness,
knowing that it will not be easy,
but knowing that it could give you peace of mind.
Then with God's help may you live contentedly here, on this planet which God gives you,
for as long as the heavens are above the earth.
English text by Rabbi Dina-Hasida Mercy used with permission. Check out her website:. http://www.rabbi-mercy.com/
Photo: “The Blue Marble from Apollo 17” (http://visibleearth.nasa.gov/view_rec.php?id=1597)
Published by Ahavat Olam Synagogue
Please read below a lovely message from our sister Ozlem, who is one of our dedicated volunteers for Feed the Hungry—Melanie
There is a beloved character in Turkish folklore named Nasreddin Hodja.
You may have heard of him. He is a character known to many others in the Middle East region. His playful stories are often cited in the Sufi tradition for their educative influence, as the Hodja ("learned man") often falls "bass-ackwards" into wisdom.
One story in particular that I've been thinking about is the parable of the river: One day, Nasreddin Hodja was sitting on a river bank when someone shouted to him from the other bank: "Hodja, how do I get across?" The Hodja shouted back, "you are already there!"
This parable is about perspective.
Over the past few months as I have worked with the Feed the Hungry group coordinated by a dedicated group of friends from Ahavat Olam I have been learning about perspective.
A core ideal in Sufism, and in many mystical traditions, is the recognition that every individual being in the universe reflects and carries the beauty and the wisdom of the Creator.
When we shift the bank from which we view our universe and our world, a magical thing happens. Our understanding of the world, and the individuals in it also shifts. And as our understanding shifts and changes, we demand and work for concrete changes in that world.
Today, as I watched a group of four elderly gentlemen enjoy a couple of sandwiches, coffee, cookies, and conversation—I experienced an understanding of where the other bank of the river was, my perspective shifted. And the world, as I'd known it, changed.
I don't romanticize poverty for my own privileged, middle class benefits.
Rather, I believe that those of us who have privilege have a responsibility to our community. I have a responsibility to regularly practice seeing, and understanding the world from someone else's perspective. It is through this shift in perspective that I understand the need to work to improve the health of my community.
I want to thank everyone involved in the Feed the Hungry project especially our coordinators Melanie and Sandy!), and to encourage others who may have felt shy about joining us to come to the next lunch. Or if you can't come, send money, food, encouragement, love—we'll take it all!
There is no river to cross, no need to "get" connected…As the Hodja teaches us, we are already there.
Jewish Independent (formerly, Jewish Western Bulletin) Sept. 2, 2005:
Project offers food and hope
Two faiths work together to help feed the hungry in Vancouver.
BAILA LAZARUS
On a sunny Sunday morning in August, while crowds of people head to Vancouver 's beaches, a group of Jewish and Muslim volunteers are sweating away in a kitchen on the Downtown Eastside. Outside, more than 100 people, anxious for a nutritious meal, jostle for a space, not wanting to lose their place in line.
At noon , the doors to the First United Church open and members of the Muslim community of the Masjid ul-Haqq Mosque and the Jewish community of Ahavat Olam Synagogue move into action. They man tables for juice or coffee, seat people at tables and hand out plates of food and, within a matter of minutes, the program Feed the Hungry has served 100 people; more are waiting outside.
Now in its fifth month of operation, Feed the Hungry seems to run like clockwork. Once a month, about 20 volunteers, under the co-ordination of Melanie Yearow and Sandy Goldman, meet on a Sunday at 9 a.m. and prepare plates of egg salad or cheese sandwiches with fresh fruit and a brownie. Not a meal fit for a king, but at least one that will stop the grumbling stomachs for a while.
Yearow said she finds working on the Downtown Eastside "very fulfilling."
Formerly a clothing and jewelry designer, she is re-examining her life to look at ways she can contribute.
"I ran my own business for 10 years, but it wasn't fulfilling me on a spiritual level at all," said Yearow, who has worked in the fashion industry since the age of 16. She will soon be 40 and wanted to look at her priorities in life. "As I got older, I really looked at what was important. Was the mighty dollar important, or making a difference?"
The idea for Feed the Hungry came out of one of several discussion groups that began more than a year ago between members of the Masjid ul-Haqq Mosque and Congregation Ahavat Olam, along with representatives of other faiths. A small cluster of local Muslims and Jews wanted to come together to build bridges across the faiths that held mutual distrust and suspicion.
Shiraz Dindar, a Muslim, said his experience with the Muslim-Jewish group has been "incredible."
"Before I started working in the Muslim-Jewish group, I was frustrated," said the 33-year-old tech-support worker. "But now I've come to see the Jewish concerns in the Middle East , whereas before, I just felt victimized."
Yearow agreed. "We're feeding these people, which is great, we're taking care of them; but we're also building great relations with the Muslim community," she said.
Yearow added that, although providing a meal is the immediate goal of Feed the Hungry, there are other ways that clients can be helped. She hopes that talking to people about her own past could lead them in the right direction.
"If I share my story, it might not get someone into detox the next day, but maybe it will make a difference in their lives," she said. "That's why it's so special for me. It's carrying a message that there is hope."
Donations to Feed the Hungry can be made out to Ahavat Olam and mailed to Lechem Fund, c/o Ahavat Olam, Box 19569 , Vancouver , B.C., V5T 4E7. For more information or to volunteer, contact Yearow at karmicangel@ shaw.ca.
Baila Lazarus is a freelance writer, photographer and illustrator living in Vancouver.
****
200,000 women and children refugees from Darfur live in camps in Chad, across the border from Sudan. The area is devoid of vegetation. There is abundant sunshine. Basic food is supplied by relief agencies, but without sufficient firewood. Women and girls are placed in extreme jeopardy when they leave the camps to search for firewood for cooking fuel. They are often beaten, raped and branded by locals (angered by loss of their scarce firewood), by bandits and by the Sudanese supported Janjaweed militia.
Solar cooking can reduce the need for frequent firewood collection, reducing the risk of violence towards these women and girls. 2 solar cookers can save 1 ton of wood each year. There is no need to tend a fire so women are free to do other tasks. The manufacture of the solar cookers, in the refugee camp, provides income generation opportunities for female refugees.
$30 buys 2 stoves, with related supplies and training. The goal is to have 100% solar cooking for all 12 refugee camps in Chad....3 begun, 9 to go! As of March 2009, more than 30,000 cookers have been manufactured and distributed to the Iridimi and Touloum refugee camps. The newly adopted camp is Oure Cassoni, with 28,125 refugees. The Solar Cooker Project has helped build the manufacturing plant and begin to train the women to solar cook. 5000 women have been trained as of February 2009. 10,000 cookers have been manufactured and distributed. 800 women are trained each month.
The board of Ahavat Olam supports this worthy project. Since 2006, we/you have donated more than $5000. Jewish World Watch (JWW) acts as our legal proxy to ensure that our donations are appropriately used. JWW works to mobilize synagogues and communities to combat genocide and other blatant human rights violations around the world through education, advocacy, and refugee relief. JWW works with TchadSolaire, the NGO on the ground in the camps, and KoZon, a charitable organization based in the Netherlands, committed to providing women in developing countries with cheap and effective cooking alternatives. Solar Cookers International supplies the technical assistance.
This Tikkun Olam (Repairing the World) project is a wonderful way to honour a bat or bar mitvah, to celebrate birthdays and other events or to give tzedakkah in memory of loved ones.
If you would like to support this project, you can pay by cheque or make a donation online by clicking 'fundraising DONATE ONLINE' , then click on 'donate at a secure site now' . Under 'donor designation' click 'other' and enter 'Solar Cookers Project' in the comment box. If you are making this donation as a gift, in honour or in memory and would like a tribute card sent, please call Marianne at 604 874 8721 or email mariannerev@gmail.com with "Solar Cookers Project" in the subject line.
If you would like to donate by cheque, send it to the address below, indicating that the donation is for this project.
AHAVAT OLAM SYNAGOGUE
PO Box 19569
Vancouver, BC
V5T 4E7
Tax-deductible receipts will be sent before the end of each year.
For more information, go to http://www.jewishworldwatch.org