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November 22, 2004

Dear friends,

Shalom to you! With thanks to the One Source and Sustainer of All, about 100 souls gathered together on Sunday afternoon at the Shree Mahalakshmi Temple in east Vancouver to join in founding the InterSpiritual Centre of Vancouver Society. Pandit Prameya Chaitanya, priest of the temple, welcomed us all -- Jews, Christians, Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus, Sikhs, Native spiritual teachers, seekers attached to no particular tradition and those who embrace and learn from many.

Aware of the contribution that each one makes toward creating the vessel which will hold the spirit for us all, we shared prayers and blessings and formally signed the papers to apply for incorporation as a society. The connections among us were tangible as we entered this venture together.

With evening, we were all welcomed for prasad (a shared meal) by the most lovely and hospitable members of the Mahalakshmi Temple. The entire experience —the shared blessings, the spirited conversation, the smiles, hugs and delicious food —was a foretaste of an age to come, God willing. We all look forward to the tasks of the coming weeks, months and years as we act together, with God's help, to bring into reality our vision of a shared house of worship, of learning and of action. Anyone who would like to help the ISC, please let me know. We are laying the foundation of a new organization which will contribute so much to this world.

In peace,

Rabbi David Mivasair
InterSpiritual Centre of Vancouver

(604) 875-0240

Rev. David Spence, editor of the Multifaith Calendar and ISC board member:
"All the essential and necessary components of the occasion seemed to fit well together and made for a deeply joyous and jubilant gathering. I look forward now to putting other necessary elements together as the big picture takes on another manifestation of the interspiritual values and virtues of the life of the City. Blessings to each and all."

Alan Morinis, Vancouver teacher of the Jewish spiritual path of Mussar:
"In a dark and fiercely divided world, this was a gathering of hope. Hardial Singh Garcha said it well by pointing out that while religious practice can be different, when a person enters a spiritual life, then those lines become at least porous. It's a good project and I wish you much mazal and hatzlachah* with it." (* good fortune and success)

Rabbi Schachar Orenstein, Shaarey Tefilah Congregation, sent the following blessing:
May the One Who Goes by Many Names bless this InterSpritual Centre to be a source of inspiration for all of us who are learning how to inter-be. May this centre help fulfil the universal vision from over two millenia ago of our great prophet Yeshayahoo (Isaiah), who prophesied, "Baytee yikareh beyt tefilah l'khol ha'amim —My house, my home, shall be a house of prayer for all people" (56:7). May this endeavour be blessed with success. May we work together toward our greatest vision of Shalom, wholeness and peace. Please G!d. Please G!d for the sake of this beautiful planet that we call home. Ana Hashem hatzleecha na! Ana Hashem hoshe'a na!

November 11, 2004

Dear friends,

We are delighted to invite you to a very special event! Leaders of diverse religious and spiritual communities will come together on Sunday afternoon, November 21, to formally launch the InterSpiritual Centre of Vancouver. We'd love for you to be with us.

We are inspired to create a single house of worship, house of learning and house of action to be shared by a variety of religious and spiritual communities in Vancouver's Southeast False Creek neighborhood. We’ve worked wonderfully together over the past few months and succeeded in gaining great support from the Vancouver City Council and city planning staff. Now, to provide an organizational framework, we will incorporate the InterSpiritual Centre of Vancouver Society.

Please join us in a brief ceremony on Sunday, November 21, as representatives of the founding member organizations sign the application for incorporation to formally bring the InterSpiritual Centre of Vancouver into being as a legal entity.

Sunday, November 21, 3:30-5 PM

at the Shree Mahalakshmi Hindu Temple

467 East 11th Avenue, Vancouver.

The signing ceremony will be preceded by prayers and blessings and will be followed by an opportunity to mingle and meet many of the people who share this vision. The organizations committed to signing the application at this time are:

Other religious and spiritual communities are considering joining us. Any group or community which shares the vision of the InterSpiritual Centre is invited to become a member organization. If you are interested in your community joining as a founding member organization, please contact me before November 19.

Thirteen very capable community leaders have agreed to serve on the first board of the ISC. Their names are below and they'll be with us on November 21 to personally introduce themselves.

The Shree Mahalakshmi Temple has graciously offered to provide refreshments for everyone in attendance. Please RSVP by Thursday, November 18, to mivasair@aol.com so we'll have a good sense of how many refreshments to prepare.

Please share this good news and invite everyone who would like to be with us.

Shalom — Salaam — Shanti — In Peace,

Rabbi David Mivasair, for the
InterSpiritual Centre of Vancouver
( 604) 875-0240

Nominated to the first board of the InterSpiritual Centre of Vancouver:

September 19, 2004

Friends,

Our work to develop an Interspiritual Centre in Southeast False Creek which will serve as a home to Ahavat Olam as well as other congregations of other religious and spiritual communities is coming along amazingly well. Here is a brief update written by George Shindler, one of our active committee members.

— David

September 16, 2004

Michelle, Hong, George and Mark Ostry met this morning with Judy Rogers, the city manager, Larry Beasley, Director of Planning, and Bruce Maitland, Director of the City’s real estate. We got a very warm reception – they told us that they would be recommending our inclusion in the ODP* and the plan for SEFC** and that they wanted to see our vision realized. They are still unsure of where they would like us to go — there are possibilities in both the private lands, which would most probably mean working with a developer to buy commercial space, or obtaining a lot in the public lands from the city. They are trying to sort out the plan for the whole SEFC we are but one small component.

The City is supportive of trying to work together with Vanoc*** and have a facility for the Olympics – but they made the point that they are looking more at the longer term fit in the neighbourhood – the Olympic committee is not ready to have detailed discussions on these facilities yet. Judy Rogers who sits also on Vanoc’s board confirmed they were favourable. We asked what we should be doing now. They had the following suggestions:

1. We should look at our space requirements. They cautioned on undertaking too large a venture from management, capital and operational perspectives. They would like us to look at utilizing other facilities in the area ie school/ comm. Center etc.- sharing – they are very conscious that this new neighbourhood will not be auto friendly – that we not be a destination.

2. Build a strong organizational infrastructure and governance to handle the task ahead – building, developing and managing will be a complex process. Judy Rogers pointed out that the 2010 bid had their work and structure completed well before they knew if they had the games. They advised that we would have to have ourselves defined and organized to be ready to buy the land when offered.

3. They told us to get a base of funding commitments now and indicated that zoning would be in place by March 2005 and that subsequently we may need to be able to act. They also told us that they were very impressed by our level of organization and Larry said that Reb David’s presentation to council and all of the support there was one of the best and most impactful presentations he had seen in 28 years there.

The Steering group will try to meet with Mark Ostry early next week and look further at the space issue to get back to them asap. We will also try to deal soonest with establishing groups to handle organization and fund raising – pls volunteer.

Geo

——
ODP = Official Develpment Plan
** SEFC = Southeast False Creek
*** VANOC = Vancouver Olympic Committee

July 17, 2004

Dear friends,

Shalom uvracha to you! Yesterday we took a major step toward laying the foundations of a shared house of worship and Interspiritual Centre in Southeast False Creek which, im yirtseh ha-Shem*, will one day be the future home of Ahavat Olam.

The Vancouver City Council held a special session regarding the overall development plan for the integrated, sustainable urban neighborhood to be developed during the next ten years in Southeast False Creek.

I spoke at the special session, presided over by Mayor Larry Campbell and attended by nearly all the honourable members of the Council. I was accompanied by an inspiring group of leaders and lay persons from a variety of religious communities. Councilor Tim Stevenson moved that the Council instruct the city Planning Department staff to report to the Council how an interspiritual centre and shared house of worship can be designed into the overall development plan. The Council passed the motion unanimously! So, this project has moved beyond being our shared vision and now has been placed squarely into the official deliberations of the City Council and Planning Department. The way has been opened to creating a space which will be shared, God willing, by a wide variety of religious and spiritual communities in Vancouver and will serve as a centre for inspiration, learning and action for all people.

The Vancouver Sun reported this morning (p. B2) that the City Council's “plan will create an area with about 23 hectares of parkland, urban trails and an ‘interspiritual centre and shared house of worship’”. The Sun was a bit pre-mature in announcing the “plan”. For the Council to ask the Planning Department to study and report on the concept is certainly very significant progress, but the idea has not yet been officially adopted into the draft development plan. So, while we've made great progress, thank God, we still have a bit more work ahead of us before we can say that our plan will get the green light.

Yesterday in the Council meeting, I was beautifully supported by Ahavat Olam-nik Bert Schoner. Marianne Rev has been magnificent in supporting and organizing for this progress. Others who came to the Council meeting, demonstrating the breadth of support for the idea, were:

Others who wanted to come but were unable were:

I spoke to the Mayor and Council for my allotted few minutes and then asked all those who had come to support the project to stand and briefly introduce themselves. We embodied a very impressive and dramatic display of unity in diversity — from Seemi in her colorful flowing robes to Father Dennis with his black shirt and clerical collar to Imam Fode in his light blue floor-length Senegalese gown and white kufi to Hong and the Buddhist monks in their robes of various colours … an inspiring glimpse of what the world will look like when we join together as people all acknowledging and seeking faith and depth in relationship to spirit. The Councillors visibly sat up and took notice. The result is the following resolution passed unanimously by the Council:

God willing, we will continue step by step with a diverse and growing group of partners to create this sacred space where different religious and spiritual communities as well as individual seekers will come together under one common roof as a true witnessing to how we can share this Creation among all of us with respect and appreciation for each and every one.

We in Ahavat Olam can take great pride in knowing that we have been the catalyst for this inspiring development. I particularly thank the Board for embracing this vision and making it part of what Ahavat Olam is doing in this world and specifcially thank Bert and Marianne for their direct support and involvement. We'll keep you posted about further developments.

B'shalom,
David
_____
* im yirtseh ha-Shem: if God wills it