Interfaith Seder Set For March 22 At Grace Farms In New Canaan

From Grace Farms Foundation: Grace Farms Foundation and the Interfaith Council of Southwestern Connecticut invite the community to join in an Interfaith Seder led by Rabbi Joshua Hammerman of Temple Beth-El, Reverend Mark Lingle of St. Francis Episcopal Church, and Dr. Kareem Adeeb of the American Institute for Islamic and Arabic Studies. The evening will celebrate the journey of immigrants and the important role that a welcoming community plays in all of our lives, with contributions from Building One Community, a local not-for-profit organization that serves as a welcoming point of entry for newcomers from all parts of the world. The Seder will take place at Grace Farms on Thurs., Mar. 22, 6-8:30pm.

“The open design and transparent communal spaces of the River building at Grace Farms serve as an ideal place for diverse world views and religious traditions to intersect,” said Lisa Lynne Kirkpatrick, Community Initiative Director at Grace Farms Foundation. “Encouraging contemplation and dialogue across faith perspectives is at the heart of the Foundation’s Faith Initiative, and key organizations like the Yale Center for Faith & Culture and the Interfaith Council of Southwestern Connecticut have played a significant role at Grace Farms. Rabbi Hammerman’s thoughtful leadership of the Interfaith Seder provides an ideal opportunity to generate greater understanding between Jews, Christians and Muslims—with a coming together rooted in the story of the Exodus. This is a celebration that calls our attention to the migrant population and how each of the three Abrahamic faith traditions calls us all to receive the stranger with open arms.”

Rabbi Joshua Hammerman has served as spiritual leader of Temple Beth El in Stamford since 1992. He is a former president of the Interfaith Council and the author of the award-winning blog On One Foot. Among his many other accomplishments, he currently serves on the Rabbinic Leadership Council, a select group of rabbis chosen by Chancellor Arnold Eisen of the Jewish Theological Seminary (JTS). Dr. Kareem Adeeb, Imam and Founder of the American Institute for Islamic and Arabic Studies, is the current President of the Board of the Interfaith Council of Southwestern Connecticut. An engineer by profession, he is also a scholar who has lectured on religious tolerance for twenty-five years. Since 2009, he has delivered a sermon every Friday at the United Nations in New York City. Reverend Mark Lingle serves as Rector at St. Francis Episcopal Church in Stamford.

He is the Executive Director of the Interfaith Council of Southwestern Connecticut and is actively involved in interreligious activities in Stamford. Lingle, who serves on the board of Building One Community, has written that “a willingness to engage with and learn from other traditions expands and deepens the practice of our own tradition.”

One of Fairfield County’s most significant leaders and advocates for the immigrant population in the State of Connecticut, Executive Director of Building One Community Catalina Horak, will o er her remarks and share a personal narrative of one of the many constituents who benefit from their programs, which educate, employ, empower, and engage local immigrants and the community at large.

The Seder meal will be symbolic. Light refreshments will be served. Tickets are $15 per person. To register for the event, please visit here.

Image courtesy of Grace Farms Foundation