Come join us this Sunday, June 13th at Jaferia Islamic Center for our monthly Dialouge session. The session starts at 2:30 PM.
We will be returning to the topic of God. The dialogue, our final substantive dialogue of the summer will be held at the Idara J aferia Islamic Center, 3140 Spencerville Rd., Burtonsville, MD 20866. On the panel for this session, which is entitled “God: Names, Attributes, Conceptions,” will be four leaders of our communities: Imam Mohamed Abdullahi, Imam of the Muslim Community Center, Rabbi Leila Gal Berner, Rabbi of Congregation Kol Ami, Rabbi Sunny Schnitzer, Rabbi of the Bethesda J ewish Congregation, and Hytham Younis, Interfaith Coordinator of the Islamic Center of Maryland.
Finally, at 7:00 p.m. on Saturday, April 24th, at City Place Theatre One in the City Place Mall, 8661 Colesville Rd. , Silver Spring, MD 20910, “Out of Cardoba: Averroes and Maimonides in Their Time and Ours” will be premiered. JIDS will be co-sponsoring this feature-length documentary and all of you are strongly encouraged to attend this premiere showing. According to the official summary for the film, it is about “ Jews and Muslims struggling for social justice and confronting the rise of religious extremism in both of their communities. These contemporary people of faith – in part inspired by two medieval “wise men” from Cordoba , Spain , a Muslim and a Jew – are promoting the values of democracy and tolerance on the frontlines of the often-violent clashes that have come to define our new century. Out of Cordoba tells the story of the film’s director, Jacob Bender, an American Jew, who, responding to the challenge that the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001 have posed to his belief in interfaith reconciliation, undertakes a journey around the Mediterranean, visiting Spain, Morocco, France, Italy, Egypt, Palestine and Israel.”
Since 1992, hundreds of single-family homes have been repaired as part of this program. This project involves serious home repairs for lower-income families in our community, many of whom are elderly or disabled. The projects are in Washington , DC , MontgomeryCounty , Northern Virginia and HowardCounty . Sukkot in Spring is now the largest home repair program sponsored by the J ewish community in the nation. This year, Sukkot in Spring will take place on Sunday, April 25th. If you want more info about this program, go to http://www.yachad-dc.org/sukkotinspring.php
Normally, the cost for participating in this project is $2,500 per group. But the coordinators of this program is saying that up to 10 J IDS members can participate for a price of $500 (the funds are needed to pay for the costs of the home repair, which as we all know can be VERY expensive).
So here’s the question. Are any of you interested in participating? Or more specifically, are any of you interested in working on this project and paying $50 (or more) to contribute to the $500 J IDS needs in order to bring a sizeable contingent? We need to tell the organizers whether we are participating by Monday, March 22nd. PLEASE LET ME KNOW AS SOON AS POSSIBLE WHETHER YOU ARE WILLING TO PARTICIPATE AND HOW MUCH MONEY YOU CAN PAY.
On Sunday December 6th from 2:00 - 6:00, YES-MEP, a group in which many JIDS members have been deeply involved and which is devoted to a just and secure peace between the Palestinians and the Israelis, is holding our first major event at the 6th and I Synagogue. (See the attached flyer for details).
