Holiday readings on Christmas day and Milad-un-Nabi

Holiday readings on Christmas day and Milad-un-Nabi

I am pleased to share a few notes for your joyful reading on this auspicious day, when more than half of the world population is praising two men who brought the message of peace to the world, and who wanted the world to live in harmony and balance between each other and their environment. 

1. Holiday Reading

2. Joan and Katherine made my day
3. What is Pluralism?

4. Invitation to a historic event

5. How can you help?

 

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The current world population is 7.3 Billion,  and the Christians and Muslims together add up to 3.9 Billion (2.2 Billion Christians and 1.7 billion Muslims ). God places a huge responsibility on our shoulders to keep the world intact, they way he created, with all elements of the creation functioning together cohesively. We have an obligation to create safe and secure societies for all of us, every human, where everyone minds his own unique life (be it social, cultural, spiritual or religious) but yet nurtures the connectivity of all beings. At American Muslim Institution, we take this responsibility seriously and will take the initiatives to forge the ideals of one nation, indivisible with liberty and justice for all. We are committed to a cohesive and safe America for everyone. 

To understand a cohesive world, our bodies are an example. Each organ of our body system is interconnected, and the heart, brain, kidneys, lungs, liver, stomach and anus are all coded to work with each other, no organ is superior to the other and all are equally partners in our system.  If one element malfunctions, or loses its balance, it will affect the normal functioning of all. That is how God created a cohesive universe, and the cohesive planet earth, where life, matter and environment function together in balance.  If we lose any balance, we mess up our own safeness. 

Chief Seattle, a Native American said this perfectly, “All things are connected. Whatever befalls the earth befalls the sons of the earth. Man did not weave the web of life; he is merely a strand in it. Whatever he does to the webs, he does it to himself."

Both Jesus and Muhammad created a vision of such a cohesive world in the form of heaven, where every soul would live in eternal bliss, a conflict free zone, living their own bliss and letting others live theirs.  This vision is expressed in the form of Pluralism, an attitude of respecting the otherness of others and accepting the God given uniqueness of each one of us, and when we reach that level of integrity in our attitudes,  conflicts fade and solutions emerge,  and that was their vision.  

I call Jesus, the first pluralist in the world and Muhammad the second one sequentially. Indeed, both the men were (are) a mercy to mankind.  Neither of them was needed, if the world was created to be 100% perfect, the world is indeed built-in with 1/10^th of 1% of extremity or anomaly, that is capable of messing the balance of the entire 99 - 9/10^th of the world. One embraced the diversity of God’s creation and the other prayed for the ignorance embedded within others.  Together they offered solutions to restore the world through forgiveness, humility, kindness, justness and acceptance of the otherness of others.

The other half of the population is guided by great men like Zarathustra,  Moses,  Krishna, Rama, Buddha, Confucius, Mahavir, Nanak, Bahaullah and a host of others from the native and earth based traditions including those who do not believe in a defined God, but advocate creating balance in the society.  All of spiritual masters taught us to be kind and gentle to the fringe among us.  Each one of them taught to respect the sanctity of life.  A majority of us get that right and the fringe among us don’t, and it is our duty to include them kindly and gently to be a part of the norm as Jesus did.    

Joan and Katherine made my day!

While driving to Staples this morning to pick up the banner for the event on Saturday, I got a call from a Katherine, she seemed so happy about the joint birth celebration of Jesus and Muhammad (pbuh)  that I had to pull over to listen to her sentiments and what a joy it was to hear her out.  She said, she sees hope, when the people of two of the largest religions come together to create harmony in the world. She was full of praise for Rizwan Jaka, the chairman of the board of trustees for ADAMS center.  It was indeed a joy to know the work of Rizwan and his entire team at ADAMS center in creating such a cohesive environment. 

I reached Staples, and had to wait, while waiting, I opened the email, the first one was from Joan Greenbaum, and it read, “And thank you for the invitation and honor to be a part of the Season of Peace celebration.  My hope is that the celebrations of the births of these two men, who were instrumental in teaching all of us about peace and humanity, will remind those who have lost sight of our shared heritage, that we are all children of God.  And remind them that we want a civil society that values all.”

Both of them made my day! They were good positive voices and notes. I was excited and had to call in my friends, as many as I can, including  Ambassador Islam Siddiqui and Dr. Aquilur Rahman, President and Chairman of AMI respectively, and who inspire me to do more, but then I did not call other friends as I got tied up on the phone. Thanks to my board of Directors at AMI who encourage me and are committed to a beautiful America.

There is more! The Muslim community in Washington, DC has done a great job in building relationship with members of the families of faiths. As we have done in Dallas with so many events from the Foundation for Pluralism, America Together Foundation, Irving Mosque, The Islamic Center of Richardson and others. Louisville Kentucky has also set a great example, and the Phoenix people have set a record in turning hostility into friendliness with the armed protesters. 

Indeed, we are doing the right things; we need to continue doing them as the work is not a match for the gravity of the negativity out there.  That negativity can be minimized by doing more interfaith understanding. 

I appeal to those few Muslims among us to seriously look at the larger picture and examples of the prophet and his work.  He was the first man in the universe to conduct interfaith dialogue, right in his Mosque; this is a great Sunnah we need to follow.  He was Amin (a great citizen who is trust worthy, truthful, just, and kind with no barriers between him and God’s creation) first, and that is what we have to work on, to be the Amins, the great citizens of this nation,  and all else will fall in its place.  

Thank God, over the last 22 years, I am blessed to have written over 3000 articles, and ahve given innumerable talks. Of them, 1000 were on every aspect of Islam, a thousand on politics, foreign policy, sports, movies, personalities etc and a 1000 about Pluralism.  I am also blessed to have many friends from every faith (including Atheists) cultural, social and racial and ethnic traditions.  

What is Pluralism? 

We have crystallized the definition of pluralism to, “respecting the otherness of the others and accepting the uniqueness of each one of us”. Pluralism is nothing but an attitude of live and let live, and it is applicable in every aspect of life including culture, society, religion, politics, gender, food, ethnicity, race and other uniqueness’s.

By the end of 2020, there will not be a major city in America, and perhaps in the world, where you will not find people of different faiths, cultures, ethnicities, races, nationalities and social backgrounds working, eating, playing, marrying, and doing things together.

We need to prepare ourselves for those eventualities to prevent possible conflicts, and lay a good foundation for nurturing goodwill and effective functioning of the societies. Exclusive communities will become a thing of the past.  If you live amidst others, you must also respect the otherness of others, as you expect them to do the same for you.
You are who you are, and I am who I am. As long as we don't mess with each other’s space, sustenance and nurturence, and mind our own business, we all will do well.  If we can learn to respect the otherness of other and accept the God-given uniqueness of each one of the seven billion of us, then conflicts fade and solutions emerge. 

You are responsible for other’s actions but your own. Internally it will burn you inside; externally you’ll be punished by the society. No one but you should be blamed for your actions. If you murder someone, it’s you, who needs to be hauled off, not your parents, spouse, siblings, or your children. If you are a rapist, it is you who needs to be punished and not your teacher, mayor, congressman, senator, imam, pastor, pundit, rabbi, shaman, clergy, Quran, Bible, Torah, Avesta, Bhagvad Gita, Guru Granth Saheb, Kitab al Muqaddas and other holy books of any religion for that matter.

Pluralism is not a set of rules, it is simply an attitude of live and let live religiously, politically, culturally and socially.  We are committed to building cohesive societies, where no human has to live in apprehension, discomfort or fear of a fellow being.

Invitation

"To a historic event"

It is for the first time in history of Christianity and Islam, that Muslims and Christians are celebrating the birth of Jesus and Prophet Muhammad on the yet another historic place; the steps of Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C.  

Saturday, December 26, 2015 at 1:00 PM

Enjoy the Christmas Carols & Milad Nasheeds
Bring your own chair and an umbrella

Parking - Road side public parking subject to availability.

Rail and Bus - The nearest metro stations are Foggy Bottom (23rd St. & I St. NW) and Smithsonian (12th St. &Independence Ave. SW). The Circulator Bus also runs to the Lincoln Memorial along Independence directly from the Union Station.

EVENT IS FREE, BUT PLEASE REGISTER AT:https://www.eventbrite.com/e/merry-christmas-milad-mubarak-tickets-20040393356

Its an interfaith event supported by many organizations.
Details at: http://americanmusliminstitution.blogspot.com/2015/12/season-of-peace-joint-celebration-of.html

Latest Press Release: http://americanmusliminstitution.blogspot.com/2015/12/press-release-first-time-in-history.html

How can you help? 

1. First attend the event on Saturday and invite your friends to join.
2. Write a heart felt note, why is it necessary to know each other**
3. Depending on the time, I may record your 1 Minute speech as a feed back of the event.

4. Donate if you can.

We have a lot more work to do to build a cohesive America where no American has to live in apprehension or fear of the other. To do this work, takes money, and we invite you to seriously your tax deductible donations to American Muslim Institution, 110 Maryland Av, NE, Suite 508, Washington, DC 2002.

Link to this note, if you would like to share.  http://americanmusliminstitution.blogspot.com/2015/12/holiday-readings-on-christmas-day-and.html

God bless you and God bless America. 

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If you wish to read more about these two guys:

• Celebrating Prophet Muhammad's birthday
  http://theghousediary.blogspot.com/2015/12/celebrating-prophet-muhammads-birthday.html

• How I Connect With Prophet Muhammad -  http://www.huffingtonpost.com/mike-ghouse/how-i-connect-with-prophet-muhammad_b_2547782.html

• Interfaith Christmas –Making God boundless  http://www.huffingtonpost.com/mike-ghouse/interfaith-christmas-making-god-boundless_b_2347856.html

• The 1444th Birth Celebration of Prophet Muhammad -http://www.huffingtonpost.com/mike-ghouse/festivals-of-the-world-mi_b_4579452.html 

• A Muslim's Christmas -http://dallasmorningviewsblog.dallasnews.com/2015/12/texas-faith-when-baby-jesus-meets-neiman-marcus.html/ 

Dr. Mike Ghouse is a community consultant, social scientist, thinker, writer, news maker, and a speaker on Pluralism, Interfaith, Islam, politics, human rights, India, Israel-Palestine Terrorism and foreign policy. Over 3000 Articles have been published on the subjects. He is committed to building cohesive societies and offers pluralistic solutions on issues of the day. More about him in 63 links at www.MikeGhouse.net and bulk of his writings are at TheGhousediary.com

** send the note to MikeGhouse@aol.com 

First time in history – Celebration of birth of Jesus and Prophet Muhammad on the steps of Lincoln Memorial.

PRESS RELEASE

Mike Ghouse (214) 325-1916
Washington, D.C.,Mike@AmericanMuslimInstitution.org
www.AmericanMuslimInstituition.org
First time in history – Celebration of birth of Jesus and Prophet Muhammad on the steps of Lincoln Memorial.

Washington, D.C., December 22, 2015 – For the first time in the history of Christianity and Islam, the Christians and Muslims are jointly celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ and Prophet Muhammad, and it is on the historic steps of Lincoln Memorial in Washington DC.

What: Interfaith celebration of Christmas and Milad
Date: Saturday, December 26, 2015
Time: 1:00 PM 
Place: On the steps of Lincoln Memorial, Washington, DC
Bring your own Chair and Umbrella

Transportation: Listed below 

Mike Ghouse, the Executive Director of American Muslim Institution, a proactive voice for American Muslims said, “It is a God-given opportunity to further strengthen our bonds with each other on the auspicious occasion of the birth of Jesus Christ and Prophet Muhammad which fall on 25th and 24th of December, respectively.  It provides us a great spiritual incentive to know each other for better.  We have an obligation to create a safe and secure America for all of us.”
Dr. Aquilur Rahman, Chairman of the AMI Board said, “We chose this location, as it signifies another great event in our history, Rev. Martin Luther King’s dream speech which became a catalyst in fulfilling the vision of our founding fathers that we are all created equal. We have one more step to take towards a cohesive America.”

It is a symbolic interfaith event with Christmas Carols and Milaad Nasheeds and a short message from faith leaders, an inclusive event to build a safe, secure and cohesive America. The more we know each other, the fewer misconceptions we will have. “

Rizwan Jaka, Chair, Board of Trustees & Interfaith Co-Chair, All Dulles Area Muslim Society (ADAMS) adds,“ God wants all of us to come together and create a safe and secure America for each one of us, we are all in this together, and let’s appreciate this to uphold religious freedom and  beckon a peaceful and prosperous 2016 and more.”


Syed Moktadir, President of ADAMS and the Vice Chairman of the U.S. Muslim & Christian Coalition (MCC) for the Protection of Christian and Religious Minorities in Arab World said, "the birth of Jesus and Muhammad (Peace Be Upon Them) brought so much blessing and light to our world that the hearts of the faithful continue to be full of love and passion for both of them and for all the prophets of God who came to guide humanity to worship God alone and unite the humanity through His worship. This event is yet another manifestation of that interfaith unity."

This is an initiative of American Muslim Institution and the All Dulles Area Muslim Society (ADAMS), one of the largest Muslim communities/mosques in the DC Metro Area and in the United States.
Parking - Road side public parking subject to availability.

Rail and Bus - The nearest metro stations are Foggy Bottom (23rd St. & I St. NW) and Smithsonian (12th St. &Independence Ave. SW). The Circulator Bus also runs to the Lincoln Memorial along Independence directly from the Union Station.

A few articles worth your read about Prophet Muhammad

A Muslim’s Christmas - http://thearabdailynews.com/2015/12/15/a-muslims-christmas/

Celebrating Prophet Muhammad’s birthday -http://theghousediary.blogspot.com/2015/12/celebrating-prophet-muhammads-birthday.html

How do I connect with Prophet Muhammad - http://www.huffingtonpost.com/mike-ghouse/how-i-connect-with-prophet-muhammad_b_2547782.html

1444^th Birth Celebration of Prophet Muhammad  -http://www.huffingtonpost.com/mike-ghouse/festivals-of-the-world-mi_b_4579452.html 

Arguments about Prophet Muhammad’s birth celebrations -http://www.worldmuslimcongress.blogspot.com/2015/12/prophet-muhammads-birthday-argument.html

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Why Chanukah matters | Happy Hanukkah

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How a ‘minor’ holiday unites us, warns against assimilation and helps us feel American

by Jared Sichel

Posted on Dec. 12, 2014 at 2:21 pm

There’s a certain narrative about Chanukah that has become near conventional wisdom among American Jews, and it goes like this:

Chanukah is a fun holiday that is big in America, thanks to its proximity to Christmas. But really, it’s a “minor” holiday that is more impactful culturally and sociologically than religiously, and it can’t really compare to the “big” ones of Yom Kippur and Passover.

And that’s all true. But it’s also too simple.

Chanukah matters for many reasons. It matters because, as one historian put it, it allows American Jews to feel included in the American holiday season while also remaining distinct, because they have their own holiday. It matters because, as one rabbi put it, Chanukah provides light in a season of darkness, giving families good reason to come together and celebrate. It also matters because, as another rabbi said, Chanukah carries an anti-assimilationist message that is as relevant today as it was 1,800 years ago.

Chanukah is a rarity within Judaism. It’s a holiday that, because of its scant halachic background, doesn’t provide much fodder for legal or practical disagreement between the Orthodox and non-Orthodox. But it’s also a holiday that rabbis and Jewish academics and educators seem to agree is significant — uniquely so for American Jews — but for a variety of reasons. 

Chabad emphasizes the spiritual message of always increasing light. Modern Orthodox Jews focus on the sages’ narrative of the oil miracle pointing to God’s omnipresent role in the Maccabees’ military victory. Conservative and Reform Jews find meaning in why the sages altered Chanukah’s story by reducing the role of the Maccabees and increasing that of God, and also in how Chanukah allows Jews to feel just as American as Christians do in December. And many communal leaders see Chanukah as an ideal time to reach out to less-connected Jews.

Chanukah is a holiday that takes on different meanings for each different group of Jews. But it also offers something that no other Jewish holiday offers, and it does so without the conflict that often characterizes how other parts of Jewish religious life ought to be observed: Chanukah is a home- and family-based holiday, with eight nights of candle-lighting and lots of good food and celebration — there is no argument about that among any mainstream group of Jews. And it also happens to be an easy and fun way to practice Judaism during a season dominated by the image of the fun and warmth of Christmas. 

Chanukah’s message, meanwhile, is unique and cannot be found in any other Jewish holiday: To maintain Jewish religious practice in an open and liberal society that values assimilation is a challenge. But even with the holiday’s warning siren against assimilation, Chanukah and, to a certain extent, its message, have spread in America mainly because it has paired itself with Christmas. The irony is impossible to ignore.

Misremembering Chanukah

“Most Jews don’t know the stories of Chanukah, and if they do know the stories, they don’t know the real stories,” said Rabbi Ed Feinstein, senior rabbi at Valley Beth Shalom in Encino.

The sanitized version of Chanukah casts the underdog Maccabees as winners of an unlikely victory against the mighty Greeks, and after the war, when the Jews went to light the menorah in the Temple, there was only enough oil left for one day, but the oil miraculously lasted for eight days. Voila! That’s Chanukah — Judaism surviving against all odds with God’s hand clearly present. 

Typically left unexplained is the story of religious division among Jewish traditionalists and assimilationists, the religious zealotry of the Maccabee and Hasmonean victors and why Jewish tradition emphasizes the miracle of the oil over the military victory.

The Chanukah story most Jews don’t know is that the Maccabean rebellion in 167 B.C.E. (the Second Temple era) was as much an outward revolt against the Greek attempt to destroy religious and spiritual Judaism (there was no genocidal intent) as it was a civil war to violently defeat Hellenist Jews who wanted to abandon or compromise religious Judaism to fit into Greek culture, which primarily valued science, philosophy and the arts. Hellenized Jews were so fanatic in their anti-Judaism that some males tried to reversetheir circumcisions, according to the First Book of Maccabees, or I Maccabees, which, along with II Maccabees tells the official story of the Jewish war against Hellenism, from the point of view of the Maccabees. 

The era’s urban Jews, as a generalization, wanted a Hellenized Judea. Rural, more traditional Jews wanted to maintain their distinct Jewish identity and resist the force of Greek assimilation. Pro-Hellenist Jews, fed up with the refusal of the traditionalists to assimilate, requested that Antiochus — the Greek king at the time — send military forces to suppress the traditionalists.

But the occupying Greek forces were not the traditionalists’ first target. The trigger for their revolt was an apostate Hellenist Jew who offered a sacrifice to a Greek god in Modi’in, according to the Book of Maccabees. Mattathias, a traditionalist and the father of Judah Maccabee, saw the Jew about to perform a sacrifice, killed him, and then killed a Greek officer and tore down the altar where the sacrifice would have occurred.

And thus began the Maccabean revolt, which ended in a Jewish victory that propelled the Maccabees and the Hasmonean dynasty (essentially the political party of that era’s traditionalists) into power after the miracle of the war and the oil. The Hasmoneans’ story has been largely forgotten by modern Jews, in large part thanks to rabbinic Judaism’s decision during one of the early centuries of the Common Era to keep I Maccabees and II Maccabees out of the Torah canon, banished to the less authoritative realm of biblical Apocrypha — stories of Jewish history important enough to remain in our collective memory but kept out of the official canon for one reason or another. 

Purim, like Chanukah, also commemorates the Jews’ survival (although Chanukah celebrates religious, not physical, survival) against a mighty enemy — Haman and his cronies in Persia. The rabbis, though, elevated Purim above Chanukah, at least as far as halachah is concerned, by canonizing it. Open a Tanakh and the Book of Esther will be there; the Books of Maccabees won’t be. The rabbis of the third century felt uneasy canonizing and issuing their stamp of approval upon the Hasmoneans, an ultimately oppressive group of Jewish rulers who forced Jews into observance and killed religious deviants. 

Rabbi Eliyahu Fink of the Modern Orthodox Pacific Jewish Center in Venice Beach said the Hasmoneans’ extremism and their intolerance put them out of favor with the more moderate views of rabbinic tradition. “They were not the people of compromise,” Fink said.

Ironically, even though the Hasmoneans were the most extreme group of Jews ever to rule the land of Israel, the populace absorbed Hellenistic culture anyway, touting Jewish kings with names like John Hyrcanus and Aristobulus. Jews, meanwhile, have adopted  Greek-derived words like Sanhedrin and synagogue to label core elements of religious Judaism.

And while Jews under Hasmonean rule experienced the spread of the very same Greek culture that the Hasmoneans so violently opposed, they also came under Roman occupation after two Hasmonean brothers fighting for the crown — John Hyrcanus the Pharisee and Aristobulus the Sadducee — asked the Romans to settle the dispute. The Romans then took advantage of the Jewish infighting to invade, which led to the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 C.E. and the Roman exile, which lasts to this day and, according to Jewish tradition, will last until the coming of the Messiah and the construction of the Third Temple.

The rabbis of the Talmud who decided to omit the Maccabean version of history from official canon were not willing to elevate the tyrannical Jewish regime that lost Israel to the Romans, even if it was traditional in its religious practice. They felt, too, that the Chanukah story needed a miracle, and it needed God’s role to outweigh that of the Hasmoneans, so the rabbis told the story of the miracle of the oil, a spiritual miracle featuring God’s suspension of the law of nature. And this story came to outweigh the significance of the unlikely Maccabean victory that would lead to a dark period of Jewish power and a disgraceful fall.

The rabbis’ edited version of the story says much about how they believed Judaism needed to be understood during the era of Roman exile, especially by Diaspora Jews. 

“Although we were happy that [the Maccabees] won, that’s not the Judaism that we want to perpetuate,” Fink said. “The Judaism that we want to perpetuate is the one that speaks of light. To me, [the rabbis’] message was, ‘Don’t become an extremist.’ ”

A holiday of few (practical) disagreements

Disagreement is a pillar of Judaism, and most Jewish holidays are staging grounds for practical disagreements. Orthodox Jews disagree with Conservative and Reform Jews about how electricity should be used on Shabbat and other holidays. What’s considered chametz on Passover? What’s kosher? What’s not kosher? How many days of Shavuot should be observed? Should Shavuot be observed? 

Chanukah has no such disputes, which makes it one of the only agreeable festivals in the Jewish calendar.

“It’s one of the holidays with the least amount of halachic material,” said Rabbi Aaron Panken, president of Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion. “There isn’t that much opportunity for much difference. From that perspective, it’s wonderful, because the entire Jewish community is observing it in the same way.”

And Chanukah is one of the most widely celebrated Jewish holidays in the United States, up there with Passover and Yom Kippur, allowing American Jews to shelve their differences for eight days. Orthodox Jews wary of Americanizing Chanukah accept, sometimes begrudgingly, that capitalizing on the Christmas spirit and ritualizing gift-giving has helped lead many Jews to observe the mitzvah of lighting the menorah and displaying it publicly, which Maimonides held is a particularly important mitzvah because of its commemoration of the survival and spread of religious Judaism. 

And non-Orthodox Jews skeptical of many tenets of rabbinic Judaism, and who may feel that Orthodox practices unnecessarily separate Jews from American culture, have proudly embraced Chanukah’s central halachic feature (lighting the menorah) as Jews’ way to take part in America’s holiday season while maintaining a unique Jewish identity.

“The truth of the matter is the rituals are pretty much the same,” said Feinstein. “You have a holiday that has no politics; no one’s saying that my version of the holiday is better than someone else’s.” 

The differences in practices, Feinstein said, are not between American Jews of different denominations, but between American Jews and Jews in other countries. From the gifts to the decorations to the food to the music, Feinstein said, “American Jews celebrate Chanukah very differently than, say, South African or European or Israeli Jews.”

Chanukah, Americanized

Nowhere else is Chanukah celebrated with the grandiosity that accompanies it in the United States. 

“It is not such a huge event in Israel, where Christmas is not a mainstream cultural phenomenon,” said David Myers, a UCLA history professor and Journal contributor.

How did Chanukah become a cultural phenomenon in America?

“Timing is everything,” said Jonathan Sarna, a historian and professor of American Jewish history at Brandeis University. “It was historically a minor holiday and only became more major because of Christmas.”

This year, Chanukah ends on Christmas Eve, right in the middle of the American holiday season, giving American Jews the sense of full participation in a time when the vast majority of Americans associate the word “holiday” with Christmas.

Myers says that American Jews’ ability to adapt their holiday into “mainstream cultural norms” is similar to what other Diaspora Jewish groups did in learning the language of their host countries in Spain, Persia, numerous Arabic societies and, especially, Germany, where Hebrew and German combined to form Yiddish. “This kind of dynamic has occurred throughout Jewish history,” Myers said. “Jews have continuously adapted names, languages and cultural values from their host societies.”

In the late 1800s, Myers said, observant Jews in America “sought to revive memory of the holiday as a traditionalist reaction” against Reform Judaism’s wish to assimilate into American culture and de-emphasize Jews as a distinct people. Then, in the mid-20th century, many more American Jews, primarily non-Orthodox ones, revitalized Chanukah with the aim of turning it into the other major winter festival alongside Christmas, which is when gift-giving became the norm.

Why did Chanukah become a holiday celebrated by most American Jews, while holidays of greater stature according to Jewish law, such as Shavuot and Simchat Torah, are primarily celebrated by Orthodox Jews? It’s not just because of Christmas, Feinstein said. Chanukah, as a holiday of lights, has a particular appeal in its spiritual and physical light during the short winter days. “Its correspondence with Christmas and its correspondence with the winter solstice are what give it its power,” Feinstein said. 

Fink pointed out that while Christmas has helped elevate Chanukah’s status in America, Orthodox Jews would celebrate the holiday no matter what time of year it fell.

“They are not the ones who are benefiting from this kind of American holiday atmosphere,” Fink said, adding, though, that Chanukah’s gaining from the presence of Christmas should not be viewed as a negative thing. “I’m not saying that we celebrate Chanukah because [Christians celebrate Christmas], but it’s a time that people are going to have an interest in experiencing their own traditions, so it’s wise to capitalize on it.”

Chanukah’s proximity to Christmas, in that sense, not only helps American Jews by acting as a “counterweight” to Christmas, Rabbi David Wolpe of Sinai Temple said, but benefits from the Christmas spirit, drawing upon one of America’s three biggest holidays (Thanksgiving and New Year’s being the others) to make Judaism fun for those whose only Jewish observance throughout the year might be fasting on Yom Kippur and sitting down at a Passover seder. Chanukah, Wolpe said, is “minor in terms of its status halachically [but] major in terms of its status sociologically.”

“Among Jews who don’t have the strongest identification or the greatest education, there’s a lot pulling them into the general population,” said Rabbi Yitzchok Adlerstein, director of interfaith affairs at the Simon Wiesenthal Center. “I think, arguably, that Chanukah has played an important role in giving non-Orthodox families a little bit of a hedge against the Christmas spirit.”

In America, Chanukah has drawn less-religious Jews into joyfully fulfilling the mitzvah of lighting the menorah and has brought American Jewry as a whole closer to the (American) ideal of having both a distinct American identity and a religious identity, as Sarna believes.

“Chanukah allows Jews simultaneously to be part of and apart from, and that’s really a microcosm of what a minority religious community wants to be,” Sarna said. “It wants to stress its distinctiveness even as it wants to be part of a certain zeitgeist.”

Wolpe, contrasting what Chanukah and Yom Kippur offer American Jews in terms of feeling more, well, American, said, “Look, the White House does a Chanukah lighting, they don’t do a Yom Kippur fast, because Chanukah allows them to understand, yes we have a holiday, they have a holiday — and that matters in a society that’s always striving for balance and has lots of different factions.”

Martin Weiss, a Holocaust survivor from the former Czechoslovakia, lights the Chanukah menorah on Dec. 5, 2013, as U.S. President Barack Obama looks on during the day’s second Chanukah reception in the Grand Foyer of the White House.  At left is Margit Meissner, a Holocaust survivor from the former Czechoslovakia. At right is U.S. Navy Lt. Ron Sachs. Photo by Consolidated News Photos

Myers, going a step further, believes the development of Chanukah in America is today’s example of how Diaspora Jews have managed to keep Judaism alive while blending into foreign nations. “It offers proximity to the American cultural mainstream while permitting some degree of preservation of Jewish distinctiveness,” Myers said. “Precisely the work of cultural adaptation and modification that allowed for Jewish renewal and, ultimately, survival.”

‘We don’t need to compete’

Perhaps no group has done more in America than Chabad to thrust Chanukah into the public square. American Friends of Lubavitch organizes the annual lighting of the National Chanukah Menorah in front of the White House; Chabad emissaries across American campuses place a menorah next to visible pedestrian walkways; Chabad families strap giant menorahs to the roofs of their cars and drive around like that for eight days. Whereas the commandment to publicize the miracle of Chanukah is fulfilled by most Jews by placing the menorah in a window, Chabad ratchets the practice up several notches, placing menorahs everywhere.

On the Chanukah agenda for Rabbi Moshe Greenwald, co-director of Chabad of Downtown Los Angeles, is the public menorah lighting at City Hall, this year with Mayor Eric Garcetti — Greenwald’s seventh such lighting; separate menorah lightings at a Los Angeles Clippers game and outside Staples Center; and organizing yet another lighting at Pershing Square, an urban park in the center of downtown. 

“In America, it’s particularly meaningful, because here we can practice all the observances in full view in public,” Greenwald said.

Greenwald added, though, that Chanukah, as one of Judaism’s “most important holidays,” doesn’t need Christmas to make it important. The holiday can stand on its own spiritual and religious merit, he said. “We don’t need to compete in the marketplace of holidays,” Greenwald said. “I don’t want to look at it as the Jewish Christmas.”

There’s irony to Chanukah’s piggybacking on Christmas in the United States, and Greenwald’s objection to making Chanukah the “Jewish Christmas” alludes to it — one of Chanukah’s main lessons is that Jews must resist the temptation to discard tradition in favor of a newer culture. At the same time, though, Chanukah’s attachment to Christmas is perhaps the main reason that the holiday is observed by so many non-Orthodox Jews; the same can’t be said for a holiday such as Simchat Torah, which is given a higher halachic status.

“I think that outside of Orthodox Judaism, there’s almost this wink-wink, nudge-nudge, this is our version of Christmas,” Fink said. “Orthodox Judaism really would be very uncomfortable with that.”

And as a holiday that warns against succumbing to “pressure from any outsider alien society,” Adlerstein said, Chanukah matters as much today as it did for the Maccabees: “The conflict between Jews who wished to bring their own practice more in conformance with the cultural milieu and secular surroundings, and traditionalists who wanted to hold on to core Jewish beliefs and practices hasn’t gone away one iota in 2,000 years.”

Rabbi Arye Sufrin, assistant principal at YULA Boys High School and assistant rabbi at Beth Jacob Congregation, said one message he tries to teach his students is not only Chanukah’s plea to “maintain the tradition” but also why it’s so important to publicize it with pride, a luxury afforded Jews in this country. “We can do that today, but there was a lot that had to happen” to reach this point of openness and safety, Sufrin said. “Chanukah is not a minor holiday.”

Muslims Rally against ISIS on the steps of Lincoln Memorial

PRESS RELEASE

Mike Ghouse (214) 325-1916
Mike@AmericanMuslimInstitution.org
website: www.AmericanMuslimInstitution.org

American Muslims against ISIS gather up on the steps of Lincoln Memorial

Washington, DC, November 19, 2015 – Muslims around the world and particularly Americans Muslims have been sick of the terrorists, particularly the ISIS and the Al-Qaeda guys ever since they started terrorizing the lives of innocent people. We mourn the loss of lives in France, Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, Nigeria and elsewhere in the world and firmly stand against the terrorists.

Given the short notice prior to the Thanksgiving weekend, the Muslims of Washington, DC have organized a gathering of Americans of different faiths to come together on the steps of Lincoln Memorial and make the statements of condemnations.We hope this event effectively conveys a message to the terrorists that the world is against them, and that we are all in this together; opposing terrorism and condemning ISIS.  

You are all invited to join us on the steps of Lincoln Memorial:

• Date: 11/20/15
• Day: Friday |
• Time: 3:00 -4:30 PM 
• Place: On the steps of Lincoln Memorial, Washington, DC
• Website: www.AmericanMuslimInstitution.org

The purpose of this gathering is to send a clear message to the ISIS and their ilk, that American Muslims are angry about their actions. They are to be charged for the violations of human rights, forcing women into slavery, conversions at gun point, harassment of Christians, Yazidis, Shias, Jews, Sunnis and other minorities, and most certainly creating chaos and abusing the name of Islam. 

We cannot tolerate any of these acts and we urge our president to speak out in behalf of fellow humans,  and give them three days notice to back off, surrender, and repent for their actions or face the consequences.

We invite Americans of all faiths and no faiths to join us in standing up against ISIS.  Yes, we the Muslims are as angry as average American. Indeed, we are all in this together.

We pledge that we are one nation under the flag, indivisible with liberty and justice for all.

Please join us on the steps of Lincoln Memorial.

# # #

SUPPORTING ORGANIZATIONS 

We will be listing as many participating organizations as we can. Please send an email with the name of your organization, website and your phone number,  and we will add to the list below.

01. ADAMS Center, All Dulles Area Muslim Society
02. American Muslim Institution, Washington, DC
03. Washington Area Jews for Jewish Muslim Understanding
04. Geotrees, An Intercultural Crossroads for the History of the Future
05. Islamic Community Center of Potomac
06. Foundation for Pluralism
07. The world Organization for Resources development and Education.
08. Muslims for Peace, Justice and Progress 
09. United Maryland Muslim Council
10. Howard County Muslim Council
11. UMA Interfaith Alliance
12. Muslim Community Center of Maryland
13. Montgomery County Muslim Foundation
14. Islamic Center of Greater Toledo 
15. Islamic Center of Long Island
16. IMANA International Collaboration
17. UMMAA Broadcasting
18. Hillside Islamic Center New Hyde Park NY

We appreciate the PSA announcements from Stuart Varney and Jennie Lubart of Fox News and we invite them to cover this event. 

This is the example of reaching heights of humanity and spirituality, to raise a Hindu child in Hindu tradition. It is difficult in a nation like Pakistan to do so, but there are so many good people out there, and am glad to read this story and share it at http://foundationforpluralism.blogspot.com

Mike Ghouse
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'Bajrangi Bhaijaan' woman stuck in Pakistan for 13 years goes home to India

Story of Geeta, who is deaf and mute, mirrors that of Bollywood hit, but happy ending might prove elusive

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/oct/26/bajrangi-bhaijaan-woman-stuck-in-pakistan-for-13-years-goes-home-to-india

 

A young deaf-mute Indian woman stranded in Pakistan for 13 years has finally returned to her homeland despite uncertainty over whether she will ever succeed in finding her family.

Known as Geeta, the woman received a hero’s welcome at Delhi airport on Monday before being whisked away for a meeting with India’s foreign minister, Sushma Swaraj, and a DNA test that, it is hoped, will confirm she belongs to a family from Bihar she recently recognised from photographs.

  With all the improbability of the Bollywood hit Bajrangi Bhaijaan – a film about a mute Pakistani girl lost in India – Geeta’s story has attracted intense public interest and some high-level cooperation between two rival governments.

 

Geeta, who is now in her early 20s, was found alone, confused and without identification papers in Lahore in 2002 after apparently boarding a train from India.

She was taken in by the Edhi Foundation, a major Pakistani charity based in Karachi, the city where she has lived for more than a decade in a shelter with a small temple provided for her personal use.

Abdul Sattar Edhi and his wife Bilquis took a close interest in her upbringing, even choosing the name by which she is now known.

Although Bilquis reportedly hoped to find a suitable husband for Geeta from among Pakistan’s Hindu minority, the young woman herself never gave up hope of returning home.

There were few clues to go on, however. An Indian phone number she wrote down for her guardians was incomplete and no one in Karachi was able to decipher her writing.

Her story has been muddled. By one account she somehow wandered across one of the most heavily militarised borders in the world after getting lost at a religious festival.

But her luck changed when the Edhis decided to capitalise on interest in the release of Bajrangi Bhaijaan this summer to republicise her plight.

 

It led to fresh leads, including a family in the Indian state of Bihar which Geeta enthusiastically recognised as her own after Indian diplomats in Islamabad arranged for photographs to be sent to the Edhi Foundation.

 

Their version of events, however, is that their daughter was married and had a child when she left home. It is at odds with what Geeta has communicated about herself though sign language.

After arriving in the Indian capital the foreign minister Swaraj said Geeta was “refusing to recognise her family”. “It doesn’t matter if we find her parents or not, she is a daughter of India and we will take care of her,” Swaraj told journalists.

Members of the Bihar family were present at the airport on Monday morning to try and greet the young woman.

“It’s been a long wait,” said Vinod Kumar, who claims to be her brother. “We thank both the countries for their efforts to unite Geeta with the family.”

Although an evening reception in her honour at the Pakistani High Commission in Delhi was cancelled in light of the deadly earthquake that struck the region on Monday, Geeta had a busy first day back in India, which culminated in a meeting with prime minister Narendra Modi.

“It was truly wonderful to have you back home,” he tweeted to his 15.7m followers, in addition to praising the Edhis for looking after her.

 

— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) October 26, 2015

 

Welcome Geeta. It is truly wonderful to have you back home. Was truly a delight to spend time with you today. pic.twitter.com/DngJF2Tk31

 

The effort to repatriate her comes at a time when both countries have accused each other of supporting terrorist groups and have struggled to conduct normal business, including striking agreements on international cricket fixtures.

 

Relations have also been soured by increasingly strident anti-Pakistan agitation by far-right Hindu nationalists. On Saturday a play featuring Pakistani actors in Delhi was disrupted by activists.

Minutes after Pakistan’s foreign ministry published a statement wishing Geeta well on Monday, the government in Islamabad announced it had summoned a top Indian diplomat for a dressing down over “unprovoked ceasefire violations” along a section of the border contested by Pakistan.

Pakistan said a 15-year-old girl was among the three people killed in the firing, calling it a “detestable and deplorable act”.

Courtesy of Guardian
# # #

A dead child, a world gone mad

Aylan Kurdi and the refugee problem | Foundation for pluralism
http://foundationforpluralism.blogspot.com/2015/09/a-dead-child-world-gone-mad.html


This article calls on us to look into ourselves and our prejudices. When some of us are loaded with hate for others, we lose our humanity and we do not respect the humanness of others.

Aylan Kurdi's image has remained on my mind all day long, a similar image had stuck to me when I was a kid and my neighbor had committed a suicide by going under the train.  It reminds us of the magnitude of the refugee problem.  I was at CAIR's press conference, and Bob Morrow was one of the individuals that spoke, and he choked looking at the image, it invoked similar images of Vietnam to him. His sentiment was contagious, I deeply felt the same. 

I was listening to NPR and they shared the story of a woman who was crossing different borders... with her children. She was laughing and I was thinking about her plight, finally when she was crossing the border, facing the police, she begged the police to save her child, and not her.. how desperate was she for her child's life. She choked and I could not stop crying either. 

I sincerely hope and pray that all of us at least keep up with the crises, may it open our hearts and minds. There are a great number of good people in the world, who have taken to the street to do something about the plight of humanity, while there are others who have no empathy for human sufferings.

The author questions the South Asian minds when it comes to refugees. A few among us are so hateful to the others that we do not care about others.

The least we can, each one of us can do is to reflect on the refugee problems all across the world, don't focus on the bad guys, but focus on the plight of the victims

Mike Ghouse
Foundation for Pluralism 

A dead child, a world gone mad

Courtesy Rediff.com

Last updated on: September 04, 2015 15:33 IST

If Aylan Kurdi was a Bangladeshi boy on the border with Assam or West Bengal, would you call him an infiltrator, asks Mango Indian.

I can't watch those photographs of 3-year-old Aylan Kurdi's body on a Turkish beach. I avoided him, though the links to his story -- from Syria, drowned with his mother and five-year-old brother trying to get to Greece -- kept appearing on my screens for about two days.

But when I picked up the newspaper from the floor groggy in the morning, those images blew a hole through my heart. Like the feeling I had when I cut a little bead-encrusted band from my daughter's wrist when she was two months old. Maybe her biological mother -- as adoptee parents we don't know her, we cannot by law -- thought it would protect her. It did, but it could have failed too.

The migrant crisis -- and debate -- raging across Europe is of proportions not seen since World War II. The civil war in Syria, sparked by years of drought and a dictator who didn't care, and the Islamic State's brutal and obscene march through an Iraq abandoned by America, have thrown a migrant wave towards Europe. Aylan's lifeless body might just push the EU into accepting more refugees.

Meanwhile, we in India have been dehumanised to the massive movement of dispossessed people within our country. We are used to children begging at traffic stops, to stories of dead newborns gnawed by rats.

A leader of the far-right UKIP, the largest UK party in the European parliament, said Aylan was fed and clothed, and died because of his parents' greed for the good life in Europe. Or words to that effect, which echo what we urban 'middle class' Indians often feel about roadside dwellers: Why did they have to come from wherever they are from? They wanted the good life in the big city. Why do they have to breed? Isn't parenthood a privilege meant for those with enough money?

Aylan's family was fleeing the Islamic State; Turkey, which reportedly treats Syrian refugees badly, would not give them an exit visa; Canada wouldn't accept them as refugees. An overwhelming majority of the hundreds of thousands of people risking -- and often losing to -- death to cross the seas into Italy or Greece, and then onwards wherever they can get some dignity, are fleeing Syria. Others are from equally war-ravaged countries: Iraq, Libya, Eritrea, Sudan, even Afghanistan.

Asia is also facing its own migrant crisis. Thousands of people keep setting sail on the Bay of Bengal, mostly from Myanmar and Bangladesh, in rickety human smugglers' boats that often sink or get lost. More than 100,000 such people have tried to get to Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia since 2014, and the UN has warned that fresh batches are expected when the rains get over and the seas calm.

The global migrant crisis is fed by hunger, driven by oppression, and boosted by lack of a future in large swaths of this planet. But as a brilliant post that struck out the word 'migrant' from a BBC news report and replaced it with 'people' -- wherever it occurred in the report -- explained, ultimately it's a humanitarian issue. It's a global crisis that will keep playing out in varying scales.

If strife is test of character, humanity has failed because faced with a global flood the people on dry land have chosen to close their gates. Throughout history, human beings have risked all to look for a better future for their children. Few with passports, many without. You can rationalise it and, of course, enforce it, but a border is a human construct. Someone drew an imaginary line and called it a country, or state, or town, or city.

And there's no end to drawing borders, between India and Bangladesh, between South India and North India, between Maharashtra and UP, between your gated community wall and that slum beyond.

Germany has said it will accept 800,000 refugees this year. We have people who are frothing at the mouth about a Muslim takeover of India even though census on census data shows the Muslim growth rate is declining.

If Aylan were a Bangladeshi boy on the border with Assam or West Bengal, would you call him an infiltrator?

Demographers point to an exodus of people from India's villages to the cities, which are bursting at the seams. The Maharashtra NGO we adopted from told us that many abandoned children are of 'migrants' from villages to the towns, from towns to the cities.

Meanwhile, alarm signals from the villages -- the reason why millions of people live in subhuman conditions next to first-world luxuries -- are lost in the neon and chrome of next big dam India.

We have Kashmiri Pandits, refugees in their own land. We are now even banning and hounding people who try to highlight stories from the Mahan depths of our country. And there are no dead Aylans washing up ashore, only eyes from beyond the car window at the traffic light. Eyes we have long evolved to ignore.

Mango Indian

President Kalam and Islam - by Najid Hussain

Kalam and Islam | Foundation for Pluralism | The Ghouse Diary.com 

Najid Hussain;

Your article, “Kalam and Islam” is one of the finest articles I have read about religious and social pluralism, and it resonates with me, and a reflection of my own understanding of religion.

This article has changed my opinion about you, although I have always respected your take on many an issues, I had erroneously placed you in limited understanding of Islam category – now your article changes all that. I am so glad you wrote it. 

Indeed, I chose to become a Muslim in the late 90's, and Bhagvad Gita is one of the three reasons to lead me there, I was irreligious for the previous 30 years of my life (several videos and write ups are available on the net).

Islam and Quran are not for Muslims alone, they are guidance for whole humanity – God is God of Universe, (Rabbul Aalameen), Prophet Muhammad’s message is message for whole humanity (Rahmatul Aalameen) and we have to become Muklooqul Aalameen (beings that embrace whole humanity)  to complete the equation. I have written extensively on the topic, some day, I will exchange that with you if you have the time. As I find the freedom in you to see the philosophical dimension of Islam as opposed to remaining entrenched in the ritual aspect of it.

It may be difficult for a few people to swallow that Religion, every religion is a beautiful gift of God to humanity and serve the same purpose – creating societies that function cohesively. God wants his creation to remain coherent.

The only thing that caused me to pause about your article is the use of the word "Only", “it is only Hindu faith that truly understands….” and “it is only Hindu philosophy….”   Five years ago, I was sitting in the Baptist Church in Dallas – Pastor Robert Jeffers claimed, “ Its only Christianity that teaches the purpose and meaning of life”… and I made extensive notes during his sermon that Hinduism, Islam, Baha’I, Budhism, Judaism, Sikhism and all other faiths that teach the purpose and meaning of life. (The whole story is at www.QuraanConference.com).

As beauty is in the eyes of the beholder, faith is in the heart of the believer. No mother is inferior to her offspring, and no faith is inferior to its believer. If we can learn to respect the otherness of others and accept the God given uniqueness of each one of us, then conflicts fade and solutions emerge.

Najid, I am glad you wrote this piece and God willing, I will share this on my Pluralism, Islam and other sites. It is a good article. Congratulations.

Article is at Outlook Magazine - http://www.outlookindia.com/article/kalam-and-islam/216493

 Mike is a speaker, thinker, writer, pluralist,  TV-Radio commentator and a human rights activist committed to building cohesive societies and offers pluralistic solutions on issues of the day. His info in 63 links at MikeGhouse.net and writings at TheGhouseDiary.com