Faith In Brooklyn for October 30

October 30, 2013 By Francesca Norsen-Tate, Religion Editor Brooklyn Daily Eagle

Screen Shot 2013-10-30 at 10.51.25 AM.png

Share this:

Coney Island Seniors Create Mural To Heal From Superstorm Sandy

Members of JASA Senior Alliance Senior Center (a leading non-profit agency serving older adults in the New York metropolitan area) and The Jewish Community Council of Greater Coney Island brought together Coney Island seniors in an unveiling of The Hurricane Sandy Relief Tile Mural Project.

As the one-year anniversary of Hurricane Sandy arrived on Oct. 29, New Yorkers have continued to find unique ways to heal from traumatic effects of the storm. One community of seniors in Coney Island has harnessed the power of art therapy to create a mural symbolizing the reconstruction of the Brighton Beach, Manhattan Beach, Coney Island and Seagate Communities in an effort to transform pain and loss into a poignant display of beauty.

During Tuesday’s ribbon-cutting ceremony, senior community groups from these two organizations transformed the historic Coney Island landmark, as they unveiled a wall decorated with handcrafted ceramic tiles. The mural displays hundreds of hand-crafted ceramic tiles on one of the relic fountains of Coney Island Boardwalk, at 21st Street, at Childs Restaurant. Each senior affected by the storm created the tiles. A MetLife Foundation Creative Aging Grant has funded the Mural; and The National Guild for Community Arts Education and Brooklyn Arts Council administers this artwork.

JASA (Jewish Association Serving the Aging), has been the leading and most-trusted provider of services to older adults in the New York metropolitan area for 45 years. JASA programs and services improve the lives of more than 53,000 older adults each year.

* * *

Jurists Speak at Mount Sinai’s Observance of Kristallnacht

The role of the legal community in the rise of Nazism is the focus of an upcoming 75th anniversary observance of the Kristallnacht tragedy.

During the night of Nov. 9-10, 1938, pogroms broke out across Nazi Germany and Austria in an attack that came to be known as Kristallnacht—“the night of broken glass.” Pogroms (Russian etymology; accent on second syllable) are violent attacks—including pillaging, destruction of property, rape and murder—perpetrated on a local population, particularly Jewish communities, according to The Holocaust Encyclopedia on the website of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. This source and the Jewish Virtual Library both explain that pogroms are executed with the complicity of the police and others in power. Pogroms against Jews took place widely during the Russian Revolution. Decades later, Kristallnacht became a turning point in the rise of Nazi power leading up to the Holocaust.

Congregation Mount Sinai presents “Kristallnacht –The Night of Broken Glass and the Legal Community,” with a film and discussion.

Speakers include Judge Sol Wachler, former chief judge of the state of New York, and distinguished adjunct professor of law at Touro Law School; and Hon. Ernst H. Rosenberger, retired justice, appellate division, first department; of Counsel, Stroock, Stroock & Levan.

The program, on Saturday, Nov. 9, begins at 6 p.m. with a deli dinner catered by Village Crown. Havdalah, (the rite which is prayed at the conclusion of Shabbat each week), and the Kristallnacht program follow at 7 p.m. RSVP is needed no later than Tuesday, Nov. 5. Call or email the Synagogue office: 718-875-9124, or [email protected]. The synagogue is at 250 Cadman Plaza West in Downtown Brooklyn.

The cost is $30/person for dinner, Havdalah and the program, and $10 for those attending only Havdalah and the program.
* * *

Rabbi Lippe Leads Interfaith Program on Praying the Psalms

The Book of Psalms and its 150 songs and prayers contain some of the best known and most loved passages of the Bible. The Psalms also express a whole spectrum of human emotions: fear, trust, anger, contrition and love. Psalms are part of the daily liturgies of the Jewish and Christian traditions.

Rabbi Serge Lippe, senior Rabbi of the Brooklyn Heights Synagogue, will visit Plymouth Church this Sunday for a presentation on the Psalms. Plymouth is welcoming him back, as he led a very well-received program on the Psalms a few years ago and has participated in other interfaith events at this landmark church. During the 12:30 p.m. program on Sunday, Nov. 3, Rabbi Lippe will share some of his insights and experience in reading Psalms. Some of the questions to be explored: “What more do we know about the history and authorship of the Psalms? How do different faith traditions approach these ancient Hebrew texts? And what new understanding can we bring to these familiar passages?”

Rabbi Lippe has been spiritual leader of the Brooklyn Heights Synagogue for more than 15 years, starting his work there in 1997. Ordained in 1991 at Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion (HUC-JIR), he graduated with honors from the University of Chicago with a B.A. degree in Ancient Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations. Prior to joining BHS, he served for six years as associate Rabbi at Temple Solel in Paradise Valley, Arizona. Rabbi Lippe has also served as faculty member at URJ Camp SWIG and Camp Eisner, and has been a regional rabbinic adviser to the North American Federation of Temple Youth (NFTY). He and his wife, Deb Speyer, are native New Yorkers and they live in the neighborhood with their three children.

* * *

Environmental Activists Fighting Oil and Gas Industries Will Address Unitarian Church

Environmental activist Tim DeChristopher will give a talk this weekend at the First Unitarian Congregational Society with Jessica Roff, a volunteer with the Brooklyn Food Coalition, Food & Water Watch and United for Action and Water Defense.

DeChristopher was arrested in 2008 for criminal fraud, charged with obstructing the sale of federal lands to oil and gas developers. He was found guilty and sentenced to two years in federal prison, even though the new Obama Administration had since declared the land auction null and void.

Since then, DeChristopher has appeared on several media outlets including “Late Night with David Letterman” and “The Bill Moyers Show.”

The Nov. 2 program at First Unitarian Church promises to be a special in-person conversation between the two environmental activists. After the program, small groups will form to discuss the connection between consumption choices and climate change, the diversity of approaches by different organizations, how to shift public consciousness and conversation on the issues.

Also appearing at this event is activist musician Bryan Cahall, a storyteller, poet and singer-songwriter based in Brooklyn.

The Rev. Ana Levy-Lyons, senior minister at First Unitarian Church, says “Tim and Jessica personify the aspirations of our congregation and our faith: respect for the interdependent web of life and the goal of justice for all.”

The program runs on Saturday morning from 10 a.m.-2 p.m., with doors opening at 9:30 a.m. The suggestion donation is $25. The First Unitarian Congregational Society’s sustainability committee is sponsoring the event. The church is at the northeast corner of Pierrepont St. and Monroe Place, just west of Clinton St., in Brooklyn Heights.

The congregation has been worshipping in Brooklyn Heights since 1833 and at its historic neo-gothic sanctuary since 1844.

* * *

Symposium Deals with Efforts To Protect Public Buildings

Citizens Defending Libraries, in concert with First Unitarian Church’s Weaving the Fabric of Diversity Committee, hosts a public symposium this Sunday to widen public awareness of the sell-off of public buildings in New York City.

Since February, Citizens Defending Libraries (CDL) has been working hard to prevent the City’s sell-off of NYC public libraries and other public assets, including schools, hospitals, parks and public housing playgrounds. The groups say that these public assets are being sold without first allowing for public debate; and that these publicly-owned spaces will be replaced with privately developed luxury condominiums, hotels and office buildings.

The goal of the symposium, on Sunday, November 3 from 2 to 4 p.m. is to break down the walls of isolation amongst the people and groups affected, to identify common problems and concerns, make connections, and to foster mutual support. The symposium will be held in the Pierrepont St. Chapel, adjacently to the main sanctuary building at Pierrepont St. and Monroe Place. The Chapel is at street level.

Subway directions: 2/3 trains to Clark St. or Borough Hall, 4 train to Borough Hall, A train to High St. or Jay St., F train to J street. Bus: B25, B26, B52, B67 to Cadman Plaza. Please note that the R train does not stop between DeKalb Avenue in Brooklyn and Canal St. in Manhattan on weekends, due to extensive repair work being done in the Montague St. tunnel. The mta.info website indicates furthermore that the M train is not running this weekend. Commuters should also be aware of residual travel delays from that morning’s New York Marathon.

This newsbrief was revised on Thursday, October 31 at 11:45 a.m. from an earlier announcement that had provided the Brooklyn Eagle with incorrect information.

* * *

Bereavement Conference Offered For Brooklyn’ Roman Catholics

Catholic Charities of Brooklyn and Queens co-sponsors its second annual Bereavement Conference for all those in the Diocese of Brooklyn who have suffered the loss of loved ones, as well as for their helpers.

While the conference is being held at St. John’s University on Utopia Parkway in Queens, it is diocesan-wide. St. John’s University itself has strong Brooklyn roots. According to the university’s website, “St. John’s is a Catholic university, founded in 1870 in response to an invitation of the first bishop of Brooklyn, John Loughlin, to provide the youth of the city with an intellectual and moral education. For many years, the main campus was on Schermerhorn St. in downtown Brooklyn.

The conference, themed “Journey to Healing: We Remember; We Celebrate; We Believe” comprised of various workshops: Spousal Loss; Men and Grief; Art and Grief; Trauma and Caregivers and many more. Guest speakers include Sidney Callahan, author, lecturer, professor and licensed psychologist, who has taught at St. John’s; and Paul Alexander, psychotherapist, hospice social worker, author and performing artist.

The Most Reverend Paul R. Sanchez, D.D., auxiliary Bishop of Brooklyn, will celebrate Mass.

Co-sponsors include Catholic Charities Brooklyn and Queens, Catholic Cemeteries of the Diocese of Brooklyn and the St. John’s University Vincentian Center for Church and Society. The Bereavement Conference runs from noon-5 p.m. For directions and RSVP, contact Ingrid Seunarine, Director of Bereavement Services at CCBQ at 718-722-6233 or email at [email protected].
* * *

Hands-On Series Explores Roots of Jewish Cooking

Nani Beraha, the Brooklyn Heights Synagogue’s Service Learning Coordinator, demonstrates the proper way to peel and cut celery root in her class, “Routes and Roots: our Jewish heritage through root vegetables.” The group made three dishes: A traditional beet borscht, a root-vegetable slaw with kohlrabi, celery root, carrots and beets; and Moroccan Glazed Carrots—using the yellow, purple and orange variety of this root vegetable and spices. Beraha gave a presentation on vegetarian cooking and how these particular root vegetables made their way into Jewish cuisine. Her series continues right before Chanukah, with a class titled, “A Great Miracle Happens Here: 8 Ways to Cook, Bake, and Enhance with Olive Oil.” This class, on Sunday Nov. 24 from 11 a.m.-1 p.m., will commemorate the miracle of Chanukah by making olive oil based cookies, cakes and breads. Participants will also discover the wonderful ways olive oil can compliment and enliven things like fruit salad and cheese.

* * *

Orthodox Cathedral Celebrates Feast Of Brooklyn’s Own Saint Raphael

This Friday evening, St. Nicholas Antiochian Orthodox Cathedral will celebrate the Feast of St. Raphael of Brooklyn.

According to the cathedral’s website, Archmandrite Raphael Hawaweeny who, in 1895 had established an Arabic-speaking Russian Orthodox community in Brooklyn, was elected as a Vicar Bishop to TIKHON and to become the spiritual head of the Syrian mission of the Russian Orthodox Church in North America. RAPHAEL was given the title ‘Bishop of Brooklyn’ and head of the ‘Syrian Mission.’ This happened in 1904. St. Nicholas Church of Brooklyn—then at 301-03 Pacific St.—was designated as his cathedral. (The Antiochian Orthodox Church spells the Christian names of its bishops in all caps.) During his years leading the Syrian Mission in Brooklyn, Bishop RAPHAEL served added 30 parishes. He established a publication called “Al Kalimat” (THE WORD), through which he informed his readership of the truths of Orthodoxy. He died in 1915, and was canonized as a saint in the Russian Orthodox Church in May, 2000. That same year, his feast day was established on Nov. 4 (or the first Saturday in November.) The Great Vespers of the previous evening begins the feast day.)

The services at St. Nicholas Antiochian Orthodox Cathedral begin at 6:30 p.m. with Great Vespers and Artoklas, followed immediately by Festal Orthros and Divine Liturgy. Please join us as we celebrate the founder of our community! It will begin at 6:30 and will last until about 10:00 or 10:30. His Grace, Bishop NICHOLAS of the Antiochian Archdiocese will preside.

* * *

St. Ann & Holy Trinity Church Moves Service Time to 11:15

St. Ann & the Holy Trinity Church is observing a “Double Time Change” this Sunday, Nov. 3, which is also All Saints Sunday in the Episcopal Church.

While most of the United States observes the end of Daylight Saving Time this weekend, moving clocks back one hour at 2 a.m. and thus gaining some sleep, St. Ann’s is also moving the time of its 11 a.m. service so that it starts 15 minutes later.

The parish began a Children’s Service last year that begins at 9:30 a.m., followed by Christian education programming. Moving the 11 a.m. service to 11:15 a.m. allows for more unhurried time for this growing ministry.

* * *

BULLETIN

Nov. 3 is also the morning of the New York Marathon, which encompasses all five boroughs. Churchgoers around Brooklyn are urged to allow themselves more time to commute, and to plan alternate routes around the Marathon road closures.