MIRG

Memphis Inter-Religious Group

http://MemphisIRG.org

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OLDER HISTORY PAGE 1- some notes on past events       

Saturday, June 2, 2012, 7:30PM First Congregational Church 1000 S. Cooper St. Memphis, Tennessee Sunday, June 3, 2012, 3:00PM Brown Missionary Baptist Church 980 Stateline Road Southaven, MS

Mozart: Violin Concerto No. 3   Sanford Allen, violin Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 5

Saturday, May 5, 2012, 7:30PM First Congregational Church 1000 S. Cooper St. Memphis, Tennessee Sunday, May 6, 2012, 7:30PM Germantown Performing Arts Center 1801 Exeter Road Germantown, Tennessee

Selected arias (TBA)   Serena Benedetti, soprano Sibelius: Symphony No. 1

@ Malco's Ridgeway Four  starting April 13
Nominee - 2012 Academy Award for Best Foreign-Language Film
Haunted by history, Polish filmmakers return time and again to the events of the Second World War that so scarred their country. Agnieszka Holland, one of Poland's pre-eminent directors, has made a work that stands as one of her supreme achievements. In Darkness deals with something that has been difficult to reconcile within the war experience for many people: the Catholic-Jewish tension that cuts like a knife through Polish society. Conventional wisdom has it that, under Nazi rule, the natural anti-Semitism of Catholic Poland rose to the fore. Holland sets out to emphatically and majestically explore and undermine this particular view.

During the war, numerous Jews hid in the underground sewer systems of the major cities. This veritable labyrinth of underground passages, full of rats and waste, provided a safe haven as the Nazis starved and ultimately liquidated the ghettos. Based on a true story, In Darkness portrays this subterranean life through the experiences of Lvov sewer worker Leopold Socha (Robert Wieckiewicz) and the people he meets on his rounds. What gives the film grit, urgency and complexity is the fact that Leopold is Catholic, and initially as anti-Semitic as they come. He also knows that any contact with Jews, let alone the help that he gives them, jeopardizes his life and that of his wife and child. There are many reasons for Leopold to simply turn his back, and initially he does. What makes this film so remarkable is the manner in which he is confounded by his own prejudices, and the equally complex way that Holland portrays the Jewish characters in her film.

Holland has confronted a myth. Instead of making a schematic corrective, she has infused In Darkness with moral indecision and bad faith, as well as some of the most moving and self-sacrificing actions imaginable. The film is a testament to her belief in both the good and evil that lives within us all. This is a self-portrait of mankind, magisterial and Shakespearean in its grasp of what we are capable of doing to -- and for -- each other.

~2011 Toronto International Film Festival

Featured film will be about the witness of Franz Jägerstätter who was martyred for refusing to serve in Hitler’s army

Bornblum Judaic Studies, Rhodes College and the Marcus Orr Center

The University of Memphis Opera at the Rudi E. Scheidt School of Music will present Idomeneo by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart The opera tells the story of Idomeneo, King of Crete who returns home after the siege of Troy.  Because of a vow to save his life, he has to sacrifice the life of his son, Idamante, to appease the god Neptune. Complicating matters, Idamante is in love with Trojan prisoner-of-war Ilia and loved by Greek princess Electra. Harris Concert Hall, University of Memphis Campus, 3775 Central Avenue Ticket prices are $10 General Admission; $7 Non-U of M Students and Seniors; Free to U of M Students, Faculty and Staff with ID. Ticket purchases at 901.678-1651 or at the Harris Concert Hall box office.

The Incredible Story of Muslim Spain:  A Rise, Fall & Fantastic Global Legacy
Speakers will follow the short evening prayer at about 6:20 PM.
Also, the program will be broadcast live at  www.memphisislamiccenter.org/live.
For more information, please call 901-231-9340 or email info@memphisislamiccenter.org

April 3, Sunday, 9:00 AM, Germantown Methodist Church  Nabil Bayakly talks on  Shariah in America 
  2331 South Germantown Rd.  

Monday, April 11 at 5 pm.   Morris S. Fogelman Jewish Student Center at Hillel of Memphis and Bornblum Judaic Studies Department invite the community to the Memphis premier of the award winning documentary "A Small Act"

A Small Act is a documentary film produced by HBO. The documentary chronicles Chris Mburu's search for his benefactor, whose sponsorship allowed him to continue secondary school in Kenya. He would go on to earn degrees from the University of Nairobi and Harvard Law School. His benefactor turns out to be Hilde Back, a woman in Sweden who had fled from Nazi Germany because of her Jewish heritage.

Chris Mburu is a United Nations human rights advocate. Years later, he funds his own scholarship program to replicate the kindness he once received.

This moving and inspiring film is free and open to the community. For more information about the screening, contact Sherry Weinblatt.

March 15. Workers Interfaith Network lobby day in Nashville.
http://www.workersinterfaithnetwork.org/

November 7 - Interfaith walk
 LADIES AND GENTLEMEN,
 
GREETINGS!
 
WE ARE PLANNING TO HAVE AN INTERFAITH WALK ON NOV 7 AT 3 PM. THE WALK WILL START FROM AUDUBON PARK. WE WILL MEET AT THE PARKING LOT IN AUDUBON PARK ALONG GOODLETT, GO NORTH, MAKE A RIGHT TURN ON SOUTHERN, RIGHT TURN ON CHERRY, RIGHT TURN ON PARK AV AND THE FINAL RIGHT ON GOODLETT AND END AT WHERE WE STARTED. WE WILL HAVE REFRESHMENTS AND DRINKS. THOSE THAT CANNOT COVER THIS AREA CAN CUT THRU THE PARK, COME BACK AND ENJOY REFRESHMENTS.
 
THE PURPOSE OF THIS ACTIVITY IS TWO FOLD :
1. TO IMPROVE UNDERSTANDING AND COMRADERIE BETWEEN CHRISTIANS, JEWS, HINDUS AND MUSLIMS, AND PEOPLES OF OTHER FAITHS.
2. TO INCREASE THE AWARENESS OF MEMPHIS BEING THE "FATTEST CITY" IN USA WHERE 34% OF MEMPHIANS HAVE BMI OF >31. THE COMPLICATIONS OF OBESITY INCLUDE HYPERTENSION, DIABETES, ARTHRITIS, DECREASED IMMUNITY ETC.THE CITY HAS LAID DOWN 34 MILES OF TRACKS FOR HIKING, BIKING AND RUNNING TO INCREASE THE OUTDOOR ACTIVITIES (MEMPHIS IS ALSO RATED AS THE MOST "SEDENTARY CITY IN USA") BY UTILIZING THE USE OF THESE TRACKS.
 
PLEASE SPREAD THE NEWS AROUND AND JOIN US WITH YOUR FRIENDS FOR FUN.
 
  M.MOINUDDIN

Thoughts on  DIVALI Day
In the midst of all the darkness of anger and hate, conflict and confrontation, injustice and suffering that envelops the world, what sustains us is the  hope that these somber sides of humanity will eventually pass. We are strengthened by the hope that  ultimately truth and justice, knowledge and harmony will prevail. There are anecdotes from Hindu sacred history which have inspired  the festival, but the essence of them all is this deepest conviction of the ultimate victory of Light over Darkness. This is what  illumines us when we are plunged in the fears and concerns provoked by crass reality.
The joyous pan-Hindu festival of Light called Divali reassures us that there is a bright effulgence at the end of it all. When one prays, “From Darkness lead me unto Light” we are invoking the positive potential in human existence, even while recognizing its negative sides.
It is light that informs us of the world around. But our life-experience must include enjoyment also. Light is not only vibration of varying intensities, but of varying durations as well. This causes colors to arise.  Color adds splendor to the world. But for them the world would be a drab gray of changing shades. Color is not intrinsic to light, but a result of interactions between vibrations and our optical systems. It is the human brain that transforms mere undulations into chromatic magnificence. There is a lesson in this: We have the potential to shape uninteresting and uninspiring surroundings into something splendid and spectacular.
Light spans every nook and corner of the physical universe, and it has been there since the first Big Bang of cosmic creation. There is nothing we know of that is as omniscient or as omnipresent as light. If anything is worthy of universal worship, it is  light.  That is why light is taken to represent all that is positive and glorious in the human experience. That is why light stands for knowledge, as darkness for ignorance; for justice, as darkness for injustice; and for truth as darkness for untruth.
In the Hindu worldview, there is also the spiritual dimension of light. Jyoti refers not only to physical light but also to its ecstatic and mystical aspect. When the supreme light enters the human spirit, we become light ourselves. In the truly enlightened state, even as light encompasses the entire universe, we begin to see the oneness behind the many, and we embrace every race and creed, every religion and ritual as our own.
Such insights and historical optimism elevate and ennoble us, and they are implicit in the celebration of Divali.
In that spirit I wish all my Hindu brothers and sisters and others who would join us too a very joyous Divali.
V. V. Raman
November 5, 2010

Reports of earlier events:

(Reports on events are solicited0)

Movie and Panel - Different Book, Common Word.  Sept. 26, 2 PM

At our June 13 Meeting,      

At our May 23rd meeting,

At our April 11 meeting,