By Francesca Norsen
Brooklyn Daily Eagle

BROOKLYN HEIGHTS -- “I think that in the world we live in today, unfortunately, the differences are what divide us,� said Fatima Shama, commissioner of the Mayor’s Office of Immigrant Affairs, when giving the keynote address to the Dialogue Project’s Annual Teach-In last Sunday.

By contrast, she affirmed, “In New York, I think what we get to celebrate time and time again — including in this very room — is that our differences are things that we celebrate, we talk about, and we allow them to inform our judgment.�

Shama, in her role as liaison between the city and immigrant groups, is no stranger to dialogue. She has participated in the Dialogue Project, which founder Marcia Kannry began nine years ago to create common ground with people and groups from a wide range of religious and cultural backgrounds. Since March 2001, the Dialogue Project has grown into a wide net of volunteers who donate their professional backgrounds and talents towards helping people to listen to each other.

Their work was evident last Sunday when teachers and facilitators from the three Abrahamic traditions, plus Buddhists and humanists, gathered for the eighth-annual Interfaith Teach-in at Grace Church/Brooklyn Heights, themed “Compassion and Action: How Our Values and Faiths Foster Healing and Activism.�

As always, a meal began the afternoon, with Zaytoon’s Restaurant providing the Middle Eastern specialties. This year’s program also featured internationally acclaimed musician Anwar Diabagha on the oud and violin.

Helping Victims Here and Abroad

Shama spoke poignantly about ways that her own multi-cultural background has taught her compassion for others. Her Brazilian Catholic mother and Palestinian Muslim father instilled in her “the celebration of people and the opportunity to learn from one another’s differences and experiences.� Such experiences have been formative to her present job and her office’s handling of two recent tragedies: the earthquake in Haiti and last weekend’s fire (now ruled as arson and the deaths ruled as homicide) that destroyed a Guatemalan family and their home in Bensonhurst.

“New York is incredibly demonstrative of compassion — moving from compassion to action,� she affirmed. With Haiti, “everyone mobilized immediately with an outpouring of volunteering and money. We raised over $1.2 million dollars for Haiti,� she said to applause. Within two days of her office’s request for Haitian/Creole interpreters, she added, “we had 38 volunteers. People came forward who are fluent in Haitian Creole who said, ‘We’ll give you our time, what do we need to do?’�

Domestic Violence

The teach-ins featured nine roundtables, each with about 12 to 14 participants and clergy leaders presenting on various manifestations of compassion. At least three of these were devoted to helping victims of domestic violence. Rabbi Diana Manber spoke of her work with the New York Board of Rabbis, which confronts family violence in the Jewish community, where victims have traditionally been silent.

Robina Niaz, a founder and executive director of Turning Point for Women and Families, a native of Pakistan, and a Muslim, pointed out that violence against women runs contrary to the teaching of the Qu’ran. She added that the Qu’ran invokes 99 times the name of God as “most Merciful, most Compassionate.�

She explained, “We are created in the image of God. And if compassion and mercy are God’s attributes, then that’s how we behave. If you see injustice, you try to stop it by your actions; and if not by actions, then by your words; and if not by words, then in your heart.�

Rev. Sally MacNichol, ordained interfaith minister, anti-violence advocate and social worker, has run empowerment groups for victims and survivors of domestic violence. She has also worked with batterers. MacNichol spoke of her work with CONNECT, a nonprofit that works to eliminate family and gender violence.

Other teachers focused on protecting the environment as a form of compassion. Rabbi Lawrence Troster of GreenFaith, the New Jersey-based interfaith environmental coalition, pointed out that environmental compassion goes beyond saving a wilderness; it’s about protecting people. “When 20 percent of the world’s population consumes 80 percent of the world’s resources, and 80 percent of the people only have 20 percent of those resources, people suffer,� he said.

Likewise, Ibrahim Abdul Matin, blog wizard of Brooklyn Bedouin and member of Interfaith Leaders for Environmental Justice, also spoke of how Islam encourages protecting the planet. His book, Green Dean: What Islam Teaches About Protecting the Planet,� has an expected publication date this July.

Rabbi Simkha Weintraub, LCSW, director of the New York Jewish Healing Center, works to address the spiritual needs of the ill, the bereaved and their caregivers and families. His group examined Jewish texts about the ripple effects of cruelty and kindness. He said that kindness towards one person becomes kindness towards all of humankind.

Many clergy and lay who were past teach-in leaders served this time as facilitators, working behind the scenes. Time and space were provided for the Muslim and Jewish participants to fulfill their daily prayers: the Asr prayers for Muslims and the Mincha prayer for Jews.

© Brooklyn Daily Eagle 2010 All materials posted on BrooklynEagle.com are protected by United States copyright law. Just a reminder, though -- It’s not considered polite to paste the entire story on your blog. Most blogs post a summary or the first paragraph,( 40 words) then post a link to the rest of the story. That helps increase click-throughs for everyone, and minimizes copyright issues. So please keep posting, but not the entire article. arturc at att.net