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REVELATION IN A TIME OF PLAGUE

A Zoom Series of Reflections from
Spiritual Leaders of the Abrahamic Family of Faith

4 Wednesdays, April 22 – May 13, 2020
Hosted by MAS Boston and CMM

Register and receive the Zoom link

This week’s speakers:

  • Rabbi Claudia Kreiman is the rabbi at Temple Beth Zion, and has been with their community since 2007. She grew up in Santiago, Chile, where her father, Rabbi Angel Kreiman-Brill was the Chief Rabbi of Chile. Her experience growing up under the repression of the Chilean dictatorship inspired her work for social justice from a young age, where she went forth with a commitment to Jewish education on a multitude of endeavors. She is married to Rabbi Ebn Leader, who is on the faculty of the Rabbinical School of Hebrew College. They have two daughters, Alma and Ariel.
  • The Rev. Kevin Baxter is a pastor at the Church on the Hill (Swedenborgian) on Beacon Hill. After graduating from Pacific School of Religion and the Swedenborgian House of Studies in 2004, he was ordained as a minister of the Gospel by the Church of The New Jerusalem (Swedenborgian). He has served a variety of posts that include college chaplain, camp director, pastor, and denominational administrative positions. He currently enrolled in Boston University’s School of Theology Transformational Leadership Doctorate of Ministry program. He and his wife have three children and reside in metro-west Boston.
  • Dr. Aaron (Harun) Spevack is a professor of Islamic Studies. His teaching specialties include topics in Islamic studies—law, theology, Sufism, history, and culture. His research interests include Islamic intellectual history (law, theology, Sufism, logic) especially with regard to the 13th to 19th century legal and theological commentary traditions, as well as contemporary issues in Islam. He has taught at Harvard University’s Summer School (2010-present), Colgate University (2012-present), Loyola University New Orleans (2010-2012), and was a post-doctoral teaching and research fellow in the Humanities at Hamilton College (2008-2010).

This 4-week program that brings together congregations from the three Abrahamic traditions (Muslim, Christian and Jewish) and other interested persons. 12 faith community leaders (a representative three at each of 4 gatherings), will each offer advice to the community regarding some of the questions below (and others as they see fit), and then to open it for the congregants to reflect, ask questions, etc. The questions might be the following:

  1. What is the role of God in this pandemic?
  2. What is the role of spirituality and religion?
  3. What is the role of people of faith?
  4. How can we connect more with our spiritual being and God so that we can help the world overcome this crisis?
  5. What do we tell our children when they ask why is God doing this?
  6. And many others

This program starts on Wednesday, April 22, and ends on Wednesday, May 13, running for an hour each consecutive Wednesday from 5:30-6:30 in the evenings (Except for April 22, we will start at 6:15). 

This period of time is sacred to each of these three traditions and symbolic of fresh transcendent revelation. For Muslims it falls during the sacred month of Ramadan, April 23 – May 23, and calls to mind the year 610 A.D. when it is believed that the angel Gabriel appeared to Prophet Muhammad and revealed to him the Quran, the Islamic holy book. For Christians this period begins after Easter (W: April 12; E: April 19) and ends with Pentecost (W: May 31; E: June 7), 50 days after Easter Sunday which commemorates the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the Apostles and disciples of Jesus while they were in Jerusalem to celebrate the Jewish Feast of Weeks. Shavuot (Feast of Weeks) commemorates the revelation of the Torah to Moses and the Jewish people on Mount Sinai, May 28-30.

This program represents a chance for faith leaders to provide more guidance to our congregations regarding the role of spirituality and faith in these trying times, and to leverage this as an opportunity to anchor the faithful to God, in order to come closer to Him, to pray more, and to find answers to big questions that are often posed during a crisis. If faith leaders unite on this purpose we might collectively find an ecumenical and interfaith role in the whole of our societies toward a closer relationship with God or the mystically transcendent, which would benefit everyone.

For more information, please contact :
Hossam Al-Jabri of MAS Boston Hossam.aljabri@gmail.com
Rodney Petersen  rlp@coopmet.org  (617) 331-1747