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ING 9/11 Commemoration: Transformation Through Community Engagement
ING successfully hosted a 9/11 Commemoration Event on Wednesday, September 7th at the MacAfee Performing Arts and Lecture Center in Saratoga, CA. The event master of ceremonies was Supervior Dave Cortese who welcomed the audience and began the evening with a viewing of executive producer Sean Penn’s critically acclaimed documentary Love Hate Love. This was followed by an interfaith procession of more than 30 interfaith leaders who took the stage along local governmnet officials and first responders. The presence of police, fire and paramedic officials along with representatives of the various faith communities on stage was both powerful and emotional. The event brought together more than 220 attendees who heard moving talks by Imam Aladdin El Bakri from the Saratoga Mosque, Father Jon Pedigo from St. Julie Billiart Parish, Rabbi Dana Magat from Temple Emanue-El, and Shifu Jian Hu from the Chung Tai Zen Center discussing the need for unity and engagement in order to build peace and tolerance in our communities.
You can view the talks by the interfaith clery and opening remarks by Nahid Aliniazee, ING board member, and Lisa Ceile, Coordinator for Cultural Arts and Center for Jewish Life and Learning at this site: ING 9/11 Commemoration.
San Francisco 10th Anniversary Observance of 9/11
The annual Opera in the Park festival in partnership with the San Francisco Interfaith Council and Mayor Ed Lee’s office commemorated the 10th year anniversary of 9/11 on Sunday at the Sharon Meadows Park in San Francisco. The event opened with a processional of representatives from a dozen religious traditions. ING President Maha Elgenaidi delivered the invocation to a crowd of more than 15,000. She offered a homily in tribute to the victims of the attack as well as a broader denunciation of all ideological violence.
You can read her invocation by clicking here.
ING cosponsored and its representatives spoke at several other 9/11 Commemoration events throughout the Bay Area including:
“My Search for Meaning” at Gideon Hausner Jewish Day School, Palo Alto
“Pledging to Build a Path Towards Peace” at Trinity Church, Menlo Park
“Joint Muslim and Christian Prayers for Peace” at Campbell United Methodist Church, San Jose
“From Fear to Friendship” at Muslim Community Center, Santa Clara