Past Events

Rumi’s Poetry, Sufi Music, and Whirling Dervishes 13 th century Persian, Jalal al-Din Rumi, is America’s best-selling poet the last decade. Founder of the “Whirling Dervishes,” his mystical poetry paints poignant, beautiful images of the unity of all Being, harmony with all creation, and; Divine Love. Our friend Ronnie Malley brings together Sufi musicians, chorus, and dervishes (dancers) for an evening of meditation, celebration, inspiration, and peace. Area peace, justice, and social service organizations will have displays of their community…

Christian social activist, founder of Philadelphia’s Simple Way Community, Shane Claiborne, and founder of RawTools, Michael Martin, promote their new book, Beating Guns: Hope For People Who Are Weary of Violence. The Beating Guns Tour features music, art, and stories of people impacted by gun violence, culminating with an invitation for the audience to take the hammer and transform a gun into garden tools. With Emmaus Road Mennonite Fellowship and the Mennonite Central Committee.

 Amira Hass, acclaimed Israeli journalist, author, and columnist for Ha’aretz, covers Palestinian affairs in the West Bank & Gaza; she is the only Jewish reporter living in the West Bank.  Hass is the only child of a Jewish mother who survived nine months in Bergen-Belsen concentration camp, and a Jewish father who survived three wartime years in a ghetto.  She writes and speaks about the dilemmas of an Israeli journalist covering Israeli colonialism.  She is an outspoken critic of Israel’s policies and…

Medea Benjamin Join us for an evening with political activist Medea Benjamin, co-founder of Code Pink.  She was also the 2000 Green Party candidate in California for the US Senate, receiving the highest vote total of any Green Party US Senate candidate in US history.  She contributes to a number of media outlets, including The Huffington Post.  She's been described as "one of the high-profile leaders of the peace movement."

Ambassador Dr Akbar Ahmed Ambassador Ahmed is Ibn Khaldun Chair of Islamic Studies at American University, Washington DC and former Pakistani High Commissioner to the UK and Ireland. Named "the world's most influential authority on contemporary Islam" by BBC, Dr. Ahmed serves on the World Faiths Development Dialogue, led by Lord George Carey, former Archbishop of Canterbury, and the Advisory Board for the Senator George J. Mitchell Institute for Global Peace, Security and Justice, Queen's University, Belfast. Author of over 20…

2019 GALA – SUSAN ABULHAWA Author, Poet, Activist We are delighted to invite you to an evening you won't soon forget!  This year our gala features Susan Abulhawa as the keynote speaker.  Her literary work and her activism are inspiring, and we are certain that her discussion with us will be as well. +Author, Mornings in Jenin (translated into 32 languages), The Blue Between Sky and Water, and My Voice Sought The Wind (poetry) +Founder, Playgrounds for Palestine (West Bank,…