Women’s Interfaith Solutions for Dialogue & Outreach in Metro Detroit

WISDOM

June 2021

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WELCOME TO THE JUNE 2021 WISDOM WINDOW! 

 UPCOMING and ONGOING PROGRAMS
WISDOM is continuing a fun program called “WISDOM Walks.”  Each participant will be paired with a random walking partner so the pair can get to know each other during the walk. We are really excited about this as we get an amazing opportunity to learn more about our sisters and burn some calories at the same time. Even though you may have missed out on the first “shoebox drawing,” it’s not too late to sign up for future walks.  Email Mary Gilhuly at mgk@klaper.com and sign up soon!  Looking forward to walking with you all!RACE AND MEDICINE SERIES  We just completed the second in our “Race and Medicine” series of presentations coordinated by WISDOM member Delores Lyons with
Dr. Oveta Fuller presiding and Judy Nimer Muhn, a Native American, presenting valuable information regarding medical issues that unfairly affect Native Americans in the U.S.  Our next presentation will be on Tuesday, June 29, 2021, at 7 p.m. and will focus on the COVID virus and its effect on minority communities.  Please join us for an informative evening with opportunities to openly discuss issues that impact all of us.Click here to register.Read on for MORE WISDOM NEWS

FEATURED WISDOM WOMAN OF THE MONTH: GAIL KATZ All who have followed WISDOM through the years are familiar with
Gail Katz, one of the founders of WISDOM, the founder of the 7th grade Religious Diversity Journeys program, the Education Director of the Interfaith Leadership Council, and the chairperson of the World Sabbath for 17 years, a program which was celebrated at various houses of worship on a Sunday in March which brought children and adults of all faiths together to celebrate and pray together for world peace.  Additionally, Gail is a member of the Temple Israel Board of Directors and has brought the Temple Israel Sisterhood and the Sisterhood of Hartford Memorial Baptist Church together for fun social action projects like assembling fleece blankets together and delivering them to Alternatives for Girls in Detroit.  The list of her accomplishments is endless, and she continues to add to the list by finding new ways to serve involving Jews, Muslims, Christians, Hindus, Baha’is, Sikhs, and others who desire to work together with a spirit of love and giving. 

It is difficult to identify the Gail we know with the Gail who as a child felt alone and angry.  She was a Jewish child who was given little Jewish education but was identified by teachers and others as the only Jew in her school and neighborhood and, as such, was treated differently.  Even when she later moved into predominantly Jewish Oak Park, she felt disconnected because of her lack of knowledge about her own faith.  These are the events that, in her own words, “led me into an incredibly fulfilling world of interfaith in my years of retirement, and I am incredibly blessed!  I look forward to many more years of interfaith interaction in Metropolitan Detroit.”  THANK YOU, GAIL, FOR THE EXAMPLE YOU HAVE SET FOR ALL OF US!

Each Monday Mary Gilhuly, a WISDOM Board member and co-founder of Song and Spirit Institute, helps collect food for the needy at the Starr Presbyterian Church parking lot at 13 Mile Road and Crooks in Royal Oak from 9 a.m.-11 a.m.  All are invited to contribute to this great cause.  Items needed (no glass containers, please):  peanut butter, jelly, low sugar cereal, cans or cartons of soup, canned fruit (no sugar), canned vegetables, canned stew, canned fish, canned beans, wholegrain pasta, pasta sauce, sandwich bread, powdered or shelf-stable milk, Aldi’s gift cards.  Our hearts go out to our many brothers and sisters throughout the world who are facing pandemic illnesses, religious wars, ethnic discrimination, and other unspeakable horrors.  We close this month’s WISDOM Window with a Prayer for Peace by
Rabbi John L. Rosove.  Thank you, Gail Katz, for sharing this. May we hold lovingly in our thoughts
Those who suffer from tyranny, subjection, cruelty, and injustice
and work every day towards the alleviation of their suffering.
May we recognize our solidarity
with the stranger, outcast, downtrodden, abused, and deprived,
that no human being be treated as “other,”
that our common humanity weaves us together
in one fabric of mutuality, one garment of destiny.
May we pursue the Biblical prophet’s vision of peace,
that we might live harmoniously with each other
and side by side, respecting differences, cherishing diversity
with no one exploiting the weak, each living without fear of the other,
each revering Divinity in every human soul.
May we struggle against institutional injustice,
free those from oppression and contempt,
act with purity of heart and mind, despising none,
defrauding none, hating none,
cherishing all, honoring every child of God, every creature of the earth.
May all know peace, and may we nurture kindness and love everywhere. That is our prayer for each of you.  Have a wonderful month of June!