Please join the GTU's Madrasa-Midrasha Program as we honor the messages of Passover, Ramadan, and Lent featuring Sam S.B. Shonkoff, Celene Ibrahim, and Arthur Holder. A light lunch will be provided for those who attend in-person.

Sam S.B. Shonkoff's talk "The Promises and Perils of Remembering 'Egypt'" begins with Pesach liturgy citing the ancient rabbinic exhortation, “In every generation, a person is obligated to see themself as if they went out from Egypt.” What has this personal identification with both oppression and liberation meant for Jews throughout the millennia, so often navigating their own vulnerable conditions? And in recent generations—in the unprecedented circumstances of a militarized Jewish nation-state, as well as an unjust occupation—how might practices of remembering “Egypt” pose both grave dangers and liberatory possibilities?

Dr. Ibrahim's talk "Muslim Mindfulness" explores the methods and modalities through which Muslims engage in introspection, particularly as Ramadan approaches.

Arthur Holder's talk "What Are You Giving Up for Lent?" considers the central role of individual freedom in practices of Christian asceticism, especially during the 40 days of the Lenten fast in preparation for the feast of Easter (which most Christians outside the English-speaking world know as Pascha). Chapter 49 in the monastic Rule of St. Benedict (6th century CE) is a key text that illustrates the point.