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Café Finjan Planning Committee
Thursday, Oct. 27
Since 2002, Café Finjan has been building bridges between Jewish and Muslim communities through the arts. Ranging from spoke word, short stories, drama, visual arts, music and more Café Finjan is a space where Jewish and Muslim artist give voice to their identities and experiences.
But it’s not only the artist who create something new.
Being an audience member at Café Finjan means meeting new people, discussing art and experiences, and nurturing strong interfaith relationships.
Want to join the amazing group of folks who makes it all possible?
Come to our first planning meeting:
Thursday, Oct. 27 at 6:30 pm
Jewish Council on Urban Affairs
5th Floor
610 S. Michigan Ave., Chicago
Contact Miriam@jcua.org to RSVP or for more information.
(Photos: Indigo and the Café Finjan committee, from a 2010 Cafe Finjan event.)
JCUA and IMAN speak out at Sukkot Foreclosure Rally
The scene was Chicago's Hyatt Regency Hotel on Oct. 11. Inside, members of the Mortgage Bankers Association of America were holding a meeting.
Out in front, an unusual image.
It was a Sukkot Housing Justice Action, led by JCUA, much like the Occupy Wall Street/Occupy Judaism Sukkot Actions around the nation.
At our event, clergy spoke of the Sukkah, the huts Jews build and live in to commemorate wandering through the desert for 40 years. The Sukkah in JCUA’s action (in photo above, at left) was used as a symbol of unstable housing at a time when our nation is still in the midst of a devastating foreclosure crisis caused by predatory lending, subprime loans, and corporate greed.
Gemali Ibrahim (in photo above, right) of the Inner City Muslim Action Network spoke of the Multi-faith Housing Reclamation Campaign, a collaboration of JCUA, IMAN, and SWOP. The campaign is a multifaith initiative to work in solidarity with the people of the Chicago Lawn Community to reclaim foreclosed, vacant properties and turn them back into homes.
“We’re taking a proactive approach," Ibrahim told the crowd. "We went into a home; put a garden in the back yard. We put a fence in the back to secure it and art work in the front where people can walk past and take pride in their community. We must continue to join together.”
Ibrahim finished his testimony with power poetry saying, “Joining together between faiths, hand in hand is a start…we must fight power with power. Negotiations will only go so far when you have an enemy with no heart.”
To find out more about the Multi-faith Housing Reclamation Project contact Judy Levey at JCUA.
Read more about it:
» 6210 Fairfield Becomes Symbol of Community Reclamation 
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