From the Holy Land to the East Bay!
Sunday October 27
6:30 PM – 9:30 PM
St. Alban’s Episopal Church
1501 Washington Street
Albany, CA
Click here to register on Event-brite.
REGISTER through email: gardensofkonya@gmail.com
California Mevlevi Order of America teachers welcome Ora and Ihab Balha from the Holy Land
Come! Come! to an evening of Rumi poetry, whirling, music, chanting, breath, and prayer. We’ll turn inward, welcoming profound healing and opening our hearts. Together we will sing and whirl with live musicians in ecstatic union with the Divine. No experience needed, just an open heart! (Wear comfortable clothing, wide skirts, and socks.)
This evening we will deepen our connection to love, creating an internal peace that brings harmony and healing to the world.
“When you plant a tree every leaf that grows will tell you, what you sow will bear fruit. So if you have any sense, my friend, don’t plant anything but love, you show your worth by what you seek.” — Rumi
MORE INFORMATION:
Bay Area Mevlevi Community welcomes Ora and Ihab Balha a Jewish-Muslim Sufi couple from the Holy Land. Their love has transcended the tension between their two cultures and has led to numerous peace efforts in Israel/Palestine. In 2010, they established an innovative interfaith kindergarten for Muslim, Jewish, and Christian children. They now operate nine bilingual Waldorf kindergartens, which are based on the love and acceptance of all religions and cultures. This year, they also opened an elementary school. These are all part of their foundation, The Orchard of Abraham’s Children. (orchardofabrahamschildren.org) a sanctuary for hundreds of children and a community of over 20,000 souls. They regularly lead conferences and interfaith activities to help break the barriers of fear and ignorance, bridge divides, reduce violence and conflict, and reconnect people with the Earth. They are the parents of three sons.
In the heart of the Holy Land, they live the truth that “There is no path to Love—Love is the path”
They are trained in the Mevlevi tradition of Jelaluddin Rumi, following the lineage of Suleyman Hayati Dede, former head Sheikh of Konya (the home of Rumi), and his son, Jelaleddin Loras Dede, who appointed them as Sheikh and Sheikha to continue the sacred teaching in the Holy Land. (hayatidede.org)