Religion

Donations, Prayers Pour Into Turkish Mosque

by | Feb 10, 2023 4:33 pm | Comments (1)

Hulya Elevli: “I’m not changing my clothes because I’m thinking, 'They can’t change theirs over there.'”

Some of the donations ready to be boxed and shipped to Turkey.

Hulya Elevli has spent every day this week sorting through donations at the Diyanet Mosque in Quinnipiac Meadows while coordinating with earthquake refugees to help them find shelter in a house she owns in northern Turkey.

On Friday morning, the end of a restless week and the mere beginning of a coordinated response to the magnitude 7.8 earthquake that ravaged parts of Turkey and Syria and that has caused at least 23,000 fatalities, Elevli joined members of the mosque at 531 Middletown Ave. and U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal to speak up about the need that exists abroad and offer guidance to locals about how to help.

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Podcaster Gatecrashes Ivy League Anti-Semitism

by | Jan 30, 2023 12:34 pm | Comments (1)

Allan Appel photo

Mark Oppenheimer with his high school teacher and dean Alice Baxter on Sunday.

How about a written application — as opposed to an old boys’ nod from the rowing coach — and in-person interviews to detect your excessively Lower East Side manners? 

How about a questionnaire requiring you to indicate, for example, what business your family is in? And written recommendations and aptitude tests?

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City, State, Clergy Gather Against Gun Violence

by | Jan 27, 2023 2:28 pm | Comments (5)

At Thursday's First Calvary Baptist Church-hosted conversation. Clockwise from top left: Shepard St. resident Addie Kimbrough, top state's attorney Pat Griffin, youth anti-violence organizer Remidy Shareef, Rev. John Lewis.

Before December, I had never seen anyone die,” Addie Kimbrough told a room full of police, prosecutors, clergy, and politicians. Until, on the block where she founded a community garden, she witnessed a young man lying on the ground. 

He was the same age as her grandson: 24. I saw them trying to revive him,” Kimbrough said later. That moment touched me.” 

She found herself taking the mic at a community meeting calling for change and volunteering to help. I don’t want this to happen to any of our kids.”

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In Memory Of My Friend Maurice

by | Nov 21, 2022 9:14 am | Comments (4)

Contributed photo

Maurice Gorowsky (right) with Lawrence Dressler.

The following eulogy was written by Lawrence Dressler and read on Sunday at the funeral of Maurice Gorowsky, a longtime friend of his and a World War II veteran who passed away this weekend at the age of 99. He was buried at the Beth Israel cemetery on Fitch Street between Whalley and Jewell.

Maurice Gorowsky was born on April 20, 1923 in Philadelphia to Russian Jewish immigrants Bella Liebman and Louis Gorowsky.

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As Winter Nears, Local Aid To Ukraine Grows

by | Nov 11, 2022 9:55 am | Comments (1)

Allan Appel photo

Carl Harvey with one of the three vehicles the group hopes to ship next month.

As a young nurse training at Walter Reed Medical Center during the Vietnam War, Jane Ryzewski knows firsthand how much care and how many supplies are needed to help injured soldiers.

Which is why she joined three dozen fellow volunteers at the Ukrainian Catholic Church on George Street to organize and prepare to ship out an ever-growing assemblage of medical supplies and winter clothing to the front lines of another international conflict that is now in its ninth month.

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“Radiant” Church Honors Its Pastors

by | Oct 31, 2022 11:08 am | Comments (2)

Allan Appel photo

Congregant Josue Ortiz shows how it's done.

Josue Ortiz sounded the shofar, but it wasn’t the Jewish Day of Atonement. He wasn’t even in a synagogue.

The site was the Estrella Resplandeciente de Jacob, the Radiant Star of Jacob Church in Fair Haven, where the spirit and service of long-time pastors Javier and Shari Diaz were trumpeted, along with the help of an official certificate presented by U.S. Senator Richard Blumenthal.

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HeArts Beat For Justice

by | Aug 29, 2022 9:17 am | Comments (1)

Brian Slattery Photos

Rev. Jeremiah Paul.

The Rev. Jeremiah Paul, pastor for Hamden Plains United Methodist Church, held his hand high as he spoke to the crowd assembled to hear him at Hamden’s Town Center Park on Friday evening. His audience were members of his congregation, but also from the greater New Haven community, a mix of languages, ages, cultures and creeds. Among them were artists selling their pieces and food truck vendors feeding the people. 

We had a little rain shower, which I consider a blessing from the heavens,” he said amiably. With the sun out, the show was ready to start.

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25th Annual Gospel Fest Transforms Goffe Street Park Into Church

by | Aug 15, 2022 9:50 am | Comments (2)

Scott Troublefield and New Vision.

Far out behind the crowded audience at Goffe Street Park, beyond still the stragglers who spread out among the opposing baseball diamond’s outfield, tucked just inside the entryway of the third-base dugout, a woman with gray hair and blue Nikes called out: Amen!”

The Sunday sun had set, but the sound of gospel from the stage still echoed as far as Crescent Street. The woman, silhouetted by the park floodlights, said she was taking her church from all the way back there.

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Beulah Breaks Ground On Affordable Apts.

by | Aug 10, 2022 11:49 am | Comments (7)

Laura Glesby file photo

Developers and officials break Beulah ground.

Laura Glesby Photo

Sustainable, affordable housing envisioned for 340 Dixwell.

Faith leaders, politicians, and investors shoveled a pile of ceremonial dirt, breaking ground on a soon-to-rise apartment complex that will be sustainable not only for the earth, but for low-income families.

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Peace Waged, Park Butts & Hub Caps Cleared On Interfaith Day of Service

by | Aug 9, 2022 9:03 am | Comments (3)

Kristen Schick, coastal cleanup intern for environmental nonprofit Save the Sound, collecting trash during Sunday morning's cleanup at Criscuolo Park.

Hub cap. Fish skull. Brand new bucket hat. Bike chain. An entire picnic setup. And so, so many metal bottle caps.

These were among the items included in 200 pounds of trash collected by volunteers at Criscuolo Park on Sunday morning.

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Yale Cleared On Div Dorm Parking

by | Aug 2, 2022 1:45 pm | Comments (3)

Contributed photo

A draft rendering of the Living Village addition, at the top left of the map, as it fits into the Divinity School's existing structure.

Thomas Breen photo

Yale’s plans to build a new eco-friendly dormitory for divinity school students moved ahead, as alders unanimously signed off on a resolution stating that the project doesn’t require any amendment to the university’s central campus parking plan.

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Dixwell UCC Marks Bicentennial

by | Aug 1, 2022 9:36 am | Comments (1)

Maya McFadden Photo

Dixwell UCC bicentennial planning committee members Joy W. Donaldson, Antonie Thorp, Estelle Whitfield Simpson, Clifton Graves Jr., Althea Musgrove Norcott, Helena Rogers, and Cheryl Gray.

The nation’s oldest African American United Congregational Church is celebrating 200 years of being rooted in community service, social justice, and humanitarian efforts. 

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Div Dorm Aims For Green Eden

by | Jul 27, 2022 3:47 pm | Comments (14)

Contributed photo

A draft rendering of the Living Village addition, at the top left of the map, as it fits into the Divinity School's existing structure.

The Yale Divinity School plans to build a dormitory that recycles its wastewater and generates all its own energy — aiming to create the first residential building to meet Living Building Challenge” standards for sustainability.

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Greer Seeks New Sex-Abuse Trial

by | Jul 20, 2022 6:28 pm | Comments (11)

Christopher Peak file photo

Rabbi Greer.

Incarcerated sex offender Rabbi Daniel Greer left his prison cell Wednesday to come to a New Haven courtroom — where one of his alleged victims testified that Greer had indeed had sex with a former student … but waited until the boy was over the age of 16 years.

Greer was the one who arranged to have the witness come say that, in the hopes of obtaining a new trial.

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A "Rock" Rolls Forward

by | Jun 7, 2022 1:36 pm | Comments (2)

Lisa Reisman Photo

Sunday at Upon This Rock.

Pastor Christine Perry offered the assembled some advice that also described a journey she was launching at the pulpit.

There may be a little turbulence,” she told them. But if there is, just hold onto your seat, because we’re definitely going to get there.”

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