The Monk, the Sufi and the Rabbi
FULL PROGRAM
The First Internal Travel Series
The Monk, the Sufi and the Rabbi
- What is the real function of religion?
- What happens when religious identities and differences are left behind?
- Join this unique “InterSpiritual dialogue” and hear from one of the great spiritual teachers of our time.
For the first time in 25 years, video cameras are invited to document The Snowmass Inter-spiritual Conference, led by Trappist- Cistercian monk and author Father Thomas Keating. Here, contemplatives of different ages from different faith traditions come together to share their rituals, their spiritual commonalities, and their insights on faith, religious intolerance and contemporary world events, including a memorable, in-depth exchange on the conflict in the middle east between an Egyptian Muslim Sufi and an American Jewish Rabbi. Viewers are allowed to witness these contemplatives sharing their agreements, disagreements and insights within a unique group atmosphere of trust.
Father Keating keeps the group’s focus on the experiential rather than the theological, on the internal state of being rather than the external religious forms.
Key Participants
The Monk: Father Thomas Keating O.S.C.O.(1923–2018)
Father Keating is one of the foremost teachers of contemplative prayer in the Christian tradition. He was born in New York in 1923 and converted to Catholicism while a student at Yale University in the 1940s. He entered a cloistered Roman Catholic monastery of the Cistercian order.
Father Keating, along with M. Basil Pennington, is co-founder of the Centering Prayer movement and of Contemplative Outreach, a worldwide nonprofit organization dedicated to encouraging the practice of this Christian form of meditation.
Born in Egypt, Mahmoud Mostafa has been devoted to the study and practice of Tassawuf or the Sufi path since 1995. In the course of his development, Mahmoud received teachings from Sufi shaikhs in the USA, Turkey, Syria, South Africa, and Egypt. Mahmoud follows the Mevlevi sufi path of Jalaluddin Rumi under the guidance of Shaikh Kabir Helminski. In addition to extensive study of the Quran and Hadith, he has also studied the works of Imam Ali, Rumi, Ibn Arabi, and other Sufi masters. He has facilitated Sufi circles, Quran study groups, and participated in inter-faith dialogues. He has been involved in the translation of several books, including The Book of Hadith, The Mevlevi Wird, The Light of Dawn, and Women of Sufism. He currently lives in London where he is a guiding hand in the work of the Mevlevi sufi group The Threshold Society.
The Rabbi: Rabbi Henoch Dov Hoffman (1947 – 2024)
Rabbi Henoch Dov Hoffman was raised in an American conservative community. He completed a BA in comparative religion at Dartmouth College before finishing course work towards a Ph.D. in Education at University of Colorado at Boulder. His first career was in special-needs education working in the innovative Outwood Bound School in Marble, Colorado. Over the years, Rabbi Hoffman felt inspired to combine Chassidic teachings with Hahn’s principles of the outdoors, combined with psychodrama therapeutic methods. As an American rabbi, he was influenced by the work of Scottish Gordonstoun School founder, German Jewish Kurt Hahn, in the value of the outdoors in personal development. Rabbi Hoffman volunteered in the Six-Day War, when he was a student at Hebrew University, and who has twice crossed the Sinai Desert when it was under Israeli jurisdiction.
Other Inter-spiritual Dialogue Participants:
Swami Atmarupananda, Alia Braley, Neiel Baronberg, Chad Cascarilla, Paul Duke, Chanan Hoffman, David Hyers, Kurt Johnson, Susan Komis, Rory McEntee, Angela Morris, Shawn O’Brien, Swami Pravrajika Vrajaprana
Program Excerpts
Religion and The Spiritual Journey
Intolerance and Fear
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