SPEAKERS
ROBERT SILVERMAN, Moderator
Robert Silverman is the U.S. Director of Muslim-Jewish Relations for AJC, the global Jewish advocacy organization. The new position represents a major expansion of existing AJC programmatic activities aimed at deepening Muslim-Jewish understanding and engaging in constructive, cooperative interactions. As a Senior Foreign Service Officer, Robert served in leadership positions at major embassies in Europe and the Middle East, and in Washington. After a two-year term as the elected President of the American Foreign Service Association, he returned to the Near Eastern Affairs Bureau as Director for Regional and Multilateral Affairs. He maintain a Top Secret/SCI security clearance, and is a member of the State Bar of California.
RABBI SHLOMO RISKIN
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Rabbi Shlomo Riskin is the founding rabbi of Lincoln Square Synagogue on the Upper West Side of New York City, which he led for 20 years; founding chief rabbi of the Israeli settlement of Efrat in the West Bank; dean of Manhattan Day School in New York City; and founder and Chancellor of the Ohr Torah Stone Institutions, a network of high schools, colleges, and graduate Programs in the United States and Israel. He belongs to the Modern Orthodox stream of Judaism. Riskin is a forceful spokesperson for Jews and Israel against anti-Semitism and anti-Zionism. As an advocate of religious and cultural tolerance, he has worked to promote good relations with the leaders of the Palestinian villages surrounding the Efrat settlement
FARANGISS SEDAGHATPOUR​
Farangiss Sedaghatpour is a pharmacist, a natural health practitioner, and a speaker. Farangiss facilitates Rosh Chodesh (new moon) gatherings for women, which are rooted in the teachings of Judaism and Jewish mysticism, and designed to help participants harness their inner wisdom for the improvement of their lives and their families.
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She was born in Iran, had to leave the country at age of 10 due to revolution. She stayed in London with her relatives, while her parents were still in Iran. She was eventually reunited with her parents and moved to New York, where she went to college and got her pharmacy degree. She met her husband in New York, been married for 27 years and has 3 children.
REV. DR. PATRICK G. DUGGAN​​
An ordained minister with the United Church of Christ, Duggan has served as Senior Pastor of the Congregational Church of South Hempstead/United Church of Christ since 1995 where he has increased membership, assisted five seminarians to complete the ordination process, and led the congregation through a vision discernment process to create CCSH 2043, a vision plan for the church's next generation. He is an innovator, executive, consultant, and has been a management professional in both the public and private sectors for over 25 years; Patrick Duggan is the Executive Director of the United Church of Christ (UCC) Church Building and Loan Fund (CBLF), in addition to his role as Pastor of the Congregational Church of South Hempstead, (UCC).
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BLONDELLE COAKLEY GADSEN​​
Blondelle Gadsden is a native Charlestonian who is also a life member of Emanuel A.M.E. Chuch where she serves in various capacities to do the work of the Lord. She is the sister of the late Myra Thompson, a victim of the 2015 shooting which took place at their hoem congregation in Charleston. Her parents, the late Isaiah and Sarah Coakley, reared eleven children of whom there were nine biological and two who came to live with and were accepted as children of the Coakley family. Blondelle has two children: Jamila Marlene and Merrill Jerome Gadsden and one grandson, Carlen Merrill Gadsden-Jenkins, who is the beat of her heart. Blondelle has been employed with the Charleston County School District for the past 23 years and considers herself to be a lifelong student and educator.
MUFTI MOHAMMED FARHAN, PH.D.​​
Mufti Farhan was raised in New York where he completed his primary education and High School. He pursued his education for 8 years in Islamic studies and received a bachelor's degree in Arabic and Islamic Sciences, specializing in hadith studies, and then went on to complete a Masters in Islamic Theology from the same institute, Jamia Binoria Internationl University, Karachi, Pakistan. Finally, he received a PhD in Islamic Jurisprudence and Law, from the same University.
Mufti Farhan is also specialized in Islamic Economics and Finance. Currently, he is the Director of Islamic Affairs for Muslims on Long Island, Inc. (Masjid AlBaqi), a youth director for the Islamic Center of South Shore, Valley Stream, Long Island (Masjid Hamza), and a religious consultant for ICLI Westbury, NY.
Member, Zabahia Halal Monitoring Committee, NYC, Member, NY Local Task Force for Halal Food Standard Alliance of America (HFSAA),
Co-founder & President of a Non-for-Profit Organization, Bani Adam aka Children of Adam.
COMMISSIONER KATHY LEE
Kathy Lee is a Tzu Chi Commissioners. She is part of a global network of selfless Tzu Chi volunteers dedicated to helping people in need in over ninety countries.
Buddhist Tzu Chi Foundation was started by Dharma Master Cheng Yen with the support of 30 housewives as a local charity initiative in 1966. It has grown to be a respected worldwide Buddhist organization with millions of members. Dharma Master Cheng Yen empowers the commissioners to learn the Dahrma, spread Buddha's teachings to everyone with the hope to become living bodhisattvas. The foundation hopes to instill in each of its members a heart filled with enlightened love, inspiring compassion, unconditional giving, sincerity, uprightness, faith, honesty and wisdom. Over the last five decades, Tzu Chi has concentrated on its missions of charity, medicine, education and culture.
KADIATOU DIALLO​​
Mother of Amaduo Diallo
and Founding President of the Amadou Diallo Foundation (ADF)
Seventeen years ago when Ms. Kadiatou Diallo's first-born son was mistakenly shot and killed by New York Police, Ms. Diallo demonstrated fierce advocacy during the aftermath of the tragedy. With strength and grace she established a foundation in the spirit of her son’s dream to attend college, the Amadou Diallo Foundation.
Since that time she has become a strong and notable presence lending her voice across the nation educating others about the need for police and community relations with the soul purpose of bringing forth racial healing and equality.
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Ms. Diallo's book, “My Heart will Cross this Ocean,” My story, My son, Amadou, chronicles the detail of her life’s journey in Guinea to the courageous force she has found within to continue her struggle for racial healing, with love grace and a willingness to empower future generations.
“ I think I have more work to do. I lend my voice across the nation to bring the two worlds together” (Kadiatou Diallo).
SPECIAL VIDEO MESSAGE FROM
DHARMA MASTER CHENG YEN​​
Master Cheng Yen (Chinese: è‰åš´æ³•å¸«; pinyin: Zhèngyán FÇŽshÄ«) is a Taiwanese Buddhist nun (bhikkhuni), teacher, and philanthropist. She has been called the "Mother Teresa of Asia." In 1966, Cheng Yen founded the Buddhist Compassion Relief Tzu Chi Foundation, commonly known as Tzu Chi; its motto is "instructing the rich and saving the poor". Cheng Yen's work in humanitarianism later developed and to the present the Tzu Chi Foundation has become involved in international programs of disaster relief, bone marrow donation, environmental protection, and community volunteering