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By Vanguard Staff<\/p>\n
WOODLAND, Calif. \u2014 More than 130 members of Yolo County\u2019s interfaith community gathered Feb. 1 at the Woodland Mosque & Islamic Center for the annual Celebration of Abraham, raising $2,342 for Joshua\u2019s House, a hospice program serving unhoused individuals.<\/p>\n
The event, hosted by Khalid Saeed, centered on the theme \u201cReturning to Abraham: Reflections in Courage,\u201d highlighting Abraham as a central figure in Jewish, Christian and Islamic traditions.<\/p>\n
The program also reflected on the history of the event, first held in 2003 at Holy Rosary Church in Woodland.<\/p>\n
Father John Boll, who hosted the inaugural celebration, opened the program by recounting the biblical story of Abraham and God\u2019s call for him to leave his birthplace in Ur \u201cinto a land that I will show you.\u201d<\/p>\n
Rabbi Leah Julian, director of education and youth at Congregation Bet Haverim, followed, describing Abraham as a figure of faith and courage in Jewish tradition, including stories of his resistance to idol worship and willingness to challenge authority.<\/p>\n
Imam Riaz Ahmed Quadri of the Woodland Mosque emphasized Abraham\u2019s significance in Islam, noting that Ibrahim is regarded as one of many prophets and is known for his steadfast rejection of falsehood and commitment to faith.<\/p>\n
Following the speakers\u2019 remarks, Michael Hirsh moderated a discussion featuring audience questions.<\/p>\n
Attendees also participated in interfaith rituals, including washing each other\u2019s hands, sharing bread and singing \u201cChildren of Abraham,\u201d led by composer Randy Ferris.<\/p>\n
As part of the annual tradition, the event included a freewill offering to support a local justice initiative.<\/p>\n
This year\u2019s beneficiary was Joshua\u2019s House, a program of Yolo Cares that provides hospice services for unhoused individuals across the region.<\/p>\n
Chris Erdman, director of Joshua House, explained that the program focuses on bedside care, psychosocial support and alternative therapies for individuals at the end of life.<\/p>\n
Organizers reported that the community contributed $2,342 to support the program\u2019s work.<\/p>\n
Tags: interfaith community, Woodland California, Yolo Cares, Joshua\u2019s House hospice, faith and justice, community fundraising<\/p>\n
Categories: Breaking News<\/a> Yolo County<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"By Vanguard Staff WOODLAND, Calif. \u2014 More than 130 members of Yolo County\u2019s interfaith community gathered Feb. 1…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":225568,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[121,123,122],"class_list":["post-225567","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sacramento","tag-sacramento","tag-sacramento-headlines","tag-sacramento-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/225567","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=225567"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/225567\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/225568"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=225567"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=225567"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=225567"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}