http://geo.com.pa/web Confianza por Décadas desde 1992 Mon, 20 Apr 2026 12:01:06 +0000 en-US hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=4.1 http://geo.com.pa/web/?p=1628 http://geo.com.pa/web/?p=1628#comments Sun, 28 Aug 2022 10:18:38 +0000 http://geo.com.pa/web/?p=1628 Allen Robinson Jersey canopy to block the hot South Texas sun, a woman wearing the face paint and bright colors of a clown calls out. Her apron says Bippy's World, the clowning busine s she operates in Houston. "Would you like a snow cone, popcorn, cotton candy? Or do you want all three?" she asks 4-year-old Israel Sanchez. He's with his Mike Ditka Jersey grandmother Amy Nuez from Austin, pa sing through on their way back from Del Rio, to the west of here. She wanted to pray for the kids. "Every prayer counts," she says. Enlarge this imageIsrael Sanchez, 4, stands with his grandmother Amy Nuez as he holds his new frisbee, courtesy of Dunbar.Laurel Wamsley/NPRhide captiontoggle captionLaurel Wamsley/NPRIsrael Sanchez, 4, stands with his grandmother Amy Nuez as he holds his new frisbee, courtesy of Dunbar.Laurel Wamsley/NPR"I have six grandkids, and it got to me," says Nuez. "That's why I'm here." She points to her grandson. "He's the youngest, and he's getting ready to go to school, so, yeah, it's very emotional for me." Behind the face paint of Bippy the Clown is Deturice Dunbar, 55. She's here in Uvalde because gun violence has touched her own family and she felt God called her here to serve."He told me I had an a signment to be here," she says. "When these type of things happen, the politicians come out, the news media Taylor Gabriel Jersey but nobody comes for the kids. It was such a tragedy. I just wanted to give them just one moment where they can come over and smile and be a kid again." She's also here because she knows the pain of a parent waiting to know about her child's condition after a shooting. Her daughter was wounded in New Orleans in February shot twice by the girlfriend of her son's father.Uvalde elementary school shooting Uvalde shooting survivors seek comfort anywhere, including in the arms of bikers "She lived, thank God," she says. But the experience shattered Dunbar, whose grandson was in the car at the time. "By the grace of God, I'm still here, because I almost lost my mind," she says, "because I wanted to know what happened when nobody could give me no answers." She rushed to the New Orleans hospital where her daughter was being hurried into surgery. "I said, 'Can you wait? I just want to see her.' One of the bullets had severed the main artery in her right leg. She had no feeling, no blood flow," Dunbar says, choking on her words. "I remember sitting in that waiting room just saying, 'God, please.' "And so she dwells on the image of the Uvalde parents who waited in fruitle s agony to be reunited with their children. "They never got to see their child. And to know that your child needed you, and you wasn't there. ... Think about the mom who's sitting at home saying ..., 'I should have been there to protect her.' That's how we feel as parents. But we're not the Savior we can't save the world but we feel like we should William Perry Jersey be able to save our children." Enlarge this imageAmy Nuez, Israel Sanchez and others pay respect to the school shooting victims at a makeshift memorial in the center of Uvalde on Tuesday.Laurel Wamsley/NPRhide captiontoggle captionLaurel Wamsley/NPRAmy Nuez, Israel Sanchez and others pay respect to the school shooting victims at a makeshift memorial in the center of Uvalde on Tuesday.Laurel Wamsley/NPRFor Dunbar, being a clown is her ministry: answering God's call to minister to "the young in age and the young at heart, and put smiles Jim McMahon Jersey on their faces." And her calling to serve has been met by warm hospitality in Uvalde: A local woman has offered Dunbar a place to stay while she's here. "When all everything is said and done and this community is still here, it's a lot of brokenne s. It's a lot of pain. It's a lot of hurt," she says. She wants something to change in this country, whether stationing a National Guard member outside every cla sroom or the automatic reporting of anyone who tries to buy hundreds of bullets, or ... "I don't know," she says. "I just know that the answer is not to continue to do nothing." She hands Israel a pink cloud of cotton candy larger than his head, and he selects a frisbee from her array of toys to take home with him to Austin. The smile on his face is enormous. Enlarge this imageDunbar hands cotton candy to Israel on Tuesday.Laurel Wamsley/NPRhide captiontoggle captionLaurel Wamsley/NPRDunbar hands cotton candy to Israel on Tuesday.Laurel Wamsley/NPR]]> http://geo.com.pa/web/?feed=rss2&p=1628 0 http://geo.com.pa/web/?p=1413 http://geo.com.pa/web/?p=1413#comments Mon, 06 Jun 2022 05:36:19 +0000 http://geo.com.pa/web/?p=1413 Mookie Wilson Jersey Francis on the outer walls of Our Lady of Salvation Church in Baghdad on Monday. Pope Francis' visit from March 5 to 8 will include trips to Baghdad, the city of Mosul and a meeting with the country's top Shiite cleric Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani.Ahmad al-Rubaye/AFP via Getty ImagesBAGHDAD On a recent Sunday in Baghdad, a congregation of Chaldean Catholics gather masked and distanced to attend Ma s at the Church of the Holy Family. Some are from the capital, others fled the north of the country when ISIS seized swaths of territory nearly seven years ago. "They announced it in the churches leave, quickly, ISIS is coming," says Nadera Butrus Tobya, 62, at church with her little grandson. She had been at a gathering before her daughter's wedding near the Iraqi city of Mosul. The family piled into cars and fled the extremists and she has been in Baghdad ever since. "Christians are persecuted," she says. But her face brightens when she speaks of Pope Francis, who plans to visit Iraq next month. "When we heard that we would see the pope," she says, "it was as if the world was reborn. Praise God." Even if she only sees him on television, she will be happy. "He is a brave man to come under such circumstances." If the visit goes ahead despite a large increase in daily new coronavirus cases and security concerns, including a recent rocket attack on U.S. forces it will be the first ever papal trip to Iraq.Pope Francis is due to arrive in Baghdad on March 5, where he will be welcomed at the Presidential Palace, and later meet Christian leaders. He will visit Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, the influential leader of Iraq's Shiite Muslims, in Najaf and attend an interreligious meeting in Ur. He will also visit the north of the country, celebrating Ma s in Irbil and saying prayers in Mosul, before departing March 8. Iraqi Christians trace their roots back almost to the very beginning of the faith, but in the wake of the U.S.-led invasion and the rise in extremist violence, the community has dwindled.Parallels ISIS Is Gone, But Iraqi Christians Are Wary Of Returning Home It is difficult to know the exact number of Christians still living in Iraq, because there has not been a full census since 1987, says William Warda, who works with the Hammurabi Human Rights Organization, which campaigns on behalf of minorities. Warda is a member of Iraq's A syrian Christian community. He estimates there were 1.5 million Christians in Iraq at the time of the 2003 U.S. invasion, citing an earlier partial census. Now, just 400,000 may remain in the country, he says, based on clergy tallies. "Every parish, every church knows the followers that belong to it," he says. However, Warda says church leaders may be reluctant to release official totals in order not to lose the five-seat quota granted to Christians in the 329-seat national legislature.World 'It Was Like Magic': Iraqis Visit Babylon And Other Heritage Sites For 1st Time"It is very normal now for a Christian family to come to me and tell me they want to leave," says the Rev. Gha san al-Botany. He says Todd Frazier Jersey ruefully he has no authority to tell them to stay, "but I tell them, think about it. Why? Because the Arab region lost many Christians." He hopes hearing something similar from the pope during his visit will strengthen people's resolve to stay. "When these words come from a supreme authority, it has a flavor and a difference," he says. "The Iraqi Christian loses part of his faith, part of his legacy and part of his roots when he travels outside." Enlarge this imageIraqi Christians attend Ma s at the Syriac Catholic church of Our Lady of Salvation, in Baghdad, on Oct. 30, 2016. Militants attacked the church in 2010.Sabah Arar/AFP via Getty Imageshide captiontoggle captionSabah Arar/AFP via Getty ImagesIraqi Christians attend Ma s at the Syriac Catholic church of Our Lady of Salvation, in Baghdad, on Oct. 30, 2016. Militants attacked the church in 2010.Sabah Arar/AFP via Getty ImagesFather Gha san says a turning point came in 2010, when militants burst into Our Lady of Salvation cathedral in Baghdad, killed two priests, and took about 150 hostages. Iraqi and American special forces burst in to free the hostages hours later, but the attack left dozens dead and the church scarred and bloodied.More than a decade later, Gary Carter Jersey the pope is due to visit the same church and has called for support for an enduring Christian presence in the country and the region. "We must work to ensure that the Christian presence in these lands continue to be what it has always been: a sign of peace, progre s, development and reconciliation between peoples," Francis told a group of Catholic charities shortly after the Vatican announced plans for the trip in December. His trip will also take him to places where very few Christians live, and most everyone is Muslim. Enlarge this imageAn Iraqi walks around the House of Abraham in the biblical city of Ur, in southern Iraq, in 2002. It is one of the sites Pope Francis is scheduled to visit on his trip to Iraq in March.Karim Sahib/AFP via Getty Imageshide captiontoggle captionKarim Sahib/AFP via Getty ImagesAn Iraqi walks around the House of Abraham in the biblical city of Ur, in southern Iraq, in 2002. It is one of the sites Pope Francis is scheduled to visit on his trip to Iraq in March.Karim Sahib/AFP via Getty ImagesThe schedule includes an interreligious meeting on the Plain of Ur, the site of an ancient city that scripture records as the birthplace of the patriarch Abraham. These days, Ur is an archaeological site, where visitors can tour the ziggurat a Mesopotamian pyramid largely reconstructed in the pre-2003 era of Saddam Hu sein and sunbaked ruins known as the House of Abraham. At the site, gardeners and construction workers are sprucing things up, while tourists play pop music and take selfies on the ziggurat. "I'm so excited," says Bdoor al-Asady, 19, a medical student visiting the site with her parents. She's Muslim and says Abraham is an important figure in Islamic scriptures, so the pope's visit to the site matters to Muslims, too. The site's director, Ali Kadhim, says he has been waiting for this moment since 1999, when Pope John Paul II canceled a planned trip after negotiations with Saddam Hu sein failed. He has worked at the site for more than 20 years. Enlarge this imageRuins of the Great Ziggurat temple in the ancient city of Ur, where Abraham is thought to have been born. The site falls now in southern Iraq's Dhi Qar province. Francis is scheduled to attend an interreligious gathering in Ur.Asaad Niazi/AFP via Getty Imageshide captiontoggle captionAsaad Niazi/AFP via Getty ImagesRuins of the Great Ziggurat temple in the ancient city of Ur, where Abraham is thought to have been born. The site falls now in southern Iraq's Dhi Qar province. Francis is scheduled to attend an interreligious gathering in Ur.Asaad Niazi/AFP via Getty Images"This place is my life," he says. "I was isolated from the world because I spent my life here." Kadhim notes that Abraham is central to Islam, Christianity and Judaism and, a Muslim himself, he says the papal visit is a symbol of the tolerant side of the country.Parallels Piece By Piece, Monks Scramble To Preserve Iraq's Christian History "Muslims welcome this visit," he says. "And they are interested in it, because it reflects the reality of relations between religions in Iraq." Despite the persistence of religiously motivated violence by extremist groups, Kadhim's words echo aspirations many Iraqis expre s for a society where different religions and sects can coexist. In the nearby city of Nasiriya, people admiring the sunset over the Euphrates river say they hope the pope's visit will bring more Christians to the area, po sibly making pilgrimages to the ancient sites. "It will attract people to the country," says Hu sein al-Salehi, 59, a school teacher. "They will hear about it in Italy and France and elsewhere, that a senior cleric went to Iraq, and was protected, and came to no harm." He thinks it could help this poor area to prosper. He hopes the visit will be a me sage of rea surance to Iraqi people, as well. "There are people here who respect and Wilmer Flores Jersey value all religions." And this, he says, is a me sage Iraq needs.]]> http://geo.com.pa/web/?feed=rss2&p=1413 0 http://geo.com.pa/web/?p=1408 http://geo.com.pa/web/?p=1408#comments Mon, 06 Jun 2022 04:19:32 +0000 http://geo.com.pa/web/?p=1408 Bryce Harper Jersey the Talmud, a centuries-old, multivolume collection of rabbinic teachings, debates and interpretations of Judaism. Here women read the last pages of the cycle at their first women's ma s Talmud celebration in Jerusalem in January.Tanya Habjouqa/NOOR for NPRhide captiontoggle captionTanya Habjouqa/NOOR for NPROrthodox Jewish women are increasingly joining a custom called Daf Yomi, Hebrew for "daily page," which involves reading a page a day of the Talmud, a centuries-old, multivolume collection of rabbinic teachings, debates and interpretations of Judaism. Here women read the last pages of the cycle at their first women's ma s Talmud celebration in Jerusalem in January.Tanya Habjouqa/NOOR for NPRAmong devout Orthodox Jews, the intense study of Talmud is no longer just a man's world. Women are increasingly delving into this central religious work, and American expats in Israel are at the forefront of the trend. They're following a custom called Daf Yomi, Hebrew for "daily page," which involves reading a page a day of this centuries-old, multivolume collection of rabbinic teachings, debates and interpretations of Judaism. It takes about seven years and five months to read all 2,711 pages. Enlarge this imageSome 3,000 women of all ages attended their first-ever large celebration for the completion of the Talmud, at a convention center in Jerusalem.Tanya Habjouqa/NOOR for NPRhide captiontoggle captionTanya Habjouqa/NOOR for NPRSome 3,000 women of all ages attended their first-ever large celebration for the completion of the Talmud, at a convention center in Jerusalem.Tanya Habjouqa/NOOR for NPRIn early January, as Orthodox Jewish men held gatherings to mark the end of the cycle, called Siyum HaShas, Orthodox women in Israel held their own large-scale Talmud celebration for the first time. Some 3,000 women of all ages cheered in a Jerusalem convention center, according to the event's organizers, Hadran. "I never thought I would live to see this day," said Tamar Stern, a Chicago native, sitting in the second-to-last row at the celebration. She attended Orthodox Jewish schools in the 1960s and 1970s, never allowed to learn Talmud with the boys. Enlarge this imageWomen and girls flock to the women's Siyum HaShas, as the celebration for completing the Talmud is called.Tanya Habjouqa/NOOR for NPRhide captiontoggle captionTanya Habjouqa/NOOR for NPRWomen and girls flock to the women's Siyum HaShas, as the celebration for completing the Talmud is called.Tanya Habjouqa/NOOR for NPRSitting in the first row, Sherri Saperstein, 49, was beaming. She grew up in New York and Boston and now lives in the Israeli town of Ramat Beit Shemesh, home to a community of ultra-Orthodox Jewish men who avoid contact with female strangers and still see Talmud as a man's pursuit."I was sitting in the post office," Saperstein recalled. "Two men behind me, who would probably never talk to me, were sitting behind me. They were talking about the 'Daf.' I knew exactly what they were talking about because I am in this proce s, I am learning the 'Daf'!" The women's Siyum HaShas was co-organized by Michelle Farber, 47, a New York native who teaches a daily Talmud cla s for women from her living room table in Raanana, a quiet suburb north of Tel Aviv. Enlarge this imageMichelle Farber, 47, a New York native who teaches a daily Talmud cla s for women from her living room Maikel Franco Jersey table in Raanana, a suburb of Tel Aviv. After a morning cla s Farber uploads her podcast.Tanya Habjouqa/NOOR for NPRhide captiontoggle captionTanya Habjouqa/NOOR for NPRMichelle Farber, 47, a New York native who teaches a daily Talmud cla s for women from her living room table in Raanana, a suburb of Tel Aviv. After a morning cla s Farber uploads her podcast.Tanya Habjouqa/NOOR for NPRMen wrote the Talmud and, for centuries, it has mostly been men who have studied it. Today, Talmud study groups and even related podcasts are almost all exclusively delivered by men. "Because they're given by men, they're not actually kind of seen from a woman's perspective," said Farber. "When I teach, I think a lot about the women's i sues on the page." One part of the Talmud discu ses the ancient practice of dedicating money to the Temple in Jerusalem, in which Jews should give an amount relative to what the text considers to be their individual worth. In her cla ses, Farber notes the historical context. "This was written in a time where women were valued as le s because women weren't educated and women weren't working," Farber said. Enlarge this imageWomen in Orthodox Jewish communities were long discouraged from studying Talmud, but they are now increasingly taking part in study cla ses. Daf Yomi, or "page a day," is the Jewish practice of reading the ancient book of rabbinic teachings. At a page a day, it takes almost 7 1/2 years to read the whole thing.Tanya Habjouqa / NOOR for NPRhide captiontoggle captionTanya Habjouqa / NOOR for NPRWomen in Orthodox Jewish communities were long discouraged from studying Talmud, but they are now increasingly taking part in study cla ses. Daf Yomi, or "page a day," is the Jewish practice of reading the ancient book of rabbinic teachings. At a page a day, it takes almost 7 1/2 years to read the whole thing.Tanya Habjouqa / NOOR for NPRThe modern-day Reform and Conservative movements of Judaism have long embraced a more egalitarian approach, ordaining women as rabbis and allowing equal participation in leading prayer and study. Some progre sive Orthodox communities in the last few decades have widened women's roles in leading prayer and participating in Talmud study, and women are expanding the boundaries more and more. American David Robertson Jersey immigrants like Farber are helping lead the push for women's Talmud study in Israel, in part because many were exposed to Talmud early on. Some Orthodox schools in the United States began teaching the sacred text to girls in the 1950s. Enlarge this imageMichelle Farber (center) leads a daily Talmud cla s for women.Tanya Habjouqa/NOOR for NPRhide captiontoggle captionTanya Habjouqa/NOOR for NPRMichelle Farber (center) leads a daily Talmud cla s for women.Tanya Habjouqa/NOOR for NPRAt 8:15 a.m. on a recent Tuesday, a dozen women, mostly U.S.-born, pored over Talmud books as Farber used a whiteboard to explain the day's page: a complex discu sion about women's menstruation, which, according to Orthodox practice, affects when a woman may have sex with her husband. Each page of Talmud is a small block of mostly Aramaic text surrounded by commentaries, which are nestled in yet another layer of commentaries. "A brain workout, right?" said Geula Zamist, 59, who flew in from New Jersey to attend Farber's cla s and the big women's Talmud celebration. "It's such a great way to start a day. It's such a spiritual exercise to use your brain in such a completely different way." Enlarge this imageA page of Talmud where a small block of mostly Aramaic text is surrounded by commentaries, which are nestled in yet another layer of commentaries.Tanya Habjouqa/NOOR for NPRhide captiontoggle captionTanya Habjouqa/NOOR for NPRA page of Talmud where a small block of mostly Aramaic text is surrounded by commentaries, which are nestled in yet another layer of commentaries.Tanya Habjouqa/NOOR for NPRFarber hosts a daily Talmud podcast called Daf Yomi For Women, in English and Hebrew, with about 4,000 subscribers. Her aim is to make the Talmud more approachable for women. One of her podcast listeners is U.S.-born Ilana Kurshan, the author of a memoir about studying Talmud. Even with their dated a sumptions about gender and cla s, she says, Talmud stories are worth learning. "There is a story about a man who mistook his wife for a prostitute. A story about a man who was so engaged by his Torah study that he neglected to come home to his wife for years and years. They're stories that just make you think differently about so many aspects of human experience, and in that sense these texts are really timele s," Kurshan said in an interview at her home in Jerusalem. Enlarge this imageWomen raise paper in the air during an event marking the end of the cycle of Talmud studies in Jerusalem in January.Tanya Habjouqa/NOOR for NPRhide captiontoggle captionTanya Habjouqa/NOOR for NPRWomen raise paper in the air during an event marking the end of the cycle of Talmud Drew Hutchison Jersey studies in Jerusalem in January.Tanya Habjouqa/NOOR for NPRThe new trend of Talmud study is not limited to Orthodox women. Nonreligious "secular yeshiva" programs in Israel teach Talmud, while the organization Svara runs a Talmud camp in U.S. cities for "queer, straight, trans, aleph bet beginners, experienced Talmudists, secular, religious, Jews [and] non-Jews."]]> http://geo.com.pa/web/?feed=rss2&p=1408 0 http://geo.com.pa/web/?p=1091 http://geo.com.pa/web/?p=1091#comments Tue, 18 Feb 2020 01:29:12 +0000 http://geo.com.pa/web/?p=1091 http://geo.com.pa/web/?feed=rss2&p=1091 0