By Catherine Cuellar, KERA 90.1 Reporter
http://stream.publicbroadcasting.net/production/mp3/kera/local-kera-556622.mp3
Dallas, TX –
[sound: fountains, chiming bells in Thanks-Giving Square]
Catherine Cuellar, KERA Reporter: Thousands of downtown workers and DART light rail passengers see the upward spiraling tower at Thanks-Giving Square in Dallas each day. But few know the architectural landmark is a chapel, and that it's a member organization in the United Nations. In 1998, the U.N. designated it the official worldwide center for thanksgiving.
Tatiana Androsov, Thanks-Giving Square: We don't say to the world, hey, we're from Dallas, the center of world thanksgiving.
Cuellar: Tatiana Androsov is executive director of Thanks-Giving Square.
Androsov: It is we, Dallas, that write the presidential proclamation of thanksgiving nationally, and internationally we write a world proclamation of thanksgiving every year which is signed by world leaders. We do not recognize how incredible we are in having our city be the center for world thanksgiving and indeed the one city in the world which has a center of thanksgiving.
Cuellar: Androsov commissioned an original "Thanks-Giving Theme" entitled "We Give Praise" by New York composer Jonathan David. It's kicking off Thanks-Giving Square's year-long celebration of multicultural worship. The music and will be interpreted by local Christian, Jewish, Muslim, Hindu, and Sikh singers, musicians, dancers, and liturgists.
[sound: Rosie Stromberg and Rivathi Shrinat rehearse reading]
Cuellar: At a rehearsal at Temple Emanu-El, readers from Jewish and Hindu backgrounds practiced reading a narrative written by Rosie Stromberg about the history of interfaith dialogue in Dallas.
[sound: fade to Rivathi Shrinat chanting]
Cuellar: Hindu Temple Society trustee Rivathi Shrinat, a 40-year resident of Dallas, chants a Sanskrit translation of the text from the newly-commissioned work, which will be performed by traditional Indian musicians as part of Sunday's concert.
Shrinat: The general synopsis is about how we all pray to show our gratitude to one creator.
Cuellar: The concert's setting is no accident. The first interfaith service in Dallas was organized by Temple Emanu-El's Rabbi William Henry Greenburg at the turn of the 20th century. Gerry Cristol is Temple Emanu-El's archivist.
Gerry Cristol, Temple Emanu-El: I'm holding the program of this people's Thanksgiving service which took place in Bush Temple of Music which was somewhere downtown on Nov. 28, 1907, and Rabbi Greenburg is acknowledged for arranging Dallas' first ecumenical religious service.
Cuellar: Cantor Richard Cohn sees similarities between the groundbreaking diversity of Dallas' interfaith Thanksgiving service a century ago and the multicultural groups uniting for Sunday's Thanks-Giving event at Temple Emanu-El.
Cantor Richard Cohn, Temple Emanu-El: A lot of attention was given to the text of the communal hymn to ensure that every faith group is comfortable with the precepts enshrined in that text. So, a sense of oneness, being a common source, a creator generally speaking from which everything flows. These were core concepts of the text. But words were modified as a result of some compromise, a conversation between representatives of the different groups.
Cuellar: The fruits of this compromise can be heard with the world premiere of "We Give Thanks" by Jonathan David at Temple Emanu-El in Dallas this Sunday at 3pm. Admission is free.
For KERA 90.1, I'm Catherine Cuellar.
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Thanks-Giving Square