Staff
Imam Yahya Hendi, President
Imam
Yahya Hendi is the Muslim chaplain at Georgetown University, the first American
University to hire a full-time Muslim chaplain. Imam Hendi is a Public Policy
Conflict Resolution Fellow of the Center for Dispute Resolution of the
University of Maryland School of Law and the Maryland Judiciary's Mediation and
Conflict Resolution Office.
Imam Hendi is the founder and the President of Clergy Beyond Borders,
and the founder and the president of the newly founded organization, Imams for
Universe Dignity, Human Rights and Dialogue.
He also serves as a member of the Islamic Jurisprudence Council of North America. He has served as an adjunct faculty member for Zanvyl Krieger School of Arts and Science and Osher's Lifelong Learning Institute of John Hopkins University, Fordham University and Hartford Seminary. Imam Hendi also teaches a very popular course at Georgetown University called: Inter-religious Encounter.
Mr. Hendi's undergraduate education was in Islamic Studies and his Master and PhD education were in comparative religions with interest in Christianity, Judaism, comparative religions and inter-religious dialogue and relations. He has written numerous publications on many topics, including women in Islam, women and gender relations in Islam, the second coming of the Messiah, Islam and biomedical ethics and religion and Islam in the United States.
A sought-after speaker, Imam Hendi has presented a multitude of interfaith and general lectures in the USA, Asia, Africa, Europe, central Asia, Eastern Europe, Australia and the Middle East over the past 14 years and he has been to more than 63 countries and 45 US states for conferences.
Mr. Hendi was one of the Muslim leaders who met with President Clinton during his Presidency. He also met with the President Bush in the aftermath of the September 11th tragedy and continued to meet him many times during his presidency. He 2009, he met with President Obama at the White House.
Imam Hendi often visits and lectures at churches and synagogues hoping to create a new positive relationship between the followers of the three Abrahamic religions. In his lectures, Imam Hendi focuses on issues related to gender relations, domestic violence, world peace, social, economic and political justice, and inter-religious and interfaith issues.
Imam Hendi appeared on many national and international television and Radio shows as an expert on interfaith dialogue and on Islam and Muslims (i.e. CNN, ABC, Fox, Kuwait TV, Nile TV, Pakistan Channel-II, RAI, MSNBC and Al-jazeerah). Imam Hendi recently engaged nationally and internationally on raising awareness on issues of the 21st century which included: 1) environmental responsibility, 2) a peaceful resolution to the Arab/Israeli conflict, 3) eliminating poverty, 4) fighting against the growing sense of militarism, and 5) empowering Muslims to reform the way they practice and understand Islam.
Imam Hendi offers inter-religious and Muslim retreats, and leads Jum'ah (Friday Services). He also counsels political leaders, CEOs, leading firms and students on academic, professional, political and social issues. Imam Hendi is sought after expert on Islam and conflict resolution issues. Imam Yahya Hendi believes that with love and education--the world will be a better place to live in.
Mr. Hendi serves on national and international interfaith councils such as the Appeal of Conscience, the National Inter-religious Leadership Initiative for Peace in the Middle East.
In May 2002, Imam Hendi was chosen by Hartford Seminary to receive its annual “James Gettemy Significant Ministry Award” for his dedication to his Ministry and for his work to promote peace building between people of different religions. In February 2009, Imam Hendi was honored by the Baltimore field office of the FBI for fighting terrorism, drugs and violence in America.
Imam Hendi offers inter-religious and Muslim retreats, and leads Jum'ah (Friday Services). He also counsels political leaders, CEOs, leading firms and students on academic, professional, political and social issues. Imam Hendi is sought after expert on Islam and conflict resolution issues. Imam Yahya Hendi believes that with love and education--the world will be a better place to live in.
Contact him at imamyahya at clergybeyondborders.org
He also serves as a member of the Islamic Jurisprudence Council of North America. He has served as an adjunct faculty member for Zanvyl Krieger School of Arts and Science and Osher's Lifelong Learning Institute of John Hopkins University, Fordham University and Hartford Seminary. Imam Hendi also teaches a very popular course at Georgetown University called: Inter-religious Encounter.
Mr. Hendi's undergraduate education was in Islamic Studies and his Master and PhD education were in comparative religions with interest in Christianity, Judaism, comparative religions and inter-religious dialogue and relations. He has written numerous publications on many topics, including women in Islam, women and gender relations in Islam, the second coming of the Messiah, Islam and biomedical ethics and religion and Islam in the United States.
A sought-after speaker, Imam Hendi has presented a multitude of interfaith and general lectures in the USA, Asia, Africa, Europe, central Asia, Eastern Europe, Australia and the Middle East over the past 14 years and he has been to more than 63 countries and 45 US states for conferences.
Mr. Hendi was one of the Muslim leaders who met with President Clinton during his Presidency. He also met with the President Bush in the aftermath of the September 11th tragedy and continued to meet him many times during his presidency. He 2009, he met with President Obama at the White House.
Imam Hendi often visits and lectures at churches and synagogues hoping to create a new positive relationship between the followers of the three Abrahamic religions. In his lectures, Imam Hendi focuses on issues related to gender relations, domestic violence, world peace, social, economic and political justice, and inter-religious and interfaith issues.
Imam Hendi appeared on many national and international television and Radio shows as an expert on interfaith dialogue and on Islam and Muslims (i.e. CNN, ABC, Fox, Kuwait TV, Nile TV, Pakistan Channel-II, RAI, MSNBC and Al-jazeerah). Imam Hendi recently engaged nationally and internationally on raising awareness on issues of the 21st century which included: 1) environmental responsibility, 2) a peaceful resolution to the Arab/Israeli conflict, 3) eliminating poverty, 4) fighting against the growing sense of militarism, and 5) empowering Muslims to reform the way they practice and understand Islam.
Imam Hendi offers inter-religious and Muslim retreats, and leads Jum'ah (Friday Services). He also counsels political leaders, CEOs, leading firms and students on academic, professional, political and social issues. Imam Hendi is sought after expert on Islam and conflict resolution issues. Imam Yahya Hendi believes that with love and education--the world will be a better place to live in.
Mr. Hendi serves on national and international interfaith councils such as the Appeal of Conscience, the National Inter-religious Leadership Initiative for Peace in the Middle East.
In May 2002, Imam Hendi was chosen by Hartford Seminary to receive its annual “James Gettemy Significant Ministry Award” for his dedication to his Ministry and for his work to promote peace building between people of different religions. In February 2009, Imam Hendi was honored by the Baltimore field office of the FBI for fighting terrorism, drugs and violence in America.
Imam Hendi offers inter-religious and Muslim retreats, and leads Jum'ah (Friday Services). He also counsels political leaders, CEOs, leading firms and students on academic, professional, political and social issues. Imam Hendi is sought after expert on Islam and conflict resolution issues. Imam Yahya Hendi believes that with love and education--the world will be a better place to live in.
Contact him at imamyahya at clergybeyondborders.org
Rabbi Gerald Serotta, Executive Director
Rabbi Gerald Serotta served as a university chaplain and Hillel Rabbi for 28 years, the last twenty at The George Washington University where he was Chair of the Board of Chaplains. While on Sabbatical from Hillel he held the position of Senior Rabbinic Scholar-in-Residence at the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism, working on issues of globalization and economic justice from a Jewish perspective. He currently serves as a spiritual leader for Shirat HaNefesh, a Jewish community in Southern Maryland and from 2000-2008 also served Temple Shalom of Chevy Chase as Associate Rabbi.
Aside from his professional work, Rabbi Serotta has for decades been a national leader in the Jewish community in the area of social justice. He was the founder and continues to serve Chair of Rabbis for Human Rights, North America. He was listed in American Jewish Biographies (published in 1982) as one of 500 living American Jews who have contributed significantly to American or American Jewish life. The editor, Murray Polner, comments, "Since the late 1960's Rabbi Gerald Serotta has been in the vanguard of progressive Jewish movements that seek to draw disaffected, unaffiliated, primarily younger Jews into a Judaism that is forward-looking and more accepting of changed values and styles of life."
His long record of activism and leadership in seeking progressive social change in the US and advocating peaceful solutions to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, began in 1973 when he co-founded Breira - A project of Concern in Israel-Diaspora Relations, which called for a Palestinian State as a solution to the conflict. In 1980 he founded and served as the initial Co-Chair of New Jewish Agenda, a national organization conceived to be a "progressive voice within the Jewish community and a Jewish voice within the progressive community." He participated on the initial board which led to the creation of the Jewish Fund for Justice.
Rabbi Serotta has been involved in interfaith work through the Fellowship of Reconciliation (beginning with a reconciliation mission in 1975 to Cairo, Beirut, Damascus, Amman, Palestine, and Israel) and the Interfaith Committee for Peace in the Middle East. He served as the first Rabbi on the board of the Faith and Politics Institute, an interfaith, bi-partisan effort to bring spiritual reflection to the work of the US Congress, and serves as a clergy representative on the Workers Rights Board of the District of Columbia, and the Compassion Forum, a bipartisan, interfaith effort to bring important spiritual issues to the fore in the recent presidential campaign. He lectured in the International Conflict Resolution program at Eastern Mennonite University.
Rabbi Serotta's undergraduate degree is from Harvard (1968). He holds a Doctor of Divinity degree from Hebrew Union College, where he was ordained Rabbi in New York in 1974. He holds Masters Degrees from Hebrew Union College in Hebrew Literature, and from New York Theological Seminary in Pastoral Counseling.
Contact him at rabbiserotta at clergybeyondborders.org
Aside from his professional work, Rabbi Serotta has for decades been a national leader in the Jewish community in the area of social justice. He was the founder and continues to serve Chair of Rabbis for Human Rights, North America. He was listed in American Jewish Biographies (published in 1982) as one of 500 living American Jews who have contributed significantly to American or American Jewish life. The editor, Murray Polner, comments, "Since the late 1960's Rabbi Gerald Serotta has been in the vanguard of progressive Jewish movements that seek to draw disaffected, unaffiliated, primarily younger Jews into a Judaism that is forward-looking and more accepting of changed values and styles of life."
His long record of activism and leadership in seeking progressive social change in the US and advocating peaceful solutions to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, began in 1973 when he co-founded Breira - A project of Concern in Israel-Diaspora Relations, which called for a Palestinian State as a solution to the conflict. In 1980 he founded and served as the initial Co-Chair of New Jewish Agenda, a national organization conceived to be a "progressive voice within the Jewish community and a Jewish voice within the progressive community." He participated on the initial board which led to the creation of the Jewish Fund for Justice.
Rabbi Serotta has been involved in interfaith work through the Fellowship of Reconciliation (beginning with a reconciliation mission in 1975 to Cairo, Beirut, Damascus, Amman, Palestine, and Israel) and the Interfaith Committee for Peace in the Middle East. He served as the first Rabbi on the board of the Faith and Politics Institute, an interfaith, bi-partisan effort to bring spiritual reflection to the work of the US Congress, and serves as a clergy representative on the Workers Rights Board of the District of Columbia, and the Compassion Forum, a bipartisan, interfaith effort to bring important spiritual issues to the fore in the recent presidential campaign. He lectured in the International Conflict Resolution program at Eastern Mennonite University.
Rabbi Serotta's undergraduate degree is from Harvard (1968). He holds a Doctor of Divinity degree from Hebrew Union College, where he was ordained Rabbi in New York in 1974. He holds Masters Degrees from Hebrew Union College in Hebrew Literature, and from New York Theological Seminary in Pastoral Counseling.
Contact him at rabbiserotta at clergybeyondborders.org
