Spirit Week brings together UChicago community to celebrate religious traditions

UChicago News

The UChicago community will have a chance to interact and reflect on a variety of religious and spiritual traditions through music, food and more during this year’s Spirit Week, which runs from April 20-30.The week will feature events ranging from Muslim Friday prayers to a family celebration of Shabbat, and culminating with a public concert of music by University Professor Augusta Read Thomas at Rockefeller Chapel.

Spirit Week began in 2012, organized by Jigna Shah, director of Spiritual Life and assistant dean of Rockefeller Chapel, and Elizabeth Davenport, dean of Rockefeller Chapel. The goal of the week of events is to invite people to experience the spiritual practices of others and to expand their understanding of traditions different from their own.













“Spirit Week celebrates the coming together and the working together of different traditions,” Shah said. “It’s an opportunity to work on religious literacy, for students to get a taste of learning about different faiths.”

This year’s events, under the theme of “breathe,” include a concert celebrating the Hindu and Muslim contributions to shaping the arts of South Asia on Saturday, April 22; a lunch hosted by religious advisers Imam Tahir Abdullah and Rabbi David Wietchner on Tuesday, April 25; and the concert featuring Thomas’ works on Saturday, April 29.

For Shah, the intentionality of members of different traditions working together to hold events for the entire UChicago community is the highlight of the week.

Nikhil Mandalaparthy of the Hindu Student Sangam and Nur Banu Simsek of the Muslim Students Association brought their two groups together to organize a free concert and dinner entitled A Meeting of Two Seas: Hindus and Muslims Shape the Arts of South Asia.

The event will feature both undergraduate and graduate students and performers from around Chicago to present dances, poetry and music from South Asia. This is the first major collaboration in a decade ...

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