Western Diocese

Burbank, CA – On Thursday, May 15^th, at 7:30 p.m., the Western Diocese of the Armenian Church under the auspices of Archbishop Hovnan Derderian will host an evening honoring Rabbi Harold Schulweis, founder of Jewish World Watch and spiritual leader of Valley Beth Shalom. Rabbi Schulweis has been a leading pillar and voice in the Jewish community standing with Armenians in the recognition of the Armenian Genocide.       

The Armenian and Jewish communities are joining together in recognizing “The Kinship of Suffering and Comfort”. The evening will include a cultural program with musical performances by the Valley Beth Shalom and St. Peter Armenian Church Choirs, and traditional dance by the Keshet Chaim Dance Ensemble and the Vartan and Siranoush Gevorkian Dance Ensemble.        

In 2007, Jewish World Watch organized the first joint commemoration of the Holocaust and the Armenian Genocide, with thousands of Jewish and Armenian community members participating. Jewish World Watch is a coalition of almost 60 synagogues in the Los Angeles Jewish community, working to educate and advocate on issues of genocide and egregious human rights violations.  It has activated the local Jewish community, politically, to stop the Darfur Genocide and has raised more than $1 million for humanitarian relief for the survivors of the genocide.