Rabbi David Rosen, Dharma Master Cheng Yen, and Justice Rohinton Fali Nariman to Address 2023 Parliament Convening
The Parliament of the World’s Religions is honored to announce the participation of the Honorable Justice Mr. Rohinton Fali Nariman, Dharma Master Cheng Yen, and Rabbi David Rosen KSG, CBE as featured luminaries of the 2023 Parliament of the World’s Religions, gathering in Chicago, USA from August 14-18, 2023.
Luminaries Answering the Call to Conscience
The featured luminaries at the 2023 Parliament Convening are a diverse cohort of faith, spiritual, civic, and governmental leaders answering the call to conscience to defend freedom and human rights. This cohort of luminaries represent diverse faith communities and highlight the deep commitment of people of faith to efforts like peace in the Middle East, upholding civil liberties in India, and humanitarian efforts for the most vulnerable around the world.
Rabbi David Rosen
Rabbi David Rosen KSG, CBE, is the Jerusalem based International Director of Interreligious Affairs of the American Jewish Committee (the oldest American Jewish advocacy organization with more than 25 offices across the US and a dozen offices and representatives around the world.) The third son of the late renowned Rabbi Kopul Rosen, founder of Carmel College, David was educated in England and at yeshivot Mir and Har Etzyon in Israel. In addition to Israeli military service in the tank corps, he served as the military rabbi in West Sinai, before going on shlihut with his wife Sharon, to South Africa, where he became rabbi of the largest Jewish congregation in the country in Sea Point, Cape Town and where he also served on the Cape Bet Din. In 1979 he was appointed Chief Rabbi of Ireland and after a period of five years service to the Irish community, he returned to Israel with his family, to take up the position of Dean of the Sapir Centre for Jewish Education in the Old City of Jerusalem.
Among his many current honorary positions, he serves on the Chief Rabbinate of Israel’s Committee for Interreligious Dialogue. He is an International President of Religions for Peace (the largest world multi-religious body), Honorary President of the International Council of Christians and Jews, and the Jewish member of the Board of Directors of the King Abdullah International Center for Interreligious and Intercultural Dialogue, established in 2012 by the King of Saudi Arabia together with the governments of Austria and Spain with the support of the Holy See. He is past chair of the International Jewish Committee for Interreligious Consultations (IJCIC, which represents world Jewry to other world religious bodies.) Among many honors, Rabbi Rosen was made a Papal Knight by the Pope and a Commander of the British Empire (CBE) by Queen Elizabeth II.
Dharma Master Cheng Yen
Dharma Master Cheng Yen was born in 1937 in a small town in Taichung County, Taiwan. When she was twenty-three years old, she left home to become a Buddhist nun. Her mentor, Venerable Master Yin Shun, instructed her to work “for Buddha’s teachings for sentient beings.”
In 1966, she founded a charity which later became the Buddhist Tzu Chi Foundation. Its purpose was to “help the poor and educate the rich” – to give material aid to the needy and inspire love and humanitarian spirit in both the giver and receiver.
In recent years, Master Cheng Yen’s contributions have been increasingly recognized by the global community. In 2011, she received the Roosevelt Institute’s FDR Distinguished Public Service Award and was named one of the world’s 100 most influential people by TIME Magazine, and in 2014, she was presented with the Rotary International Award of Honor in recognition of her humanitarian efforts and contributions to world peace.
Justice Rohinton Fali Nariman
The Honorable Justice Mr. Rohinton Fali Nariman is a former Judge of the Supreme Court of India.
Justice Nariman pursued his legal studies at the Faculty of Law and ranked 2nd in the University of Delhi. He pursued his Masters’ in Law from Harvard Law School and his thesis compared affirmative action in India and USA. He is the son of distinguished jurist Fali S. Nariman.
In 1993, then Chief Justice Venkatachalaiah amended the minimum age rules to designate the title of Senior Advocate on Nariman J when he was 37. He was the Solicitor General of India in 2013. In 2014, he became the 5th person to be directly elevated from the Bar to be a Judge of the Supreme Court.
Justice Nariman is considered an expert in comparative constitutional law and civil law. He set up the Supreme Court Welfare Trust for the welfare of lawyers and to encourage young talent. He was a member of the Supreme Court’s Mediation Committee.
An ordained priest, he authored “The Inner Fire: Faith, Choice, and Modern-Day Living in Zoroastrianisma” on the Zoroastrian religion.
Connect with the Global Interfaith Movement
Justice Mr. Rohinton Fali Nariman, Dharma Master Cheng Yen, and Rabbi David Rosen are inspiring faith leaders committed to solidarity, justice, and civil liberties. Join them at the premier gathering of the global interfaith movement, the 2023 Parliament of the World’s Religions, in Chicago this August!
Learn more and register today.