Life in the Slow Lane

Lehigh Valley Sikhs Answer Hate with Generosity

Lehigh Valley Sikhs pay forward kindness shown to them after Wisconsin rampage.

To the casual observer, the leafy vegetation in the corner of Diwan Hall at the Guru Nanak Sikh temple in Lower Nazareth looks like an ordinary houseplant. But to those who know how it got there, it’s a vessel. The plant was delivered to the Lehigh Valley congregation in the aftermath of the Aug. 5 shootings at the Sikh temple in Oak Creek, Wis. It came from a local well-wisher as a message of condolence and support for Sikhs everywhere. Area churches also wrote letters to the Valley Sikh congregation condemning the rampage and offering their prayers. Other people donated money to be forwarded on to the Sikhs in Wisconsin. "The whole of America stood with us, the people, the media, the politicians," Tajinder Tung of the Guru Nanak Sikh …

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Local Sikhs Donate to Wounded Wisconsin Officer

The Guru Nanak Sikh Society of the Lehigh Valley in Lower Nazareth meets with Colonial Regional Police Chief Seiple, donating $1,100 to officer injured trying to stop Wisconsin gunman from killing Sikhs.

When a crazed gunman killed six people at a Sikh temple in Wisconsin, Sikhs in the Lehigh Valley region were moved by the outpouring of support from the rest of the country for the victims.  "The whole of America stood with us, the people, the media, the politicians," said Tajinder Tung of the Guru Nanak Sikh Society of the Lehigh Valley, based in Lower Nazareth. "There are no words to thank them."  So they decided one way would be to donate money to the Wisconsin police officer who was badly wounded trying to stop the attack. The Valley Sikh community collected $1,100 that members gave to Colonial Regional Police Chief Roy Seiple, who forwarded it to the officer's police association.  Seiple visited the Guru Nanak temple -- called a …

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Local Sikhs Hold Vigil in Easton

Sikh temple in Williams Township will hold memorial service tonight for Wisconsin shooting victims.

Two days after a mass shooting at a Wisconsin Sikh temple left seven people dead, dozens of Lehigh Valley Sikhs came together in Easton Tuesday evening for a gesture of solidarity and remembrance. It was a gathering meant to send a message to the larger community that "we do support them, and we appreciate their support as well," said Jasmeen Kaur, gathered with her friends after the vigil in Easton's Centre Square. On Sunday, a man shot and killed six people inside a gurdwara -- a Sikh temple -- in Oak Creek, a suburb of Milkwaukee. The shooter, identified as Wade Page -- a 40-year-old with ties to neo-Nazi groups -- before killing himself, the FBI said Wednesday morning.. But where Page brought hatred, people in Centre Square brought …

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Local Sikhs Upset by Wisconsin Temple Shooting

The Lehigh Valley Sikh community of about 400 families is disturbed by Sunday's mass shooting at a temple in a Milwaukee suburb.

The Sikh Society of Lehigh Valley - found among farm fields and a few houses in Northampton County - is a religious center you might never notice. For the 400 families the temple serves, however, the seclusion has become a cause for alarm. Seven people were killed and many others wounded in a Sunday morning mass shooting at the Sikh Temple of Wisconsin in Oak Creek, a suburb of Milwaukee. Police said three bodies were found outside the temple and four were inside the building. The gunman is among the dead in what police are calling a "well-coordinated attack." "We need protection here, too," said Jaswinder Singh, a committee member at the local Sikh temple in Lower Nazareth Township. "We’re not feeling safe." While children -- some too …

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From the Editor's Desk

Video: Easton Area Sikhs Celebrate Their Faith

Clip shows Sikhs from Easton's Gurdwara Sahib Sikh Sadh Sangat observing a religious festival.

Every so often, I'll troll through YouTube to see what sort of Easton-related videos I can find.  There are A LOT of car dealership ads, but occasionally, I'll find something really fascinating, like this early 20th century song about Easton This week's search turned up a clip showing members of Easton's Sikh community observing what's known as the "Nishan Sahib Sewa" at their Gurdwara, or house of worship, in Williams Township just outside of the city. The Nishan Sahib is the flag that flies outside the Gurdwara; here, you can see it being lowered, and raised again during the ceremony.  It was done to mark the 542nd year since the birth of Guru Nanak Dev, the founder of Sikhism. The guru founded the religion in what is now Pakistan in the…

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