Category: Congregation
One of These Jews Is Not Like the Others: A Progressive Jew at an Orthodox Yom Kippur
It was raining at dusk. I decided not to ride my bike to the progressive Yom Kippur service on the Boston University campus. If I rode my bike, I would get too thirsty coming home and I wouldn’t ke... Read More
Who Sets the Table? White-Christian Dominance of Interfaith Gatherings
My home church recently hosted a summer-long series of guest speakers under the theme “Expanding Our Faith.” Eager to gain insights from other religious traditions, we invited a rabbi, an imam, a ... Read More
When a rabbinical student says Kaddish for his non-Jewish parents…
Having grown up in the Catholic faith, death, dying, and mourning were always such surreal experiences. Although one begs to ask, what isn’t surreal about the entire process for anyone? It always fe... Read More
“Right View” and Interfaith Dialogue
One “fold” on the Buddhist Noble Eightfold Path toward enlightenment is Right View. “Right view” is the skill of dissolving interpretations in favor of drawing closer to the reality of the wor... Read More
“Stand together yet not too near together”: How Interfaith Dialogue Teaches Participants to Value Diversity
“Give your hearts, but not into each other’s keeping. For only the hand of Life can contain your hearts. And stand together yet not too near together: For the pillars of the temple stand apart... Read More
The Mechanics of Personal Transformation via Interfaith Dialogue
My research on interfaith dialogue is driven by questions about people’s individual capacities for transformation and cohabitation with other humans. In previous articles (here and here) I demonstra... Read More
What’s “Religious” About Interreligious Dialogue?
Anyone who has embarked upon the study of religion immediately runs into a debate of the meaning of the very word religion. Definitions abound and debates rage about whether a general definition of re... Read More
Elul in the time of Black Lives Matter
This shabbes, Elul starts. Elul is the Jewish month of reflection and preparation that leads us into the High Holidays. For some of us, we begin our process of t’shuvah (repentance) during the ... Read More