Women in the Torah and Qur'an: Or, I Have a Sermon in a Book

Hello, friends.

I am posting again so soon as I am Allyson-excited, which is a different level of excited because.........

I officially have a sermon in a book!

This book!

Last year at Hartford Seminary, one of my teachers, Dr. Celene Ibrahim, gave me a great honor when she invited me to contribute a sermon on women in the Qur'an for a book she was compiling of essays on Islam. And I did! And now it is in a real book! It is a very short sermon speaking about how we have so little information on women in all our sacred texts (a great tragedy and disgrace), and that as Jews we might look to stories of women in the Qur'an as sometimes they can provide additional details on the same characters that appear in the Torah, and might prove inspiring for us to consider.

I am so deeply moved that my first published piece is about Islam and Judaism, and grateful for the opportunity to participate in this project.

The book is here: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1532645708/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_hsch_vapi_taft_p1_i0
And here: https://wipfandstock.com/one-nation-indivisible.html?fbclid=IwAR1WhvCAu7WBmT4-ad6oUChf4l3g8YW2l9DSnsBfoINVKk9dfZTR4nD8K6k

If you need proof of my excitement upon finally getting to actually hold a physical copy of the book, please see this photo that my teacher took when she saw my joy:

She kept reminding me I could not steal her copy...

I look forward to reading the other essays in the book as soon as I can get my hands on one. Ah!

Now go out and love one another. Shabbat shalom.

<3,
Allyson

Services for Days

Hello, friends.

I realized the other day that, in addition to services at school, I have been to four religious services in the past two weeks for a variety of reasons and from a variety of faiths (so much religion. so. much.). I wanted to share a bit about my experience in a short post for while I usually end up in Reform services, I've been pushed these past few weeks to try a variety of things:

Friday afternoon, 3/15 -- Jummah prayer, the major weekly Muslim prayer service. Upon hearing about the horrific shooting in New Zealand, where a man went in and killed 50 Muslims as they were at their weekly prayer, many folks around the world (and especially here in Philadelphia in the Jewish community) felt a need to show support by going to Muslim prayer services in solidarity. There were so many Jews I know at the service at our local Muslim center, it was overwhelming in a moving way. The imam gave a lengthy sermon, during which he acknowledged that us as Jews were there with them. (An article with a photo of one of my teachers, Rabbi Linda Holtzman, near whom I was sitting.) While it was not my first Muslim prayer experience, it was powerful to be there as one of many Philadelphia Jews coming together in support of our Muslim sisters and brothers. While usually upon entering a mosque I am asked to cover my hair as women typically do during Muslim prayer services (and sometimes always), on this day, I got the impression they were so glad to have us there that it was not raised.

Without going too far into the deep grief I felt at hearing of the attack in New Zealand, which is hard to hold when I know so many attacks happen nearly every day in non-Western countries (Africa, Asia, the Middle East) that never make our mainstream news, I will admit to feeling this attack very deeply. I wanted to at least share this moving image that was made in the wake of the tragedy, and reaffirm to my Muslim siblings specifically that you are not alone and I pray that we will together make this world more accepting for all:

Friday night, 3/15 -- Shabbat evening, Conservative Jewish. I am currently in a mini-course where we practice a variety of ways to chant the typical Shabbat evening prayers (in a way that we maybe do not in Reform services regularly), and so upon my teacher's recommendation, I headed to the Conservative shul near my house for a Shabbat service. I have been to Conservative services before, but not for many years, and it felt like a very open, diverse service and not completely unfamiliar. I think it was not fully traditional Conservative, but had a few Reconstructionist elements thrown in. Given the high number of Reconstructionist Jews and synagogues here in Philly (so many!), and the fact that a separate Reconstructionist minyan meets in that same synagogue building, it was not shocking that this was the case. But I did get to hear a bit of the tunes we have been practicing. Mission: accomplished.

Friday night, 3/22 -- Shabbat evening, Reconstructionist Jewish. While I am now rather familiar with certain types of Reconstructionist prayer from school, I had not yet been to a Friday night Reconstructionist Shabbat service. One of my great teachers invited a number of us rabbinical students to come to her home for Shabbat dinner and then to attend services (and she had some Christian seminarians join as well, which was great!). I was told, though, that even this synagogue was atypical for a Reconstructionist Shabbat; indeed, it proved to be working toward a looser structure, with more aim toward free-form spirituality (think lots of singing and folks adding in their own harmonies, people dancing freely), potentially toward even more of a Jewish Renewal situation. It was a comfortable space to focus on singing and community as opposed to obviously following a strict structure. As Reconstructionist rabbinical students, we are also required to visit three different Reconstructionist congregations, so this is just the beginning!

Sunday afternoon, 3/24 -- Sunday service, Hindu/Hare Krishna. Interfaith Philadelphia, a non-profit here in Philly, runs amazing interfaith opportunities, and has specifically targeted seminarians in the past few months to get future religious leaders together to experience services of different faiths. (Some of you may know I am trying to help supplement their programming on that front with a grant I currently have.) It was an honor to attend my first Hindu prayer service--with a lot of chanting, and dancing, and images on the walls, and fascinating statues in the front of the room. The room was generally separated by gender for the service (men on one side, women on the other) but it in no way seemed strict as folks would regularly go back and forth to convey information to others, and there was no divider down the room--the participants literally just sat on separate large rugs in on either side of the room (and I accidentally was on a chair behind the men, but no one seemed to mind). I am only sorry I could not easily snap photos during the experience. Here are some images I found online of the temple, and here is an article with more details about the temple we visited:

--
I cannot say enough for the value of meeting people of other faiths. All of you right now have the opportunity to do this, if you can find the strength to take that leap. For me, speaking with Muslim women at the mosque, seeing the passion at the new Jewish service I tried, having a Hindu man talk about the origin story of his part of Hinduism--those types of experiences, aside from being vastly interesting, have given me the moving opportunity to learn just a little bit more about my fellow humans. It is these experiences that help us all realize the beauty in our shared humanity, and our incredible diversity. Consider trying it yourself--believe me, more than likely the people of that different faith/denomination/movement are going to be more than happy to welcome you in. So find that place, and go. Now. It is only through this kind of proactive action that we can move our world forward in understanding, and strive to prevent more tragedies like the one we just witnessed in New Zealand.

Now go out and love one another.

<3,
Allyson

Booklet with my Interfaith Projects

Hello, friends!

I have written here about my interfaith projects over the years--and now someone has compiled a bunch of them into this fancy booklet, along with many other incredible interfaith projects on which my colleagues are working.

It is incredibly humbling to see much of my work all in one place like this. If you want to look further, you can see me on booklet pages 11, 12, 15, and 18 (plus you can see all the other amazing projects by my colleagues!): https://jp2center.s3.amazonaws.com/files/Alumni_Grant_Program_Final.pdf?fbclid=IwAR2_YvLmOp1hhUW01HfHS_c-FCDyxsSTDjyq236IZ6eUPuF3glxoQL3iitQ

Now, as always, go out and love one another.

<3,
Allyson

Interfaith Seminarians Gather in Philadelphia

Hello, friends!

Look! A group of interfaith seminarians got together this week for a dinner and dialogue, and it was incredibly meaningful!

But before I tell you more, a little on my thought process...

As I constantly think about how I can best expand my interfaith work to affect as many people as possible, my mind constantly whirs through all the different ideas out there. If my goal is to make multifaith dialogue a societal norm, how can I and we best take steps in that direction?

• Is it by hosting large, dramatic public events that bring in hundreds of people for a one-off event (something like a Ramadan iftar in a synagogue)? 
• Is it by teaching our youth the value of dialogue early, because they will take it into the future (perhaps by bringing together local Hebrew School and Sunday School classes, which would generally only be possible in groups of relatively small numbers at a time)? 
• Is it by getting lay people to meet on a regular basis to form longer-term relationships (like through a monthly interfaith text study)? 
• Is it by bringing together community leaders, who then can lead by example as they form stronger bonds with their colleagues of other faiths (along the lines of the Interfaith Clergy Lunch I hosted up in Connecticut last May)? 

I would love to do all of these and more, but I have been told that sleep is apparently a necessary thing, so I have periodically tried to focus on different methodologies at different times. Currently, the idea of training faith leaders--or rather, future faith leaders--has been at the top of my mind.

I have previously shared that in August I began rabbinical school, the beautifully long path that will hopefully eventually lead to me being ordained as a rabbi of the Jewish people. And it got me thinking: it is great to bring together clergy members for dialogue, because of their presence and existing powerful place in their communities, but what about emerging and future clergy members? What about getting the people who are in their 20s and 30s who could theoretically be serving communities for the next 30+ years involved in interfaith work early?

To this end, I am blessed to have a small grant this spring from the John Paul II Center in Rome to work with Interfaith Philadelphia (a local non-profit doing seemingly endless work in the interfaith realm) on a project for local seminarians. Interfaith Philadelphia is running a program to bring seminarians of different faiths to visit a variety of houses of worship--for example, on Saturday we will be attending a service at a Buddhist Temple in the area (my first time going to one!!! Mildly excited.). My grant allows us to work together to build the program out further to include two dinners supplemental to their programming, that will hopefully give the participating seminarians (and other local seminarians) the opportunity to form relationships on a deeper level, learn from one another, and engage in interfaith dialogue among themselves. The two dinners are also a part of the ACWAY network, of which I have written several times and could wax poetic especially since a friend of mine from that group is visiting this weekend, but I will refrain from doing it again this time.

So my latest dream: I want every single faith leader going out into the world to have had meaningful experiences with people of other faiths. (I like to set realistic, manageable goals.) For example, there is a reason that so much emphasis is put on the friendships that Pope Francis has had over the years with Jews. Since my big goal of bringing interfaith engagement to every single faith leader might take a while, I will settle with offering that opportunity to seminarians here in Philadelphia. Cue my latest project.

We had our first dinner this week on Tuesday night. The first dinner was meant to be relatively informal as an opportunity to build relationships. Seven people attended--three Jewish rabbinical students, four Christian seminarians from different denominations (Presbyterian, non-denominational, Mennonite)--and the conversations grew deep fast. From our latest television obsessions we then moved into how we would describe our own religion in two sentences, religious dress in our tradition and why (or not) we choose to wear it, and the night culminated with each of us going around to answer the question beautifully and bluntly asked by one of my Christian brothers, "So, do you think the Exodus story is true?"

The evening completely surpassed my expectations. I was not sure if seven people sitting around a table in a restaurant in downtown Philadelphia would be able to achieve my vision of forming meaningful interfaith connections so quickly--but it did. In the end, I actually had to interrupt the conversation and leave before anyone else after two hours of discussion merely because of the parking regulations in the city, which I am taking as a good sign. One person exclaimed, "I love this!" and another jokingly said, "So, we'll be doing this every Tuesday night?" In the end, it was the quality of the people who chose to come that made the evening such a success.

 

I am grateful to those who came for helping me remember that as long as you have the right people in the room, it does not need to be a huge group to have an impact. The seven of us who attended come from different belief systems within our own traditions, we varied geographically even within the Philadelphia region, and we all spoke with curiosity and respect. Everyone in that group will play a role in shaping the minds of others as they go forward in their work, making me think that I may be onto something with the idea of training emerging religious leaders in this work. Or maybe we just had a really good dinner and conversation, but I have a strong suspicion that the discussions we had and bonds we formed will have an impact on us all in some way going forward.

Our second dinner is scheduled for April, and while this one was primarily about building relationships, the second one will also include a speaker or interfaith-related training. I am hopeful that the second dinner will have a larger group of seminarians, so I will be working to maintain the balance of having a larger group present to reach as many leaders as possible, with working in some time for discussions in smaller groups in order to maintain the connection and intimacy of a small-group interfaith dialogue like this one. I can only hope that the impact from this ripples out more than I can ever know. And until someone forces me to stop, I'm going to keep trying.

Now go out and love one another.

<3,
Allyson
---
P.S. If you have ever seen me when I get really, really excited--that was me after the dinner.

10,000ish Interfaith Friends in Toronto

Hello, friends.

So it turns out, all those folks who said rabbinical school was busy--they were right! Go figure. That, plus some chronic and so-far undiagnosed bad health issues (they are boring and basically make me overly tired always so that I only have energy for school and work...#netflix)--means that life has been beautiful and busy! This means that my very interfaith life has had a teensy bit of a more Jewish focus these past few months, but I guess that is to be expected.

However, I would go crazy if I was not hanging out with folks of different faiths, and I was particularly fortunate the first week of November to attend the Parliament of the World's Religions. This international gathering actually began more than 100 years ago but after a few decades' pause in the 20th century, returned in the '90s and has been taking place every few years since in a variety of international cities. The last one was in Salt Lake City a few years back and apparently drew around 10,000 people. And the 2018 edition took place in Toronto! I was honored to have someone offer to send me for the entire week, and so I headed up to Toronto from November 1-7 for this important conference/meeting/hangout/thing. Please forgive the long post: it was a full week.

The Parliament is a fascinating mix of people who, at least theoretically, recognize that we can come together despite our differences to learn, live, and celebrate. The huge huge huge meeting involved formal sessions, prayer gatherings, shared meals, a huge exhibit hall.....it was truly a feat for whichever event planner(s) pulled it off. 

It was different from what I was expecting. I thought the sessions would be the highlight for me, but I actually had limited time and so could only make a few--and even then, I was not completely overwhelmed with the selections on the schedule, and there were just too many so the sessions seemed sparsely attended. Instead, though, it was those small encounters--laughing on a street corner with an old acquaintance, having strangers ask about my own faith background, learning about others--that really brought me the most meaning from that week. It almost made it worth being behind in all my Hebrew classes for the rest of the semester...;)

While I had a number of meaningful experiences during that cold, rainy week up in Toronto, one particularly stood out and which I want to share in more detail: the Women's Ceremony. This gathering was slated to take place in the big, main hall (I think the biggest event space for the conference), and my interpretation of the intent was to celebrate women and interfaith in the space. For each of a number of faiths, there were two representatives--an elder and a youth. I was asked to participate as the young Jew (or, as I preferred to call myself, the "baby Jew"). The ceremony was very long and I was only involved in the very opening part (and then had to excuse myself because, as per above, my body has extremely limited energy with this unknown health problem), but what I was in was great.

I made this awkwardly big so you could read the quotes from the different traditions.

Essentially, we walked onto this big stage in our pairs--elder and younger--in alphabetical order by the faiths/other traditions represented. We were in traditional or symbolic clothes as we all interpreted them, so my lovely partner and I each wore our tallises (how meaningful to wear the tallis that was my father's, which he gave to me at my Bat Mitzvah when I was 12). The elders each placed a stone on a table (symbolizing them being the foundation of our communities) and then each of us younger women placed a rose in a vase (maybe symbolizing life/the future). Later, the young women moved forward in a line: from Baha'i to Zoroastrian, eleven of us young women in colorful, traditional garb, standing in a line.

Can you find me? :D

We then passed a microphone down and each read a line from our traditional texts about women. Then, we all joined hands and held them in the air. The image was so powerful that the next day I decided to tweet it at J.K. Rowling, who actually responded! Many of my friends confirmed that having J.K. Rowling respond to my interfaith tweet was basically the highest achievement I could ever reach in life. 

This is just one snapshot of what was a set of neat experiences over the course of the week. There was perhaps less quality networking than I was expecting, and I felt that there were way too many sessions offered in each time slot so that there was poor attendance at many, but it was nonetheless a meaningful thing to be there. The meeting also seemed to trend away from only Judaism-Christianity-Islam, which is very interesting, with many spiritual traditions represented with which I have little experience. I am always up for new things! But it did feel definitely more skewed toward smaller spiritual traditions and belief systems. 

That said, here, in no particular order, are some of my highlights, followed by some photos:

1. I was on a panel related to ACWAY, which is an international, interfaith/intercultural network of which I am a part (it stands for "A Common Word Among the Youth"). On it, four of us spoke about our work as part of the network. I first became involved in ACWAY at the inaugural conference in December 2015, and I do not exaggerate when I say that being part of this changed my worldview for the better. It was thus very rewarding to have the opportunity to present as part of the network.
2. As part of the alumni network for the Russell Berrie Fellowship in Intereligious Studies (aka when I lived in Rome for a year after college and studied with priests), I was asked to staff our booth every day in the exhibit hall. The exhibit hall was a massive room filled with booths from all different traditions--I met a Scientologist briefly for the first time, learned more about Wicca from two witches, had an older gentleman sing to me a moving song he had written for his grandson's bar mitzvah, had a kind Sikh man wrap my head in a turban, and more. The hall was an interesting meeting place for all types of people.
3. A group of us went to a Reform synagogue Friday night, as it was the week after the Pittsburgh synagogue shooting and it felt important to do so. A mixed group of Jews and others joined me for the Friday night services, which was extremely touching.
4. After services, I had been invited to a more observant Shabbat dinner at the house of my lovely chevruta (study partner) from when I studied at Pardes in Jerusalem! Her family lives in Toronto, and I had not seen her in over a year. It was so heartwarming to find a Shabbat meal while in Toronto!
5. A number of interfaith networks of which I am a part were represented at the meeting. So in addition to ACWAY and Russell Berrie, I am also an alum of IFYC (the Interfaith Youth Core--large organization that brings interfaith dialogue to college campuses), involved in Interfaith Philadelphia (an amazing interfaith center here in Philly with which I have been quick to get involved), and probably some others. A lot of them used the Parliament as an opportunity for gathering their groups, so I was fortunate to attend a number of meals with these different groups over the week.

The next few months should hold a few more lovely interfaith things, and so I am excited for what is to come! Happy 2019 to you all.

Now go out and love one another.

<3,
Allyson  

We Are in Mourning

Hello, friends.

Yesterday, an antisemitic terrorist walked into a Conservative synagogue in Pittsburgh, yelled, "All Jews must die," then proceeded to kill 11 people, and wounded several others. All those who died were in the synagogue on a Saturday morning, just as countless Jews go to synagogue during Shabbat every week--just as I went to synagogue Friday evening. They were there for a bris, a ceremony for a new baby boy that marks the belonging of that child to the Jewish people--a celebration of a new life. And these people were murdered in cold blood in their house of worship by an automatic weapon. 

This is the worst antisemitic attack to take place in the U.S. since the establishment of our country. There are no words for this tragedy, for the magnitude of this tragedy, and yet we have to find them.

I have said several times over the past 36 hours that this horror was not unexpected in my mind. Without going into too much detail the history of antisemitism (some of you may know I have done a fair amount of research into European antisemitism; I am very willing to share it offline with anybody who wants to learn more), the facts are thus: throughout history, from nearly the beginning of the Jewish people, other people have hated the Jewish people. While the excuses for this hatred have varied--whether claims about the Jewish role in the death of Jesus, criticisms in the Middle Ages of having some magical solution to the Black Plague and not sharing it (afterward largely attributed to Jewish hygiene practices, even perhaps ritual mikveh usage), claims to a worldwide Jewish conspiracy, to some now claiming criticism of the state of Israel as reason enough to hate all Jews--antisemitism has always, always been there. Periods of calm were few and far between, and they always ended. There were always killings. Burning Jews in front of an audience. Or pogroms. Or the ovens of the Shoah. Over, and over, and over again, people have targeted Jews. I am not going to even hazard a guess here as to why, as the fact remains that we are targets.

I have traveled a fair amount around Europe, and often try to go to synagogue on Friday nights in whatever city I am in. Rome, Barcelona, Dublin, London--many different places, many different synagogues. And guess what? All or almost all of them have security all the time, and will heavily question anyone coming for services that they don't recognize. In London I even had to send my passport information ahead of time in order to be checked out before Shabbat. When I lived in Rome, I remember feeling the tragedy of the major synagogue in Rome, which faced an attack in 1982 by Palestinian terrorists when they drove by and shot at the shul. Thirty-seven people were wounded, and a two-year-old child died that day. I understood why there is always security there, and why they were suspicious whenever I would come for services. In Barcelona, the questions for me and my friend went on for so long one Friday night that I wondered if they would bar us from the service altogether.

I have long figured that eventually, American Jews would need to employ similar tactics to protect ourselves. Already, major synagogues in major cities here do hire protection--but the suburban shuls have long felt safe without it. No longer.

When people say, "How could this happen here?" I think of how in 2017 in Charlottesville a Reform synagogue had to face down a group with guns standing outside their doors, and the president did not condemn it fiercely. Or how not three years before a gunman entered a Jewish community center and nursing facility in Kansas in 2014 and killed three people. That's not to mention the countless other attacks against Jews around the world--in a kosher supermarket in France, in southern France, the issues facing Jews in the U.K. today from their own political parties. No one who has been paying attention and watching these things unfold over the past few years could doubt that we are moving out of our relative period of calm, and back into a much fuller outward display of antisemitism.

So for now, as I think about how those in a synagogue in the state where I now live faced death at the hands of a terrorist, we mourn. We mourn, and we hold each other, and we pray. We all run through in our mind which Jews we know in Pittsburgh to reach out and see if they are alive. Jewish institutions around the country and the world are putting in place further protections. My rabbinical school has informed us already that the local police will be having a larger presence for us at school this week., and that "active shooter protocols" will be uploaded to our website shortly. My inbox and my Facebook timeline are filled with official statements by Jewish and interfaith groups. Vigils and prayer services are taking place everywhere, it seems.

But then, once we can find the inner strength, we need to cease our mourning and do something. 

One of the reasons I became involved in interfaith relations was because I had researched antisemitism, both past and present, and wanted a way to fight against this baseless hatred for my own and other people. And it is actually this line of work that has me hoping that this time around--as antisemitism obviously rears its ugly head in our world, in our backyards, once again--that maybe, just maybe, we'll be more effective at fighting it.

I have hope because of the many people of different faiths who reached out to me after the shooting, just to check on me. I have hope because when I posted about the tragedy on Facebook, Christians and Muslims and Jews all commented together. I have hope because Muslim folks came together to raise money for the families of the victims, and has already raised more than $50,000. I have hope because the statistics show that if you know just one person of a particular faith, you are more likely to have positive views of members of that faith. Yes, there were people in the past who cared about the Jews in times of trouble and fought to save them. But I am hoping against hope that this time around, even more people will stand up for us when these things happen. Just as I stand up for those of other faiths, I believe that there are people out there who will do the same for me.

And I especially have hope because this next week, from November 1-7, 10,000 people from over 200 faith and non-faith traditions are heading up to Toronto for the World Parliament of Religions, a gathering that happens every few years and seeks to promote respect and understanding among peoples. But that is a post for another time.

So how can you stand up after this tragedy, if you are not Jewish? Reach out to the Jewish people in your life, now. Send a hug or a heart or call them, but just let them know you see them, and that what happened is not okay. Then check in with them again in two days. And then a week. Let them know that this is not going to be forgotten. Encourage your spiritual leaders to speak about this in your own weekly faith services, because we need more people to care. Learn about the victims--learn their names, their stories, look at their faces, realize how much was lost in that synagogue yesterday morning. Support your local community by attending a vigil for those lost. And perhaps most difficult of all: when you hear people make comments about Jews or any group of people, however small or seemingly harmless, speak up. Yes, it is difficult and uncomfortable and may even hurt or even end relationships you have with some people. But until we all--Jewish and non-Jewish alike--start speaking out against all forms of prejudice with our collective voice, these things will continue happening...just as they always have. Let's make the future different.

Speak out, my friends, and make your voices heard.

First they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out—
     Because I was not a socialist.
Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out—
     Because I was not a trade unionist.
Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—
     Because I was not a Jew.
Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me.*

I am speaking out for you--will you speak out for me?

Now go out, and especially today and this week, and love one another.

<3,
Allyson  
---
*Credited to Martin Niemöller, a German Lutheran pastor speaking about the cowardice of German intellectuals following the Nazis' rise to power

Jews and Catholics in Lithuania

Hello, friends!

This summer, I was honored to be invited to attend an Emerging Leaders conference in Vilnius, Lithuania that took place in July. The conference ran from Monday-Wednesday, and brought together Jewish and Catholic people under 35 to discuss interfaith, Catholic-Jewish relations, some important documents that have come out on these topics in the past few years, and more. Lithuania was once home to a significant Jewish population, much of which was devastatingly destroyed during the Holocaust.

Jewish and Catholic Participants in front of the Presidential Palace in Vilnius, with a #LT100 in front of it as Lithuania is currently celebrating the 100th anniversary of their independence.

While I was raised Jewish, I have been aware of and involved in Catholicism my whole life, via my mother (click here), many close Catholic friends, and my year spent studying at the Angelicum and Gregorian universities in Rome. However, in terms of dialogue opportunities with Catholic folks, I have not done too much formal work since I left Rome in 2014 (okay, I did hang out with Catholic folks in Jerusalem...and a lovely priest organized this panel I was on in Hartford this spring, but still...). All that aside, I was very happy to have some time to delve back into this dialogue, which in my experience has always been very focused on theology, which is a fascinating approach for dialogue in my mind since it focuses on unknowable (in my opinion) ideas as opposed to lived experience (how do we celebrate holidays? as an example). I think the approach might not resonate with everybody. However, I am definitely interested in it and the nuanced conversations that flow when discussing deep, metaphysical topics, and so I was very happy to participate in this conference and revisit things like Nostra Aetate (Please read it. All of you. It's short. It changed the path of the Catholic Church and how it interacts with Jews and those of other faiths.). We also looked at some newer documents from both the Church and from Jewish groups about relationships between these two groups.

Inside the Synagogue in Vilnius

A lot of interfaith dialogue is about building relationships. So beyond our formal sessions (which were largely EXCELLENT), this incredibly well-educated group of young Jews and Catholics had a great time fostering connections over meals, on a walking tour of Vilnius during which we learned about the tough history of Lithuania's Jews, and over drinks and World Cup matches. We laughed and a few of us went swimming in a random river one morning (great idea, guys) and teased each other and had a great time.

Sign on the Vilnius Synagogue

The conference was based at a Catholic retreat center just outside of Vilnius, so we were mostly all staying at the same place. We had sessions there as well as at the Jewish community center in Vilnius (which--how amazing that there is a Jewish community center in Vilnius, especially after the tragedy of the Shoah). We ate Chabad meals in the synagogue (like...in the synagogue...) so that those who needed would have hot kosher food. We visited with an archbishop. All in all, we (a very international cohort) fit an amazing amount into a short period of time. Also, while I love dialoguing with hugely diverse groups, there is also value in having a hugely specific dialogue between fewer groups as it allows time for diving deeper into revelant topics, and also deal with more specific issues between the groups.

Our Group with the Archbishop Metropolitan of Vilnius Gintaras Grusas. (You may notice that I am directly in front of the Archbishop...yes, I did run up when they said we were taking a photo so that I could be next to him and chat for a minute.)

The short story as I would tell it of the Catholic Church and Judaism (feel free to push back on this) would be:
1. There were centuries of distrust of Jews and even antisemitism from many in the Church establishment (including the horror of the Inquisition)
2. With obvious outliers of Catholics who were hugely loving/proactive on relations with Jewish folks
3. But the seminal moment came during Vatican II when Nostra Aetate was adopted and the formal position of the Church became one of positive feelings toward the Jews
4. And the past 50 years since that meeting has led to a top-down flourishing of Catholic-Jewish relations.

There are always going to be problems between people, of course, but many of my Catholic friends might not even realize the huge import of Vatican II and Nostra Aetate, and just how much the Church changed in that time period--that's how well it filtered down: they love me regardless/because/all of the above my Judaism, as if it were the most natural thing in the world (even though we know from history that it is not). And so any Catholic-Jewish meeting has some very specific items to deal with, such as: the Church's history with antisemitism; Jewish distrust of Christians in general; certain Church documents even beyond Nostra Aetate that have been released; and some that Jewish groups have issued on the topic as well. We might not have time for things this specific to Jews and Catholics in a more mixed interfaith group, and they could be handled in a deeper way when we have more time to focus on it together.

Now, over the years, I have heard people question the value of such interfaith dialogues. "What's the point?" or "It seems like it only affects the people in the room; why should they continue happening when they have such limited impact?" To which I would respond that with many efforts at changing our society and the world, the impact is not immediately--or ever--obvious. We cannot all be the Catholic Church that can accept a document and immediately it is disseminated and considered official; not everything is quantifiable. So I think the unseen impact of efforts like these can be great, even if not easily seen--how people spread the ideas then to their communities, how their language changes after having met people of other faiths, things like this. It's why I write on this blog about my interfaith activities--to try to encourage similar discussions beyond the four walls that held the dialogue.

Beer, World Cup, and good conversations

The second way I would respond would be to say that I am a fan of meetings like these coming with an agreement that participants will do something afterward--which can vary based on the meeting. Perhaps it is everyone agreeing to run a dialogue in one's home community upon returning there (a hard yet meaningful requirement--it's hard to get people together!). Maybe it would be literally just saying you agree to get coffee with someone of a different faith upon returning home. (Easier.) One example that comes to mind is that I was fortunate enough back in 2015 to participate in an interfaith conference in Morocco, and we all theoretically signed on to accomplish two interfaith projects a year after that--and it's been a great, meaningful network with which to stay in contact in the intervening years as some of us work on the relevant projects.

Street sign in Vilnius--"Rehov Yehudit," or "Jew Street." On our walking tour, we saw a lot of evidence of the once-thriving (and now slowly rebuilding after the Holocaust) Jewish community in Vilnius.

So beyond the intangible but I would say significant impact that can come from these meetings (changing someone's mind, especially someone in a position of power in their community, can have an immense impact on their thoughts, words, and actions, and so scale out to others with whom they interact), I do think having a concrete requirement afterward as part of the agreement for participating is important. Now, there were no formal understandings as part of the follow-up to our time in Lithuania, but I do think the types of conversations we were having were the right ones to affect that intangible measurement--many people were engaging on serious topics, learning from one another, and hopefully growing in respect and love. If that's not meaningful and worthwhile, I don't know what is, and I know they will bring those things back to their communities.

All in all, I am thankful to everyone who made it possible for me to go (for connecting me to the group, to figuring out the logistics, to funding the trip, etc.). Here's to many more meaning-making meetings like this one!

Now go out and love one another.

<3,
Allyson