Rabbi's Week in Review Blog

Next week I am commencing a course of study that will lead to a Certificate as a Rodef Shalom - a Pursuer of Peace.  It is described as a program of deep, rigorous, and hopeful immersion in Judaism’s most enduring wisdom about the active pursuit of peace, wholeness and reconciliation. The course, that will run over two semesters, explores how Jewish law, narrative, ritual, and ethical imagination -spanning more than three millennia -  can be brought into conversation with contemporary conflict theory, neuroscience, moral psychology, and prospection science.  The intent is to provide skills to guide individuals and communities toward clarity, calm, moral confidence, and shared futures.

My hope and intent in undergoing this course of study is to both be actively involved in conflict resolution and healing in response to the level of polarization that has inflicted our Jewish community in ways that I have not heretofore seen in my lifetime.  I am also hopeful that Congregation Kol Ami can take a leading role in our community, both Jewish and beyond, in being a leading voice in conflict resolution and healing the harms that come from painful division.

The course is being offered through my seminary, the Academy for Jewish Religion-New York, and is being taught by Rabbi Dr. Marc Gopin.  Dr. Gopin is the Director of the Center for World Religions, Diplomacy and Conflict Resolution (CRDC), George Mason University.  He has pioneered major innovations, education and training through CRDC in the USA, Syria, Israel, and Palestine, Afghanistan, Bosnia, Jordan, and Turkey.

My impetus for sharing this information now is to both share this journey with our Kol Ami Kehilah as it progresses, and to explain why my Monday evenings, and a number of Sunday afternoons will be occupied.  In a difficult world, in a difficult time, we do what we can to hold onto hope for a better future; one of peace and justice for all people.  Working toward a Certificate as a Rodef Shalom is a step toward a more hopeful future