The Craig ‘N Co. Blog

Over the past month, I’ve had two opportunities to witness the power of encountering difference – of meeting someone from another tradition and absorbing its depth and richness.

The more recent of these took place last week.  I had the privilege of joining 24 other Jews and 25 Catholics in Castel Gandolfo, Italy, a stone’s throw from the Pope’s summer residence.  We all were “emerging leaders” (read: young-ish, though the Catholics tended to stress the “emerging” part and the Jews tended to stress the “leaders” part).  Convened by the Vatican and a high-level Jewish group called the International Jewish Committee on Interreligious Consultations, our group’s purpose ostensibly was to frame new priorities in Catholic-Jewish dialogue.

Earlier in June, I had a similar encounter in Chicago, only this time it wasn’t an inter-religious meeting but rather an intra-religious one.  In a consultation called Pray Different, I watched as Orthodox, Conservative, Reform, Reconstructionist, and post-denominational ba’alei t’filot (prayer leaders), mostly but not exclusively clergy, explored emerging forms of communal prayer being developed at places like Hadar, the Institute of Jewish Spirituality, Romemu, and Hebrew College’s rabbinical school.

What did these two gatherings have in common?

First, there was, ironically, the extent of Jewish diversity.  Even when we are engaging those of a different faith entirely – and especially in conversation with the Catholic Church – the breadth and variety of Judaism is readily apparent.  Sometimes our differences create challenges, as in Italy when our Catholic counterparts looked somewhat bewildered as we negotiated how to pray together and occasionally contradicted one another without anyone being wrong.  More often, though, they yield historical depth and spiritual riches, as in Chicago when clergy of different movements (and no movement) created moments of holiness together through creative liturgies that bridged the denominational divide.

Second, and less easy to contend with, was the question of generational change.  At Castel Gandolfo, while the conference specifically engaged 20- and 30-somethings, some questioned whether its purpose was to draw us into existing structures and priorities, or instead to empower us to act on the new approaches and issues we identified.  In Chicago, the tension was between the needs and limits of existing congregational institutions that serve the broad population of c’lal Chicago, on the one hand, and, on the other, the newminyanim and chavurot (prayer groups) and other startups that express the vision of very specific groups of people.

And what do I take away from my month of inter-group encounters?

Whether we are speaking with one another as Jews or with our friends and neighbors of different traditions, we are strongest when we celebrate the entire mosaic of spiritual expression – every voice authentic in its own way – and when we expand the number of pathways to community and connection, for as many people as possible.  We need not travel halfway around the world to find opportunities to build bridges of faith; and no matter how far we venture, we’ll always find the bonds of community, if only we open ourselves to the encounter.

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Shawn Landres is the co-founder and CEO of Jumpstart, an incubator, catalyst, and think tank for sustainable Jewish innovation. An interreligious activist with expertise in evangelical-Jewish, Catholic-Jewish, and Muslim-Jewish affairs, Shawn lives in Los Angeles with his wife Zuzana Riemer Landres and their one year-old daughter Abigail.