The Yamim Nora’im (Days of Awe) offer us the opportunity to reflect on the past and to look to the future. In this liminal time, we engage in a focused process of teshuvah—of turning and returning to self, other, and to the Divine. This requires an honest assessment of our successes and failures and a concerted effort to repair damaged relationships. While this soul-searching work can be very difficult, the ancient notion of teshuvah reflects a fundamentally positive perspective: Constructive change is possible. If we are willing to invest, we can improve our lives and participate in interpersonal and collective healing.

Understanding the challenges of teshuvah, our sages remind us to lead with care and compassion. One such reminder comes in the form of a wordplay on the Hebrew word Elul, אלול, the last month of the Jewish calendar. We are invited to read this name as an acronym: אני לדודי ודודי לי, “I am my beloved’s and my beloved is mine (Song of Songs 6:3). As we approach Rosh Hashanah and continue the teshuvah journey, let us do so with a loving spirit, attempting to infuse all of our acts of judgement with kindness and mercy.

Shanah Tovah — Blessings for a healthy, happy, and meaningful New Year!

Rabbi Or Rose, Founding Director

Miller Center for Interreligious Learning & Leadership of Hebrew College

The Miller Center recently announced the national expansion of its Building Interfaith Leadership Initiative (BILI) fellowship, a new partnership with Interfaith America (formerly Interfaith Youth Core), and the open-source interreligious curriculum BILI Online. Read media coverage from Religion News Service and eJewishPhilanthropy.

The fellowship formally launched with a two-day orientation in Chicago, IL that led directly into Interfaith America’s Interfaith Leadership Summit (formerly the Interfaith Leadership Institute). 26 fellows and 11 regional mentors joined for this new feature of the national program, which involves two trips, one to Chicago and one to Washington, D.C. in January. This year was the first time since the start of the pandemic that the summit has been held in person. The BILI fellows and staff were all grateful for the chance to be in person once again. With 350 students and educators in the same room, the energy and excitement was palpable! 

"Together We Are Home/Juntos Somos Casa" by Endriu. The header photo of the newsletter was also created by Endriu.

The Miller Center is pleased to announce the release of the first five units of BILI Online, "Lessons in Interreligious Leadership." 

Funded by a generous grant from the Gottesman Fund, this free resource is designed for use by students, campus professionals, and others interested in interreligious engagement. The units contain introductory materials, resources in a variety of mediums, and teaching tools from a diversity of traditions. What’s In a Name; Head, Heart, Hands: Forms of Interreligious Engagement; Program Planning; Cultivating Your Voice: Public Narratives; and Appreciating the Other: An Ethic of Love.

In addition, many units contain original art by James Andrew Gilbert (artist name: Endriu), a gender-fluid artist based in Brazil. “I’m excited to work with the Miller Center on this project as it’s been challenging me to visualize concepts that are often very abstract and loose in our minds. I’m also excited because the work has a purpose and a goal, I hope it will help bring people together in this world filled with divisions,” said Gilbert. 

Miller Center Associate Director Rev. Tom Reid said, “Having worked on BILI for five years, it is exciting to see the growth of the program and this new online curriculum. I could not be happier with our new partnership with Interfaith America.” 

"I am thrilled to be leading an exceptional group of young people—both high school fellows and graduate student mentors—through this year’s Dignity Project Fellowship. They are a dynamic and committed cohort, bravely engaging across lines of difference with curiosity and care. In designing our program, we seek to cultivate the values of humility, hospitality, authenticity, empathy, and interconnection. Throughout the year, they will explore various leadership skills, providing fellows the opportunity to apply them through internal and broader gatherings." — Shelton Oakley Hersey, Dignity Project Director 

Since the middle of the 18th century, many Jews have adopted the custom of
reciting Psalm 27 beginning one month in advance of Rosh Hashanah through the
end of Sukkot. Why was this psalm selected for this sacred season? How might we make use of the biblical text and creative works it has inspired as we journey through the Days of Awe and the turning of the season? Join Rabbi Rose via Zoom on Thursday, September 29, 2022, 7:00-8:30 pm. The event is hosted by Temple Beth Zion.

Rabbi Or Rose will be teaching an adult learning course hosted by Temple Israel, Boston–and open to the public–entitled “The Book of Genesis in Early Hasidic Thought: The Torah Commentary of Rabbi Moses Haim Efraim of Sudlikov (1800). The weekly course runs for seven sessions beginning on Tuesday, Oct. 25th and ending on Dec. 6th, 7:00-8:30 PM (EST). The class will meet in-person at TI and will also be available via Zoom.

The Baal Shem Tov’s Synagogue in Medzibuzh, Ukraine.

Join us as we explore the mystical commentary of the Master (Rebbe) of Sudlikov on the Torah portions of Sefer Bereishit (The Book of Genesis). The Degel Mahaneh Efraim (“The Banner of the Encampment of Efraim”), first published in 1810, is considered a classic work by Hasidim and scholars alike, as the preacher gives eloquent voice to key themes in early Hasidism, such as prayer and meditation; Torah study; spiritual and ethical growth; and the relationship of Hasidim to one another and to their Rebbe. For more information click here.

Issue 37 is a special issue in collaboration with the organizers of the 18th Annual Boston College Engaging Particularities Conference on Comparative Theology and Interreligious Dialogue. The theme of last year’s conference was “Living Rituals through Memory, Language, and Identity.” A select few presentations appear as revised articles in this issue. This is our third collaborative issue with the conference and we hope for many more.

Kyle (he/him) is a first-year Master of Divinity student at the Boston College School of Theology and Ministry. Originally from North Texas, Kyle joins the Miller Center after completing a Fulbright grant in Conflict Resolution and Mediation at Tel Aviv University, Israel. He is passionate about interreligious learning and loves reading novels, hiking, ceramics, photography, and spending time with animals. 

Rafi (he/him) is a shanah gimmel (3rd year) rabbinical student in the Hebrew College Rabbinical School. In addition to his work at the Miller Center, he works as the rabbinic intern at Temple Anshe Amunim in Pittsfield, MA. Rafi is also a literary translator and is currently completing a bilingual edition (English/Hebrew) of “the little book of e,” a collection of E. Ethelbert Miller’s haiku, due to be published by Simon & Schuster in 2023. In 2021-2022, Rafi served as a graduate student mentor for the Dignity Project and a curriculum writer on various Miller Center projects.

David (he/him) is a shanah aleph (1st year) rabbinical student and teaching fellow at Hebrew College, and a student rabbi at Congregation Or HaTzafon in Fairbanks, Alaska. Prior to attending Hebrew College, David was an artist and curator at the Proteus Gowanus Gallery in Brooklyn, where he co-founded the Fixers Collective—an anarchist repair community that gathered weekly to fix broken things. David was also the co-founder and CEO of Bandwagon, an environmental tech company that organized shared taxi rides from NYC airports. 

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For the past 50 years, Rabbi Arthur Waskow, PhD., founder and executive director of the Shalom Center, has shared his prophetic vision in some 28 books and countless articles and blog posts. The Miller Center of Hebrew College was honored to host Waskow for a public event on September 8, 2022, focusing on his 2020 book, Dancing in God’s Earthquake: The Coming Transformation of Religion. Miller Center Director Rabbi Or Rose interviewed Waskow and engaged with him in dialogue. A small group of in-person guests and over 100 Zoom participants gathered for this intergenerational discussion.

Following the seventh anniversary of the passing of Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi (August 8, 1924-June 3, 2014), founder of the Jewish Renewal Movement, the staff of the Miller Center for Interreligious Learning & Leadership of Hebrew College began envisioning a unique and ambitious colloquium reflecting on Reb Zalman’s (a less formal title he preferred) life and legacy.