(L-R): Simran Singh Stuelpnagel, Rabbi Or Rose, Rev. Rob Schenck

By Rabbi Or Rose, Miller Center Director

Needless to say, I do not often find myself in cathedrals on Shabbat (Sabbath) morning. However, this past Saturday I was invited to participate in an interreligious service at the National Cathedral in Washington, DC, organized by The International Torch for Peace Foundation.

With so much division, acrimony, and violence in our country and throughout the world, this gathering felt like a brief reprieve and an opportunity to renew my commitment to pluralism. It was an unusual but meaningful way to spend part of my Shabbat. Interacting with and hearing from brave and caring religious, cultural, and civic leaders was both inspiring and grounding.

Beacons of Hope: Our Interreligious S/Heroes

Each month, we honor an individual or group whose commitments align with the bridge-building efforts of the Miller Center of Hebrew College. This March we highlight our own 2024-25 Dignity Project Fellows, an impressive cohort of high school students from across Greater Boston who built a community of interreligious learning and connection across lines of difference in the midst of a tumultuous year. We honor these teens by reflecting on the power of their fellowship's closing ceremony. 

The 2025-2026 Dignity Project Fellows celebrated the culmination of their learning together in a closing ceremony last month.  “In the learning lab that is our Dignity Project community of practice, you have done beautiful work building trust and understanding this year,” said Program Director Liz Aeschlimann in her remarks. “Keep going. We need you.” The ceremony also marked the opening of a photo exhibition entitled “Seeing Through Our Eyes,” featuring images captured by the fellows as part of the photography-and-dialogue practice developed by Interfaith Photovoice. Showing in the Hebrew College Student Lounge this Spring, the exhibit reflects on the themes on dignity, identity and belonging in their own worlds. Fellow Harsonica Bindra, a junior at Holliston High School shared, “When I first joined this fellowship, I had no idea how deeply it would shape my perspective, challenge my thinking, and reinforce my commitment to the values of dignity, equity, and justice.” Fellow Adam Cheairs (pictured above, second from right), a sophomore at Milton High School, offered a charge to the cohort in the form of a poem, presented below: 

The Year We Built

by Adam Cheairs

 

We began with our names, 

The story, the spark, 

An iceberg had been beneath, a bridge in the making, 

A campfire was lit, and the year began. 

 

September knocked, we opened the door, 

Not just for those we’d welcomed before, 

But for questions—sharp, soft, and unspoken. 

 

October asked: What shaped your stance? 

We traced (from) where our politics grew, 

From homes, from histories, from struggles, too. 

Not just what we think, but why we believe: 

Is it choice, or is it chance? 

Do we stand where we were set? 

Or step beyond, unlearn, reset? 

 

Midyear came, and with it, a pause, 

To listen, to breathe, to stretch through the flaws. 

A window of tolerance, open and wide, 

A space not to divide, but to sit side by side. 

 

In December, respect was not just a word, 

But the act of listening, of seeing, of hearing. 

Bias unnamed is bias that stays, 

Yet we learned to unearth it in honest new ways. 

 

A year in review, but truly, a start, 

A stitching together of many small parts. 

 

Today, we leave with new tools in our hand, 

To build up the bridges where barriers stand. 

 

For justice, peace, or dignity is not a future we just find, 

But a present we forge, a world we design. 

And if we have built this in one short year, 

Imagine what we will build from here. 

 

Thank you. 

Miller Center Sr. Fellows meet with Dr. Reggie Williams, advisor on the current and controversial Bonhoeffer biopic.

By Miller Center Visiting Professor of Christianity and Religious Leadership Rev. Rob Schenck

When I joined the Hebrew College faculty, I did not come alone. With me were 22 scholars, academics, clergy leaders, and advocates for various causes who were senior fellows of the Washington, DC-based Dietrich Bonhoeffer Institute. Named for the young, brave, and brilliant World War II-era pastor, moral theologian, and Nazi resister, the Institute selected fellows because their expertise intersected with Bonhoeffer's life, times, interests, and work. 

My departure from the Institute's presidency signaled the end of its five-year run, and the fellows needed to find a new home. They did, at the generous invitation of Miller Center executive director Or Rose. Today, the same collection of outstanding religious professionals, well-known and admired in their respective fields, constitute the Bonhoeffer cohort of Senior Interreligious Leadership Fellows at the Miller Center. 

On Monday, February 24 at 7 p.m., Interfaith Photovoice founder and author Dr. Roman Williams visited Hebrew College to celebrate the release of his book, Sacred Snaps: Photovoice for Interfaith Engagement.

Attendees gathered in the Offit room of our shared campus in Newton to learn about Dr. Williams' book and the work of Interfaith Photovoice. Not content to offer a reading, Dr. Williams guided attendees through a photography and dialogue exercise exploring the theme of gratitude. Participants used pictures from their phones to share about gratitude in their own lives, and explored emergent themes across different photographs and life experiences. [ROR QUOTE HERE]

To learn more about Interfaith Photovoice, watch Roman's presentation, "Seeing Through One Another's Lenses", from the Miller Center's June 2024 event, Leading Faithfully in Divided Times.

The Miller Center staff and advisory committee wish all of our Muslim colleagues and loved ones a Ramadan Mubarak! 

May this be a time of meaningful personal, interpersonal, and communal observance.

On Friday, April 4, in partnership with the Boston Theological Interreligious Consortium, the Miller Center will host "Celebrating Liberation", an interreligious exploration of the spring season. Save the date and keep an eye out for more details to come!

On May 1st the Hebrew College community will gather for our annual Spring Gala, an opportunity to highlight and celebrate all the good work happening in our institution, including the Miller Center for Interreligious Learning & Leadership. For her leadership of Central Synagogue and interreligious outreach, Rabbi Angel Buchdahl (pictured right) will receive Hebrew College's inaugural Rabbi David Ellenson Memorial Award for Pluralism and Ahavat Yisrael. Other honorees include Denise Sobel (Betzalel Award), Dr. Judith Rosenbaum (Esther Award), and the Teplow Family (L'dor Vador Award). 

Learn more