By Liz Aeschlimann, Dignity Project Program Director

On a cold November evening, Dignity Project Fellow Bee Jacobs hosted a Baha'i devotional gathering with their community. Over warm bowls of lentil soup and Persian rice, Dignity Project Fellows joined members of the Newton Baha'i community to share songs, readings, and prayers for peace, a central value of the Baha'i faith. This year's Fellows have planned nine site visits to their religious, spiritual, and ethical communities, including a Diwali puja, Shabbat dinner in a sukkah, a visit to the Westborough Gurdwara, and Salat Al-Jumah at the Islamic Center of Wayland. The recording above is a song set to Baha'i Writings urging all to rise to a level reflective of our noble creation.

The Dignity Project is a fellowship program designed to train outstanding high school sophomores, juniors and seniors from Greater Boston to serve as interreligious and cross-cultural leaders, with the capacity to engage the diversity of our society with thoughtfulness, skill, and care.

Watch the video from the November 2023 Site Visit at the Baha'i Community here.

Beacons of Hope: Our Interreligious S/Heroes

By Marilyn Stern, Director of Special Projects

Every month, we honor an individual (or group) who inspires the bridge-building efforts of the Miller Center. Each honoree uniquely embodies the values of inclusivity, justice, and compassion.

In Memoriam: Vivian Silver (1949-2023) 

Canadian-Israeli peace activist and women's rights champion. Silver was murdered in the Hamas terrorist attack on October 7, 2023, in her home at Kibbutz Be’eri. May her legacy live on as a beacon of hope for a better, more humane future. 

We dedicate this post-humous tribute to Silver's extraordinary legacy as an interreligious hero who spent most of her life building bridges between Jews, Muslims, and Christians and as her son, Yonatan Zeigen, told NPR in October, "pursuing peace in the region.”    

Silver, 74, co-founded Arab-Jewish Center for Equality, Empowerment and Cooperation and in 2014 was one of the founders of Women Wage Peace, an organization that brings together women from Israeli and Palestinian societies to lobby for a diplomatic resolution to the longstanding conflict.  

Rabbi Neal Rose and Carol Rose, parents of Miller Center Director, Rabbi Or Rose, got to know Silver when she was a student of Rabbi Neal’s at the University of Manitoba in the late 1960’s. That began a lifelong friendship between them. “Vivian Silver was both a chemist and a magician – always bringing diverse groups and communities together to create something entirely new, something full of promise and hope,” said Carol Rose. She added that even as a student, "Vivian’s curiosity and interest in diversity and ecumenism was apparent” when she befriended The Sisters of Sion, a congregation of religious sisters dedicated to promoting greater understanding between Christians and Jews.  

Vivian’s peace and humanitarian work continued into her retirement. In one of Carol’s last conversations with her longtime friend, she recounted “Vivian shared her passion for helping Bedouin women become community organizers, and about her goal to increase literacy among the women of the area. Once again, she worked her magic by fund raising in Jewish communities in Israel and abroad, as well working on the ground with the Bedouin, many who became lifelong friends of hers.” 

The tributes have poured in from around the world from her many partners and admirers including this post from the Women Wage Peace organization: “Vivian, in your wisdom and refined sense of humor, you were our role model and brave leader to peace. We will not rest until we achieve the goal to which you dedicated your life’s work. In your life, and in your death, you bequeath us peace.” 

By Wendy Linden, Chief Marketing Officer at Hebrew College

Rabbi Or Rose, founding Director of the Miller Center, is spending the fall semester on sabbatical in Salzburg, Austria. We are excited to welcome him back to Newton, MA next semester when he will also resume teaching at the rabbinical school and with the Boston Theological Interreligious Consortium (BTI).

When Rabbi Or Rose was invited to lecture in Germany while on fall sabbatical in Salzburg, Austria, he welcomed the opportunity. It was a chance to build bridges, ask questions, and disrupt assumptions—all hallmarks of his work as director of the Miller Center for Interreligious Learning & Leadership of Hebrew College.

Rose was invited by Dr. Yemima Hadad, professor of Jewish Studies at Leipzig University, whom he met through a German colleague he collaborated with on the conference for the International Council of Christians and Jewish (ICCJ) co-hosted by the Miller Center in Boston last June. “Dr. Hadad and the staff at the University of Leipzig were wonderful hosts and discussion partners,” said Rose, whose November lectures were titled, “Spirituality & Social Justice: Abraham Joshua Heschel & Martin Luther King, Jr.” and “Rainbow Hasidism: Zalman Schachter-Shalomi & American Counter-Culture.”

“Rabbi Rose gave a very personal and inspiring evening lecture on Heschel and Martin Luther King to an audience of students in Protestant theology and education, faculty and community members. The questions the lecture raised were especially relevant to the German audience struggling with its own history and the recent rise of antisemitism in Europe,” said Hadad. “The next morning Rabbi Rose drew a large crowd of students and colleagues to learn about the remarkable story of Zalman Schechter Shalomi. Many students stayed beyond the class time to speak with him. Some told me afterwards that this conversation was exactly what they needed in these difficult times...

Read more...

State of Formation: A Miller Center Publication 

State of Formation recently published a new series of articles from Building Interfaith Leadership Initiative (BILI) Launchpad Fellowship undergraduate fellows. Below is afeatured post from Simardeep Singh Gawra, 2022-2023 fellow is featured below. Kyle Desrosiers, Miller Center Administrative Assistant, serves as editor of the site.

The Guru Granth Sahib and Religious Pluralism

By Simardeep Singh Gawra, 2022-2023 BILI Launchpad Fellow

The clay is one, but the Potter has fashioned it in many different ways 

There is nothing wrong with the pot itself and nothing wrong with the potter 

(Guru Granth Sahib Ang 1350) 

The first component is the interfaith diversity central to the Sikh faith is the Guru Granth Sahib’s diversity of writers. The text of the Guru Granth Sahib can be divided into four main categories of writers. These writers were not distinguished by their religion, caste, or background. The four main categories of writers, based on their titles (like Professor or Dr.), are known as: Gurus, Bhagats, Bhatts, and Gursikhs. All the writers, regardless of their backgrounds, are recognized as being at a stage where they are one with God.

Spiritual attainment and a sincere faith mattered more than the religion or identity from which the writers came. For example, Satta and Balvand are Muslim, Bhagat Kabir was Muslim, and Bhatt Kal Sahar was Hindu — and all have writings contained within the Guru Granth Sahib. When looking at the writers in greater detail, we see the diversity of background and caste, which emphasizes that one’s social class has no standing in the “Court of God”...

Read more... 

Rabbi Or Rose, Director of the Miller Center and Dr. Andrew David, Associate Professor of Old Testament at Boston College will co-teach a spring 2024 interreligious learning course. The course can be taken for one credit hour for BTI students and is also open to auditors, including lay leaders and clergy.

For centuries, Jews and Christians have turned to the Book of Psalms in times of joy and thanksgiving, and in times of sadness and lament. However, there have been far fewer opportunities for members of these two communities and others to explore these ancient poetic texts together as fellow spiritual seekers. What do we share in common? Where do we differ? How might reading these sources with people with different religious or ideological commitments impact our relationship with the text?

The course will meet on the following Wednesdays from 4:30-6:30 PM at Hebrew College: February 7, 14, 21, 28; March 13 & 20

For more information about auditing this course, contact Bob Gielow at bgielow@hebrewcollege.edu 

(above image l-r: Dr. Davis and Rabbi Rose at the International Council of Christians and Jews conference, hosted in part at Hebrew College in June 2023.)

December 13, 2024 | 12-1 PM EST / 9-10 AM PST  | Zoom | Free Event

Join us: Register now.

The Rev. Tom Reid and Rabbi Michael Shire will discuss Christmas and Hanukkah from their respective professional and personal experiences. What are the spiritual teachings that undergird these seasons of joy and celebration? What is similar and what is different? How do two “insiders" experience the power of these holidays and what do they hope others might understand about their respective winter festivals?

Learn more here

Jan. 17, 2024 | 7-8:30 p.m. | Public Event at Hebrew College 

Building on the legacy of Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi (of blessed memory), His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama, and other bold Jewish and Buddhist practitioners, the Miller Center is pleased to invite you to a dialogue on Torah & Dharma. Rabbi Or Rose, Director of the Miller Center, will engage in a conversation with Buddhist scholars Dr. Judith Simmer-Brown and Dr. Amelia Hall of Naropa University (Boulder, Colorado), who will be visiting faculty at Hebrew College, co-teaching an intensive “Introduction to Buddhism for Jewish Leaders” for 4th year graduate students.  

Dr. Simmer Brown is Distinguished Professor of Contemplative and Religious Studies Emeritx at Naropa University, where she has taught for over 40 years. Her areas of expertise include Indo-Tibetan Buddhism, interreligious dialogue, Buddhist chaplaincy, and contemplative education. She worked closely with Reb Zalman during his tenure as the World Wisdom Chair at Naropa University. 

Dr. Hall earned her doctorate in Tibetan and Himalayan Studies from the University of Oxford in 2012 and is currently Associate Professor of Buddhism and Department Chair in the Wisdom Traditions department at Naropa University. She teaches across several degree programs at Naropa, including BA in Religious Studies, MA in Yoga Studies, MA in Contemplative Religions, and Master of Divinity.

Rabbi Rose will be reciprocating by traveling to Boulder in the spring to lead an intensive seminar on Jewish spirituality for Naropa students and engage with Dr. Simmer Brown and Dr. Hall in a second public dialogue.  

Save the Date: Dignity Project Closing Celebration

Join us February 25 @ 3pm at Hebrew College | Free Event

The 2023-2024 high school fellows will share insights from their interreligious and cross-cultural journey together. The celebratory gathering will include music, writing, dialogue, and a service opportunity. We look forward to inviting you in to the unique community we have built together.

Please look out for an invitation to RSVP in the coming weeks!