This morning, my email brought me a story in which the author delivered a sefer Torah, the long scroll used in synagogues, to a fledgling Reform community in Israel. The actual hand-off, which took place [...]
Miki Kashtan writes more deeply about the human experience than just about anyone I know. When reading her blog, I have the sense that she has confronted a difficult issue, taken it into her deepest [...]
Lately I’ve been writing about civic infrastructure here. Civic what now, you say? Don’t worry; it’s still a new term. If, however, you’re seriously interested in dialogue, you’ll want to know about civic infrastructure, as [...]
Sometimes, when we least expect it, we are called to live out what we say or think. Some people do this very, very well. Professor Paul F. Knitter had explored and taught interfaith dialogue for [...]
Think of something you accept as a given: a universal truth, “just the way it is.” Now ask yourself this: is there any chance that your given is not universal? What would it take to [...]
I had a great blog post planned for this week—until a quote from a friend got in the way. If you’ve read my book or other things from me, you probably know what I think [...]
Somewhere around fifth grade, our class had a unit on “being a good listener.” I think it lasted a week. Now, in contrast, I’m starting to think we can never learn enough about listening—or listen [...]
One great joy of writing a book, from my perspective, is speaking about it at various venues and hearing the wisdom of the people who attend. In the five months since Why Can’t We Talk? [...]
Do we have to run our politics with daggers drawn? Is confrontation simply part of the game? Based on the past few years, it’s hard to think otherwise. In the U.S., the climate of hostility, [...]
One of my hobbies revolves around friendly competition. Several times a year, we gather at shows in which judges evaluate our latest exhibits, place them in order of quality, and give out awards like Best [...]