Pluralism on the Syllabus: Rabbinical School Interreligious Intensives
On Wednesday, January 21, Hebrew College rabbinical students, visiting faculty, and guest lecturers gathered in the Musicant Cohen Performing Arts Center with filmmaker Ellie Pierce to screen her documentary Abraham’s Bridge, about a multi-faith, multi-congregational community campus in Omaha, Nebraska. The screening and talkback were part of the Miller Center’s Rabbinical School interreligious intensives, a week of learning to begin the ordination students’ spring semester. On screen, Christian, Jewish, and Muslim leaders and community members’ talking head testimony about the value of pluralism and navigating conflict through open dialogue, was interspersed with footage of community service work, congregants in high-ceilinged prayer spaces, and a flourishing community garden. Sitting in the audience, students and teachers might have been thinking about the what seeds were taking root in their week of interreligious learning and exchange. In the words Rabbinical Student and Miller Center Intensives Coordinator Alyssa Coffey: “The opportunity to practice interfaith leadership in a setting amongst my peers — all future rabbis — is irreplaceable.”
“The opportunity to practice interfaith leadership in a setting amongst my peers — all future rabbis — is irreplaceable.” — Alyssa Coffey, rabbinical student
Hebrew College’s Miller Center for Interreligious Learning & Leadership works with the rabbinical school to present a comprehensive curriculum for each year of the program. New students took From Diversity to Pluralism: Religious Leadership in an Interreligious Age with guest instructor David Rhodes, a Program Associate with Facing History and Ourselves, where they discussed how to engage and support communities in one of the most religiously diverse societies of human history. “Teaching a course on pluralism with rabbinical students involved collaborative intellectual inquiry, listening to and sharing stories from the heart, and engaging with ethical dilemmas,” says Rhodes. “The wisdom in the room was evident in the rich exchange of ideas and the personal insights into the skills and orientations essential to weaving the fabric of pluralistic societies.”
Facing History also partnered with the Miller Center and Temple Beth Zion in Brookline to host a public event in the evening of the intensives’ first day, welcoming a sold-out audience for a powerful conversation with Lew Zuchman and Luvaghn Brown, who joined the Freedom Riders in Mississippi in the summer of 1961, risking their lives for the cause of racial justice. Zuchman and Brown shared reflections on what led them to take part in the Freedom Rides, the paths their lives took in the years that followed, and the enduring relevance of their civil rights activism today. Their stories of moral courage, communal solidarity, and the ongoing work of confronting injustice offered a lived example of the kind of bridge-building and ethical leadership at the heart of the Miller Center’s interreligious mission and grounded the week’s learning in the legacy of those who put their values into action under the most challenging circumstances.
Students in their second year took Introduction to Christianity, taught by guest instructor Rev. Dr. Soren M. Hessler from Emory University. They learned about Boston’s important religious actors and studied about various forms and expressions of Christian faith. “It is always one of the highlights of my teaching year to work with rabbis-in-training at Hebrew College. Students’ questions are insightful and incisive and keep me continuing to learn as a teacher,” says Dr. Hessler. “In this season of complexity in relationship across lines of religious difference, it is vital to continue to develop and deepen relationships and seek common ground with one another.”
This month, third and fourth year students took Buddhism for Jewish Leaders with Dr. Amelia Hall and Dr. Judith Simmer-Brown from Naropa University, introducing the foundations of Buddhism in India and throughout Asia. “My colleague Amelia Hall and I have heartily enjoyed our class with the Hebrew College rabbinical students, for the third time this January. The students have genuine spiritual curiosity, refined intellect, and seasoned practice of their own traditions,” says Dr. Simmer-Brown. Dr. Hall adds, “The students bring genuine curiosity, which fosters lively discussions and deep mutual exploration of the intersection between Buddhism and Judaism. Our institutions feel like cousins, making our time together feel like visiting family.”
As incoming classes onboard to the newly standardized curriculum, a third-year intensive about Islam will return to the curriculum for students who have not yet studied about the third major Abrahamic tradition.
Rabbi Or Rose, Miller Center Founding Director, taught Senior Seminar: Interreligious Leadership for Rabbis for the first time, developed for students entering their final semester. This intensive will be offered yearly as a culmination of their interreligious learning in the Hebrew College rabbinical program, synthesizing years of pluralistic education and engagement as they approach ordination.
Rabbinical student Alyssa Coffey spent the week in a unique roll of student and event coordinator, working with Rabbi Rose and the Miller Center to plan and operate the week of learning. “Liaising to students, balancing logistics, and taking Intro to Christianity at the same time made for a week where I experienced both the process and the product of the Miller Center’s work with rabbinical students,” says Alyssa. “It was gratifying to see our months of work come to fruition.”
We are so grateful to the visiting scholars who collaborate with the Miller Center for Interreligious Learning & Leadership to craft and facilitate this enriching curriculum. Interreligious education is fundamental to developing Jewish leaders with a pluralistic lens, able to listen and communicate across lines of difference in a diverse society. Beginning each spring semester with these intensives allows Hebrew College to put our pluralism into practice and inspire a new generation of Jewish leadership.
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