Very proud of this new project
I have this image in my head of holding open the doors of a lift.
You know that moment when the doors are beginning to close and you put your hand out to stop them? You don’t necessarily know who else is coming, or whether there’s really room for anyone else, but you can see someone making their way towards you and you don’t want the doors to close before they get there.
I’ve been thinking about that quite a lot recently.
Because I think that’s something of what we’re trying to do at Progressive Judaism. Keep the doors open just a little longer. Make sure there is still a space people can get into, even when they don’t agree about where we’re going.
And I know that sounds much easier than it is.
Our new podcast, In Good Faith, begins with a conversation I had with Bishop Guli Francis-Dehqani, Bishop of Chelmsford. We talked about being women in religious leadership, our identities and experiences, Jewish-Christian relationships, Israel and Palestine, and some of the very difficult questions raised by Kairos II and the Church of England’s decision to hear it.
These aren’t theoretical disagreements. They touch on how we understand ourselves, our faith, our histories and the people for whom we carry responsibility. Sometimes the same words mean very different things depending on who is hearing them.
And I don’t think the answer is to pretend those differences aren’t there. Nor do I think we have to agree to disagree and leave it at that. There are things worth arguing about, things worth challenging, and times when we need to say quite clearly that we think someone has got something wrong.
But I wonder what happens when we stay in the conversation long enough to understand not only what someone thinks, but why. When we allow ourselves to be questioned as well as to question.
I certainly don’t want a Judaism that is so anxious about its own place in the world that it can only speak to people who already agree with it.
lnkd.in/p/eXSD8RhP
I have this image in my head of holding open the doors of a lift.
You know that moment when the doors are beginning to close and you put your hand out to stop them? You don’t necessarily know who else is coming, or whether there’s really room for anyone else, but you can see someone making their way towards you and you don’t want the doors to close before they get there.
I’ve been thinking about that quite a lot recently.
Because I think that’s something of what we’re trying to do at Progressive Judaism. Keep the doors open just a little longer. Make sure there is still a space people can get into, even when they don’t agree about where we’re going.
And I know that sounds much easier than it is.
Our new podcast, In Good Faith, begins with a conversation I had with Bishop Guli Francis-Dehqani, Bishop of Chelmsford. We talked about being women in religious leadership, our identities and experiences, Jewish-Christian relationships, Israel and Palestine, and some of the very difficult questions raised by Kairos II and the Church of England’s decision to hear it.
These aren’t theoretical disagreements. They touch on how we understand ourselves, our faith, our histories and the people for whom we carry responsibility. Sometimes the same words mean very different things depending on who is hearing them.
And I don’t think the answer is to pretend those differences aren’t there. Nor do I think we have to agree to disagree and leave it at that. There are things worth arguing about, things worth challenging, and times when we need to say quite clearly that we think someone has got something wrong.
But I wonder what happens when we stay in the conversation long enough to understand not only what someone thinks, but why. When we allow ourselves to be questioned as well as to question.
I certainly don’t want a Judaism that is so anxious about its own place in the world that it can only speak to people who already agree with it.
lnkd.in/p/eXSD8RhP
www.linkedin.com Keeping the Doors of Progressive Judaism Open | Rabbi Charley Baginsky posted on the topic |... I have this image in my head of holding open the doors of a lift. You know that moment when the doors are beginning to close and you put your hand out to stop them? You don’t necessarily know who... 
