The Importance of Interfaith Dialogue
Hans Urs von Balthasar, a prominent 20th century Roman Catholic theologian, once said: “(E)ven if a unity of faith is not possible, a unity of love is.” If I had to encapsulate my views on interfaith dialogue and relations in one sentence, I would choose that quote. The incredibly diverse people of this planet are not, and will not be, united under a single religion. And that’s OK. In fact, I think that’s a good thing. I believe our discourse is richer and our future is brighter because multiple faith traditions exist.
As citizens of the world, we do not have to agree with other points of view. However, we must be willing to understand, appreciate and respect them. Learning how to empathize with those around us in this way is critical. This is especially true regarding different traditions of faith. It is imperative that Jews, Christians and all other religions engage in empathy-driven interfaith dialogue. This is the way we foster love — the tried and true foundation of any successful relationship.
During the fall of my freshman year, my school, the Hyman Brand Hebrew Academy, started an interfaith club. The students were informed of this new initiative one morning and were invited to apply to be part of HBHA’s delegation to the club. This was actually an interfaith partnership including my Jewish school, a Catholic school and a Muslim school.
After explaining in a written response why I was looking forward to being a part of this initiative and what I hoped to take out of it, I was soon accepted to be part of the school’s interfaith cohort. I was very excited upon hearing that I would get to take part in the club. I always felt that promoting positive interfaith relations between Jews and other religions, specifically Christians and Muslims, is important. So I relished the opportunity to engage in such relationship- building as part of this cohort of students.
Not long after I joined the interfaith club we had our first meeting. The club consisted of six students from HBHA — the Jewish school; six students from Notre Dame de Sion — the Catholic school; and six students from the Islamic School of Greater Kansas City — the Muslim school. Our very first event was at Pinstripes. The agenda was ice breakers, lunch and bowling. When we all arrived, there was some awkwardness between each group of students.
As we had never previously met, this was normal. But that soon changed as we began the ice breakers. The questions during this event were light and fun; the objective was simply to break the ice and get to know one another. We then had lunch, consisting of cookies and mac and cheese. In order to keep with the Jewish tradition of adherence to kosher dietary laws, HBHA supplied the food. This naturally led to a discussion among the students about the laws of kashrut. This was great because the Jewish students, of which I was a part, got the opportunity to share with the others a little bit about a significant piece of Judaism. After eating we all split into teams, each one having one member of each religion, and bonded over bowling.
This, like the icebreakers, was a great way to promote camaraderie between us and to overall get to further know each other. We then left to head back to school; the 18 of us had successfully laid the groundwork to a meaningful interfaith relationship from which we would all benefit. I couldn’t help but think to myself the following. If the world’s religions could accomplish on a larger scale what the 18 of us had today — simply taking genuine steps toward building a mutual relationship — the world would truly be a much better place.
While every subsequent interfaith club meeting was a success, in this essay I want to focus on two other specific events. The next year, my sophomore year, we focused on engaging in community service as an interfaith cohort. During my freshman year, we all got to know each other and establish a strong relationship. Now as sophomores, we sought to expand upon our newly-formed relationship and harness it in order to personally effect positive change.
My favorite way in which we did this is by volunteering together at Jewish Vocational Services of Greater Kansas City. JVS serves to help settle new immigrants coming to this country and to Kansas City specifically. They do this by providing them with housing, job training and any other resources they need in order to help them build a new life in the U.S. Because of JVS’s incredible work, we saw them as a great place to donate our time and to make a mark.
At JVS, we all split into groups — again with at least one member from each religion in each group. Each group was assigned a different task. My group worked in JVS’s clothing distribution area and our job was to sort articles of clothing that were donated for the immigrants. Sometimes, living in a place of privilege, we can forget the impact of a new coat, a new shirt or new shoes on someone who has traveled so long to live here in the land of the free. Being able to do my part to help ease these immigrants’ burdensome journeys meant a lot to me.
As someone who moved to this country from somewhere else (Israel), I can relate to the immigrants whom JVS serves and to the challenges they have to endure. Equally meaningful, however, was that I was participating in this important work together with Christians and Muslims hand-in-hand. Doing the literal work to aid the immigrants was important. But another very valuable piece was the side chatter that ultimately ensued between me and my fellow interfaith cohorts during the clothes sorting.
This organic dialogue, both about religious topics and not, helped enrich the already rewarding work we were doing at JVS. By the end of our time working I felt so proud of us. We were able to build on our relationship and come together in a tangible act of interfaith-driven social justice to physically improve our community.
The final event I want to delve into was actually a series of three gatherings, all of which occurred during the year after as a junior. As freshmen, we had formed a relationship rooted in mutual respect. As sophomores, we had taken that relationship and translated it into action, improving our community via interfaith cooperation. Now, as juniors, we wanted to really dive deeper into each other’s respective religions, and learn about what makes each unique.
In order to do that in a meaningful way, we decided that the students from each religion would host those from the other two religions at their school. Each group would plan an engaging morning for the other two groups, teaching about their culture, traditions and anything else they saw fit. This trio of gatherings was incredibly meaningful for me, and I got a lot out of it.
The group that presented first was the six Muslim students. When we arrived at their school that morning, we first got a tour of a project gallery that younger students there had created. The gallery was in the gym and it consisted of many poster boards. Each poster board was created by a student at the school and each one depicted an important Muslim figure or story in the Islamic tradition.
Walking around and learning a little bit about these key people and narratives was very interesting for me, and it was a unique way to glean a lot of engaging information. As the Muslim students were presenting to the Jewish and Christian students, one board caught my eye. It was one of Malcolm X, who until that point I had not realized was Muslim. After seeing the projects, some of us had to use the restroom before the next planned event.
While in the restroom, I noticed several hand and feet washing stations, which intrigued me. Several Muslim students followed my gaze and explained the stations’ significance in Muslim tradition — specifically that they are used to prepare one’s self for the prayer services. That made a lot of sense to me, and reminded me of Jewish hand-washing cups that we use before eating bread. After that brief educational experience we all headed to a mosque that is actually part of the school. I, along with the other Jewish students and the Christian students, got to experience a Muslim service — one of the five daily services of Islam.
Next to present their religion were the six Catholic students. When we got to their school that day, we sat in on a few classes. I sat in on a theology class, as well as an anatomy class. It was cool for me to literally put myself in the shoes of those Christian students, and experience a little of how their school and religion work together. We then went down to their journalism area where students were hard at work producing the school yearbook. That reminded me of HBHA’s yearbook, whose staff I have been a part of for all of high school. So that was super interesting as well for me. But the most captivating part for me at their school was when we got to experience a Catholic mass service. Hearing their hymns, seeing their traditions unfold in front of my eyes and feeling the pride each of the participants felt in their religion was really great to witness; the energy in that room was palpable.
This of course leaves the six of us Jewish students. We had the Christian and Muslim students over on a Friday morning. On Fridays HBHA’s egalitarian prayer service conducts what we fondly call “musical services.” In lieu of the traditional morning prayers, on Fridays a group of students incorporates guitars, ukuleles and alternative tunes to foster an even more profound connection to our liturgy and tradition. This part of HBHA life was very meaningful for me and for the other Jewish students in the group. As such, I was really happy that the Muslim and Christian students got to experience that. After this, we Jewish students gave the others a tour of the school. The trio of cultural and religion immersion was a success.
During my time in high school, I have been able to take part in incredible interfaith experiences, and the interfaith club that I joined at inception is only growing. I look forward to continue experiencing cultures and ideas contrary to my own and engaging in interfaith-driven relationship-building at UMKC in the fall.
Sagi Rudnick is a 2019 graduate of the Hyman Brand Hebrew Academy. He is the son of Marcelle Mariani and Rabbi Jonathan Rudnick and the brother of Shir-el and Shefer. Sagi will be a freshman at the University of Missouri-Kansas City in the fall and he plans to major in political science and minor in communication studies.
