Reclaiming the Center Projects
Reflections on the Scandal of Particularity
Rabbi Nina Beth Cardin
Rabbi, Baltimore, MD; General Consultant for COEJL and Director of BJEN
The gift of an interfaith group constantly sustained us. Speaking of one’s tradition within a fellowship of like believers allows so much to be left unsaid, and, therefore, often unexplored. Speaking of one’s tradition in the presence of others, outsiders, urges one to see oneself from an outside perspective. As uncomfortable or unfamiliar as this is, it is invaluable. The trusted outsider who is eager to hear our story as we seek to tell it, and who asks us questions about our telling, ultimately helps us refine, hone and greater appreciate the richness of our tradition as we live it.
It is rare indeed to find such trusted outsiders; and it is rarer still to be gifted with their presence for so many days over such an extended period of time. By the third gathering, we were already becoming these trusted friends – seeking to understand the others’ traditions, hearing anew the stories we tell of our own. We were learning how to say hard things in ways that made them easier to hear. We were seeing how we can hold fast to the distinctiveness of our traditions’ answers, all the while acknowledging the commonality of our search. Our next step is translating all that we learned, and even more, what we did, so it may be replicated to benefit others.
Learning how to speak about and with the other, both when in their presence and even more, when not; learning how to see one’s traditions from the inside and the outside; observing how formal belief is lived out in everyday lives; knowing how to conduct conversations that build dialogue, openness, understanding and appreciation; all these are legacies of this program that will serve us, and others, well, personally and professionally. But even more, these two years have given us the enduring company of each other. And that is a gift of inestimable value.
© 2009 Institute for Christian & Jewish Studies
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