Pardes In the Press
Building Jewish Tolerance Through Learning
By David Riemenschneider
Too often American Jewish communities focus on what separates them, defining themselves by how they are different from other communities. In order for American Judaism to thrive, we must explore models to create shared Jewish dialogue and shared Jewish identity.
I have spent the last two years immersed in an intense and intensely diverse Jewish environment where young Jews of different stripes have learned how to talk, celebrate and live together. This all happened at Pardes, a co-ed, non-denominational institute of Jewish studies in Jerusalem. By looking closely at Pardes as a model, we can begin to see how Jews from varied backgrounds can live together.
One key element binds the diverse Pardes community together: learning. More to the point, we learned to learn together. Only then could we really engage each other and start building a tolerant, trans-denominational community.
The foundation of this functional, open-minded community is Jewish learning. My classmates come from across the Jewish spectrum - from the non-observant and liberal to the religiously observant, including all denominations and approaches to Jewish life. Instead of these different Jews arguing over what separates them, students at Pardes study Jewish texts, learning a common language for a productive communal dialogue. As a result we are able to discuss the heritage and world we share.
This year I had the honor of serving as the Irving Weinstein Memorial Fellow at Pardes. Weinstein strongly embodied the ideas of unity and the celebration of diversity within Judaism. Instead of letting our differences divide us, he believed that our passions for a common tradition should unite us. Pardes is an inspiring example of this unity for me.
As the Weinstein Fellow I have worked to build community at Pardes by organizing multiple projects, including the weekly night study sessions, where students purposefully pick study partners that might have far greater, or lesser, learning experience. By studying in such pairs, these students come to appreciate the real backbone of the learning experience, regardless of skills - an equally strong ownership of Jewish text and tradition.
Jewish learning unites diverse Jews. Expanding our knowledge and listening to other people's responses builds our capacity to create a diverse community. For those with less Jewish background or who are less traditionally observant, learning creates a sense of ownership and connectedness to our shared history and culture. Knowledge of classical Jewish texts (and the skills to navigate them) gives us a shared corpus of text and builds our compassion and humility for functional discourse. As a result, such students can communicate more easily with more learned Jews and more traditionally observant Jews.
Likewise, serious Jewish learning in a diverse and open-minded environment enables more conservative and traditionally observant Jews to understand different approaches. Hearing unexpected questions and creative interpretations from deeply engaged Jews with dissimilar life experiences, such students are reminded that Jewish life is built on valid differences of opinion, and that important Jewish conversations do not need to be centered on the minutiae of traditional Jewish law. As a result such students make compassionate and humble strides toward a shared Torah. They are also challenged to embrace broader readings (and life approaches), and appreciate a more multifaceted approach to "correctness" regarding Jewish law that is inspired by our sages, who balanced a close reading of our texts with social considerations when seeking answers.
By exploring our shared texts with voices that challenge us, we become more sympathetic to others and more enlightened in our Jewish lives. More broadly, by developing a shared ability to read, understand and discuss the specifics of Jewish tradition, Pardes students are deeply engaging with each other and with Jewish life, further building the Jewish world.
The approaches taught at Pardes and the values of the Weinstein Fellowship have taught me how learning together enables Jews to live together in a tolerant, trans-denominational community. While there are serious challenges in such an environment - including questions about prayer, keeping kosher and appropriate ways to celebrate Shabbat and Jewish holidays - the only way to address these challenges is with a shared language and bond over our tradition.
In the future I look forward to creating frameworks that encourage religious openness and trans-denominational communication in the American Jewish community. By studying Jewish tradition, together we can learn to overcome many of our religious disagreements. When a community shares a love for Judaism and Torah, that community begins to love itself.
David Riemenschneider, who grew up in Atlanta, is beginning the Pardes Educators Program, which trains teachers for North American Jewish Day Schools, this fall.
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