My interest in interactive communication was revealed to me
at a young age when I tried to have a conversation with a friend using two cans
connected by a string. Perhaps some of you will remember doing the very same
thing. Though my home-made phone hardly worked, I was intrigued by the idea of
being able to communicate with another person intimately across the divide of
space. In some ways, the can and string
contraption of my youth is the spiritual godfather of modern communications
devices. Though the ubiquity of wireless phones has introduced a steady stream
of meaningless conversation into our daily lives – often belonging to strangers
with loud voices, these phones area also portals for engaging and important
communication that bridges spatial divides.
Engaging and proactive conversations are the ones I
treasure, personally and professionally. Indeed, the underlying goal for the
many conversations we have in our work at United Synagogue, especially in areas
of public policy or interfaith work, is
for our words to build bridges across the many divides of life. In our
conversations, the purpose is not to convince the others to change their minds
or beliefs, but to foster an understanding of what speaks to others’ hearts.
The goal is illumination, to share sincerely held, heartfelt stands and
beliefs.
When the conversations are good, that is what happens. But
sometimes, as with the tin cans and string, the communications effort fails.
Two weeks ago, in the middle of Sukkot and the start of the
long (at least for government workers) Columbus Day holiday weekend, members of
the Jewish community who have been in dialogue with counterparts in many
Christian denominations through the venerable effort known as the
Christian-Jewish Roundtable were shocked to learn that many of the Protestant
partners in that conversation had sent a letter to Congress, asking for a
formal review of Israel’s human rights violations with an eye towards ending
aid to Israel. There is a plethora of
descriptions of the content of the letter itself [See http://www.huffingtonpost.com/huff-wires/20121017/us-jews-protestants-israel/
for but one of the stories.].
For the Jewish groups who had participated faithfully in
these discussions -- USCJ included -- news of the letter came as a shock and
felt like a betrayal by partners who had seemed committed to speaking frankly,
earnestly and sincerely across the divide of religion and political belief. It
was not just the content of the letter to Congress but the fact that it was
sent three weeks before our next scheduled Roundtable discussion, on the eve of
an important Jewish festival.
The childhood yearning I had for friendly conversation
persists.
I hope that – despite this setback – we can return to our
interfaith roundtable and speak as friends.
Paul Drazen is the Director of Special Projects and Special Assistant to the CEO at USCJ.
