This week’s post is a promotion of the Digital Meditation hosted by SCS and available to all at Georgetown. You can sign up here to join!
Readers of the Mission in Motion blog are likely familiar with an annual post that reflects on the significance of the Daily Digital Meditation (sign up here!). This daily offering, which occurs Monday through Friday at 12:00 p.m. ET and lasts for about 15 minutes, has been a mainstay of SCS Mission and Ministry programming, attracting more than 400 participants since first announced at the beginning of the global pandemic in March 2020. Every now and again, it is important to remind the SCS and now Capitol Campus community of this digital spiritual resource and encourage participation in this life-changing daily practice.
Several prior blog reflections help put the value of the practice into context. Please consider reading:
At its core, this virtual space is intended to give participants a needed reflective pause in the midst of busy lives of work and study. And while the value of in-person engagement remains essential, digital meditation facilitates spiritual opportunities for those in the Georgetown community who are not able to be together physically, whether because their status is fully remote or transit to a particular campus location is impractical. Regardless of the reason, the online nature of this meditation persists as an attraction to participate.
As a mission integrator of the Jesuit spiritual tradition, I find that leading this practice helps me appreciate the diverse ways that Georgetown community members engage in reflective opportunities. Some participants come once in a while and others are present regularly. Regardless of frequency, meditators in the digital practice appreciate that Georgetown is the host for these virtual gatherings. This is especially evident in that the Friday meditation is reserved for an Examen practice modeled on the framework developed by St. Ignatius of Loyola. This Friday gathering tends to draw a larger group and I think this reflects the transformative potential of this core Ignatian practice.
I encourage anyone in our Georgetown community in need of some dedicated mindful quiet to consider signing up. We will continue to make this available, along with other in-person opportunities, to a growing population of spiritual-seeking Hoyas on the Capitol Campus and beyond.
This week’s post encourages reflection about how the upcoming religious seasons of Lent and Ramadan have spiritual insights that are universally valuable.
Georgetown takes special pride in being an institution where religious ideas are not only discussed but also practiced. The University makes space for these practices and invites the entire community to grow in awareness about the religious significance of particular religious holidays and sacred times for particular communities. On the eve of the University’s spring break, Georgetown’s Christian and Muslim communities are earnestly preparing for Lent and Ramadan. These are the holiest seasons of the religious calendar for these faith traditions and together they offer meaningful reflection opportunities for everyone regardless of personal religious beliefs. I would like to present a few connections between these observances and our ongoing mission-based responsibility at Georgetown to lead generous lives in the service of others.
Both Ramadan and Lent are inherently about growing in closeness with God and solidarity with others, especially marginalized persons, through intentional practices. For both of these holy seasons, fasting is a primary practice that helps focus one’s attention on what matters most in our lives. The regular act of fasting has the potential to purify one’s desire for God by helping us become more aware of our dependence on God and all of the things that interfere with growing closer to God. This spiritual insight translates more broadly. We might ask: What habits or behaviors get in the way of knowing your deepest and truest self? Is there some “inordinate” attachment, as St. Ignatius might suggest, that you might fast from in order to grow in this greater self-awareness that leads to more awareness of the Transcendent?
Both Ramadan and Lent also emphasize the social and community dimensions of religious commitment. Almsgiving and charity are common practices in these seasons, intended to foster intentionality about how living a life oriented to God means living a life with and for others, especially those most excluded from the gifts of life. Solidarity then becomes a religious value of Lent and Ramadan and encourages more awareness of the needs of others and how we are called to be in service to the common good. The prayerfulness of Lent and Ramadan has the potential to facilitate a kind of contemplation that leads to more and more generosity and service. We might ask: How is this time of intense spiritual discipline calling me to use my gifts and talents for encouraging justice and the common good?
These are only a few ideas about the broader meanings of Lent and Ramadan. I encourage everyone to consider any personally relevant significance of the practices and commitments at this time in the religious calendar.
This week’s post reflects on the Sacred Lecture given by Fr. Leo O’Donovan, S.J., during Jesuit Heritage Month.
A signature event of November’s Jesuit Heritage Month at Georgetown took place this week in the Dahlgren Chapel of the Sacred Heart. Organized as a Sacred Lecture (which Mission in Motionhas written about before), the event featured former Georgetown President, Fr. Leo O’Donovan, S.J., reflecting at length about “Coming Home.” The intention of the lecture was to promote deeper consideration about the various meanings of the word “home,” which can be opened up with questions like: “Is ‘home’ the place we can always return to? How does the Gospel call us to respond to ‘the homeless’? Is ‘home’ an appropriate image for heaven? And what practical effect does our understanding of home have on how we live our daily lives?” In an hour’s time, Fr. O’Donovan gave the audience plenty to think about in response to these questions.
The lecture provoked some deeper pondering about how “home” can be understood both as a particular place in time with material reality as well as a more cosmically-significant reference. Fr. O’Donovan had in mind the person of Jesus who was incarnated, in one sense, into the material history of human existence at a particular place in time but also, on the other hand, is a living, present reality according to Christian Theology in the wider cosmos. In this way, God is both very particular and very much totally complete in a way that no finite person, place, or thing can be. This might seem like a very philosophical observation, but I think that the duality of “home” as particular and universal has much relevance for us at Georgetown.
A panoramic view of Dahlgren Chapel during this week’s Sacred Lecture. Dahlgren is the spiritual home of the University’s Catholic community.
Recently, Mission and Motion has increased explicit reflection about the meaning of the Capitol Campus’s evolution in downtown D.C. I found myself making some concrete connections between the various meanings of “home” presented in the Sacred Lecture and our understanding of the Capitol Campus as a growing “home” for Georgetown. Fr. O’Donovan talked about how beauty can be uncovered in the “always new, always surprising.” In so many ways, the Capitol Campus, a project very much still in progess, reflects this potential. So much is new and so much is and will be surprising about this experience. But the Capitol Campus is also already a home to so many: both the existing academic units that inhabit the spaces of the Downtown East neighborhood, but also the student residents who occupy the rooms of the 55H dormitory. This literal home will grow to become more of a home to more students as the Capitol Campus enlarges.
As we reflect on the meaning of the Georgetown “home,” we are invited to consider the many ways that the University is a home. In the religious sense, Georgetown is a Catholic, Jesuit home for all faiths. In the disciplinary sense, Georgetown is a home for a wide array of humanistic, professional, and graduate programs. In the geographic sense, Georgetown is a global home for many different campuses, institutes, and experiential learning opportunities. And in the urban sense, Georgetown is a “home” within the home of Washington, D.C., a physical reality becoming more and more evident as the Capitol Campus emerges in new buildings and facility renovations. In these ways, there are both particular manifestations of Georgetown as a physical home but also ways that Georgetown is a more universal home in light of our mission.
Fr. O’ Donovan shared that “home” is at one level the places where we most learn to be ourselves. This process is only realized if we give our time in a “home” to patience and fidelity to our truest selves. As we end this week and prepare for the months ahead, I invite you to consider where you are finding your “home” these days. How might you be called to grow in self-awareness and self-actualization about who you most authentically are in the places you call home?
This year’s Graduate, Law, and Professional Retreat attracted nearly 40 students from across Georgetown’s campuses.
A now established annual tradition is an overnight fall weekend retreat at the Calcagnini Contemplative Center that brings together graduate, law, and professional students from across Georgetown’s campuses. This milestone will become even more important as the Capitol Campus grows and the population of graduate students becomes more spatially concentrated downtown. Georgetown’s graduate students represent such a diverse portfolio of academic and professional disciplines that building community spaces for this dispersed population is important. Developing a greater sense of communal culture and identity at the graduate level can yield fruitful outcomes, including partnerships and inter-disciplinary connections that lead to new research and new applied projects.
This year’s retreat took place on the weekend of October 19-20, attracting nearly 40 students from all of Georgetown’s graduate, law, and professional programs. The cross-campus collaborative spirit among the students was also matched by the retreat leadership team, which included both student leaders, as well as Mission and Ministry staff and chaplains from the John Main Center for Meditation and Interreligious Dialogue, the Law Center, and the Capitol Campus.
The retreat theme, “Rest, Recharge, and Renew,” provided opportunities for individual and group reflection as well as time to enjoy the majestic fall weekend at the Calcagnini Retreat Center.
The retreat, themed again as “Rest, Recharge, Renew,” featured a mixture of short presentations led by the retreat team, structured small and large group reflections, unstructured time for individual reflections, as well as lots of time for fellowship and socializing. The autumn sun was resplendent and provided an inspiring background for the retreat’s meals, solo and group hikes, and general rest and relaxation. While the experience is fundamentally about students taking a break from their busy personal and academic lives, the retreat does present meaningful opportunities to more deeply explore the resources within and across spiritual traditions represented at Georgetown.
Students took advantage of the opportunity to rest during the annual Graduate, Law, and Professional Student Retreat.
One common theme in all of the talks and personal reflections from retreat guides was the need for active listening skills. So often, we assume that active listening is only about how we listen to other people. Certainly, developing the internal capacity to listen patiently with a desire for understanding others is greatly needed in a society and culture that does not always value true dialogue and intentional interpersonal communication. But there is also a need to actively listen to oneself, including the small voice inside of us that animates and expresses our truest selves. The ancient Greek axiom, “know thyself,” cannot happen without cultivating these methods of growing in interior awareness to the direction of one’s inner compass.
Doing this consistently and regularly means committing to certain practices of rest, recharge, and renew. Michael Goldman, Jewish Chaplain for the Law Center, pointed out in his talk that we all need to take time for a kind of Sabbath or rest each week. Sonia Robledo, Program Coordinator for the Law Center, emphasized that we need to cultivate mindfulness about when our human batteries need recharging with rest, fun, healthy food, and prayer. Lisa Directo Davis, Program Director for the John Main Center, noted that regular somatic reflection about the state of our bodies is foundational to healthy contemplation and meditation. And I offered up the Ignatian examen of consciousness as a routine way for busy adults to take needed daily rest. Such moments offer an opportunity to contemplate the subtle emotional movements that move in us and ultimately lead us to spiritually-grounded discernment that our adult vocations call us to.
The hope is that students left this weekend experience with a small taste of retreat, so that they return to their active lives with a living memory of what is possible when we actively integrate rest, recharge, and renew into our daily lives.
This year’s Mass of the Holy Spirit, an annual tradition at Jesuit institutions that dates back five centuries, emphasized the spiritual gifts needed to flourish as an academic community.
The annual tradition of the Mass of the Holy Spirit, a practice celebrated across the global network of Jesuit institutions since the religious order first founded schools five centuries ago, presents a welcome opportunity to consider the meaning of a Georgetown education. Each year, the Mass presents both the same and new reflections at the dawning of a new academic year. The readings from Scripture all point to the need for greater reliance on the Holy Spirit as a giver of spiritual gifts that we most need to realize our mission. Of special importance at an institution of higher learning are the gifts related to knowledge, inquiry, communication, and discernment. While a traditional Catholic religious ritual, I think emphasizing the universe of spiritual gifts needed to sustain the academic enterprise of Georgetown can resonate with people of all faith traditions and those with no tradition at all.
The homilist for this year, Fr. Bill Campbell, S.J., the new Superior of Georgetown’s Jesuit Community, focused his reflections on the historical analogy between the founding of the Society of Jesus (or the Jesuits) by college students attending the University of Paris in the 16th Century and our contemporary experience at Georgetown. The similarities in these situations are striking: Both Paris and Washington, D.C., have prominent rivers that their prominent universities abut; both the founding Jesuits and today’s Georgetown students come from homes around the world; and both of these student populations knew how to have a good time after working hard in their courses.
The urban experience of these educations presented many opportunities for both reverie and reverence, a reminder to us today that our experience at Georgetown is enlivened by our embeddedness in a global capital city.
But Fr. Campbell’s main point was not just about the urban similarities in this comparison. He ended his reflection about the early Jesuits by noting that we still remember the names of the seven early companions (Faber, Xavier, Laynez, Ignatius, Rodriguez, Salmeron, and Bobadilla) because they wrote history with their lives. By professing in faith their vows to a new religious order, at a time of great challenge and resistance to such a formation, these Jesuits chose to use their higher education in the service of a noble purpose that still benefits the world today.
The question to us in 2024 at Georgetown: How will we use our Georgetown experience in service of a larger, more noble purpose than our own personal aims or professional goals? To what do we owe our faith in the transformative possibilities of a university education rooted in the Jesuit tradition of academic excellence?
This week’s post celebrates the fifth year of SCS Daily Digital Mediation, which takes place on Zoom Monday through Friday from 12:00 to 12:17 p.m. ET. Sign up online to receive a link to the virtual meeting.
Four years ago, in the week that global lockdowns began in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, SCS started offering a 15-minute daily digital mediation over Zoom. The virtual practice, which you can sign up online , was never intended to be a permanent event, but a temporary resource to help ease some of the disquiet and anxiety that surrounded the early days of the pandemic.
Since March 2020, more than 350 people from across Georgetown have signed up to receive the link to participate. Throughout the four years, a remarkable community has formed through this contemplative convening. What is beautiful about the daily event is that there is no pressure to attend and who shows up on a daily basis is almost always a surprise. And even in silence a community has formed, with unspoken bonds of affection and solidarity created by the fact of simple presence in a virtual meeting room.
While each attendee brings their own invisible needs to the space, there is a shared understanding that all are seeking quiet, centering, stillness, self-awareness, and pause (among other things).
This week, I want to highlight the value of this resource that is “here to stay” and no longer considered a temporary event. Past posts from Mission in Motion have explored the meditations from different angles, include participant testimonials about their value:
In recent weeks, Mission in Motion has touched upon the value of mindfulness and its relationship to professional practices and concern for the common good. For instance, Becoming Spiritually Grounded Strategic Thinkers and Discerning Leaders examined the relationship between effectively mediating conflicts and achieving organizational objectives. Good leaders need to be able to tap into their own inner life and sensory awareness in order to manage high-stakes disagreements occurring in a group.
In another post, SCS Retreat Invites Students Into Reflection on the Meaning and Practices of the Good Life, I emphasized the importance of taking “retreat” from one’s daily habits and obligations, even if for a single day (as is the case for the annual SCS student retreat). What so often emerges in these experiences is a recognition of how easy it is to forgo regular reflective practices in busy daily life, yet how important it is to reclaim this simple habit of an examen reflection or a “mental pit stop” as a way of staying true to one’s ultimate purpose and identity.
Most recently, An Ongoing Journey Toward More Belonging: Some Recent Efforts took a closer look at some Georgetown efforts to create a more inclusive community . Central to the task of building inclusive spaces is the cultivation of individual habits of growing in greater awareness of how one’s own blind spots get in the way of recognizing barriers to flourishing for all members of an organization. The positive contribution of mindfulness to this work of inclusion is affirmed by Rhonda Magee (the subject of this Mission in Motion post in 2020) in her piece, “How Mindfulness Can Defeat Racial Bias.”
What better time than now to treat yourself to the treasure of quiet mindful contemplation? Sign up today!
If you have any questions about the SCS Daily Digital Meditation, please reach out to me: Jamie Kralovec, SCS Associate Director for Mission Integration, at pjk34@georgetown.edu.
This year’s SCS student retreat, “Journeying the Good Life,” sold out and brought together participants from 15 different degree and non-degree programs.
Every year, SCS hosts an overnight retreat at the Calcagnini Contemplative Center that is made available to degree and non-degree students. There is a certain rhythm to this yearly experience. First, the retreat developers brainstorm a theme around which the event will be organized. Second, marketing, communications, and program staff teams work to amplify and promote the retreat. Third, students across the School sign up and claim their spots. Fourth, participants receive detailed instructions (mostly logistical in nature) about what to expect at Calcagnini. Fifth, the retreat day arrives and participants descend upon the 640 Massachusetts Avenue SCS campus to meet the departing bus and each other. Sixth, the retreat takes place and all who are gathered deeply engage with the schedule and activities. Seventh, the retreat ends with a bus return to the SCS campus, evaluations are shared, and the community disperses back to their respective home locations. Eighth, reflective evaluation of the experience leads to new insights and new ideas about how to meet the spiritual needs of the SCS student community.
Each of these steps necessitates great leaps of faith and trust that the retreat will be received in nurturing and life-giving ways by all who engage it. There is certainly some doubt that finds its way into the process. Will students actually sign up? Will the retreat theme and the practices inspired by it resonate with the group? How will this seemingly random collection of individuals, diverse in every indicator of diversity, come together in unity and form a group? Will the weather challenge the contemplative spirit and recreational activities? Will everyone find the food and accommodations suitable to their expectations?
This year’s retreat involved asking all of these same questions and receiving some resoundingly positive feedback about what is possible when SCS students say a big “Yes” to an uncertain experience and allow themselves to be personally transformed.
The 2024 retreat, “Journeying the Good Life,” certainly had some unexpected and unplanned moments. No one could have predicted that a steady and strong downpour of rain would persist throughout the first day of the retreat. But instead of worrying about the weather, the group made a firm commitment to accept the sogginess and make the most of it. This embrace of wet slightly complicated the nature hikes sprinkled throughout the agenda, but it also led to some memorable moments.
It was somewhat unexpected for the group to gel so quickly, becoming interested from the beginning in each other’s stories and making space for intimate and vulnerable sharing in small and large groups. One measure of a fruitful retreat is the vitality and volume of chatter over meals in the dining hall. In this case, I was struck by the handful of engaged table conversations happening over delicious meals.
Rabbi Rachel Gartner presented on the good life by sharing “Arguments for the Sake of Heaven” from out of the Jewish tradition.
The retreat’s principle content is shared through two short talks delivered by me and Rabbi Rachel Gartner, SCS Senior Adviser for Spiritual Care. I shared some insights, “The Good Life from the ‘I’ to the ‘We’ to the ‘Universal,’” based on two primary sources. Philosopher Adam Adatto Sandel’s recent book, Happiness in Action: A Philosopher’s Guide to the Good Life, and Jesuit Greg Boyle’s book, The Whole Language: The Power of Extravagant Tenderness, get at the topics of the good life in slightly different ways. Sandel argues that ends-oriented goal-setting, a hallmark of contemporary economic culture, needs to be upended by three virtues—self-possession, friendship, and engagement with nature—which cultivate flourishing and deeper happiness in the means/practices themselves. Boyle contends that the root of some of our individual and collective despair has to do with the need to recognize the “unshakable goodness” that exists in ourselves and in each other. Finding goodness in this way leads to loving, especially important when loving is made harder by structures that exclude those we allow to be “othered.”
Students enjoyed the Calcagnini Contemplative Center in spite of heavy rains on the first day of retreat.
Rabbi Rachel built on these foundations in her talk about “Arguments for the Sake of Heaven.” She utilized the primary source texts of the Talmud and presented on the Jewish sages Hillel and Shammai. The reflective interpretation exercise invited close and careful reading and a discussion about the ideas of the good life rooted in this spiritual reading of texts. One particular outcome of Rabbi Rachel’s talk was deeper consideration about the importance of healthy and respectful argumentation in making communal claims about what constitutes virtuous living.
Throughout the experience, the community brought to life Georgetown’s mission values, especially a commitment to Contemplation in Action. By the retreat’s conclusion, it was evident that students would return to their engaged lives refreshed and renewed by this brief interruption in their daily habits and responsibilities.
As with any retreat, the effectiveness of the effort depends on how participants felt about the experience. Here is a sampling of responses to the question: “How are you returning home?”
“I am more grounded. I take away the importance of a community and how we are all connected and can learn from each other.”
“I’ve discovered more about myself in the sense I know what my mission is and I should hold onto those I love.”
“I feel more grounded, peaceful, and grateful. I want to hold onto that as long as possible through daily meditation and physical connection with nature.”
“I am definitely more grounded. I have a better understanding of my priorities in life. I know I must continue to explore other worldviews.”
“I am returning as a more open person. I take away more connection and viewpoints. I am taking away an appreciation for Georgetown.”
One of the greatest strengths of Georgetown is the way it honors the holidays of the different religious traditions represented across campus. As a Jesuit and Catholic university grounded in a centered pluralism, Georgetown seeks greater mutual understanding and dialogue about the broader significance of special events on each tradition’s religious calendar. In this way, those outside of a particular tradition, or no longer practicing within one or not affiliated with one at all, can still find personal and collective meaning because of the invitation to learn more, follow along, and potentially commit to some actions related to journeying alongside particular religious communities.
This week, Christian communities at Georgetown and around the world entered into the holy season of Lent. These 40 days, which lead to Holy Week and Easter, focus on the journey to greater spiritual freedom by embracing the paths of fasting, almsgiving, and prayer, which Fr. Mark Bosco, S.J., Vice President for Mission and Ministry, described as the “the touchstones of this spiritual journey each year” in the introduction to this year’s Lent Devotional series (sign up for these daily Lenten reflections from students, staff, and faculty across the campuses, including SCS). In Christian terms, the season is an opportunity to follow Jesus along the path of suffering that ultimately leads to redemption and new life in the Resurrection of Easter.
Such a seemingly solemn season, so often associated with “giving up” one’s favorite treats or enjoyments for a month and a half, is about recognizing the ultimacy of our lives. What are we living for? And what is getting in the way of realizing our deeper purpose and calling? In his practical theology book, I Was and I Am Dust: Penitente Practices as a Way of Knowing, David Mellott presents a “dust theology” based on the Scriptural passage, “For you are dust, and to dust you shall return.” Lent, which begins with the marking of ashes on Ash Wednesday, invites participants to consider how they form a part of the Cosmos and each of these parts, however finite, has much to contribute to the ultimate purpose of the whole. In Mellott’s telling, these Lenten practices are about “coming to terms with reality, and in particular, with oneself.” This notion of growing in clearer awareness of reality is critically important to becoming the kinds of agents of consolation and love that we are called to be.
The broken reality of the world and the need for great repair, healing, peace, and justice should animate all of our activities at Georgetown. The commitment to using our gifts and talents, resources and knowledge in service to the common good is shared across spiritual and religious traditions. Lent presents the Christian community with a particular opportunity in the religious calendar to more deeply commit to this work.
One excellent opportunity to deepen a personal and communal commitment to non-violence is a training being offered by Georgetown’s Center on Faith and Justice, MLK Initiative, and endorsed by the Justice and Peace Studies Program. On February 16, the DC Peace Team will offer a session on Active Bystander Intervention and De-Escalation. The purpose of the session, in the context of situations of potentially escalating violence, is to equip participants with the “tools to recognize when you’re a bystander, understand the potential outcomes for all involved, and take nonviolent action.” You can RSVP and learn more here.
This week’s post considers the deeply philosophical question: What constitutes a good life? Recent publications have taken up this question, which is a welcomed inquiry at an institution like Georgetown. SCS students have the opportunity to reflect about it at this year’s student retreat from March 9-10. Students shouldsign up today!
What constitutes a good life and how does one’s life contribute to the common good? I cannot think of many other questions that keep universities in business. And in a Jesuit heritage institution like Georgetown, this question has even more meaning because of the open inquiry about the religious dimensions of the potential answers.
But the question of the good life is not just a religious concern. In fact, the history of philosophy expresses various answers to this investigation, with some thinkers religiously motivated and others who are not. The systematic consideration of the question of the good life and how one’s own individual pursuit of it factors into a more common or collective good should energize us at the University, regardless of where we sit and what we do on campus.
What is especially exciting about this framing is the considerable increase in literature, both popular and more academic, about the philosophy of the good life. Two recent examples of this trend are philosopher and power pull-ups record-holder Adam Sandel’s book, Happiness in Action: A Philosopher’s Guide to the Good Life, and Meghan Sullivan’s book, The Good Life Method: Reasoning Through the Big Questions of Happiness, Faith, and Meaning. Sullivan, who is a popular philosophy professor at the University of Notre Dame, participated on a panel at SCS (reflected upon by Mission in Motion) convened by Georgetown’s Initiative on Catholic Social Thought and Public Life. A simple internet search of this very question manifests the many paths to considering the good life, which touches upon psychology, philosophy, and medicine among many other topical areas.
What makes the SCS annual retreat especially important this year is the way that the good life is being compromised and threatened by increasing social polarization, economic inequity, and global conflicts. The threat of harm looms in communities most vulnerable to violence and disintegration. And institutional leaders across the realms of politics, culture, and sports do not seem up to the task of inviting the society to more noble aspirations for realizing a good life together. The SCS student body, already directly impacting society, marketplace, military, and many other domains of life, is in such an important position to positively influence the shape of our collective life. Realization of the common good depends in large part on how we all work together to create conditions for individual and shared flourishing.
The 24-hour retreat will take place at Georgetown’s idyllic Calcagnini Contemplative Center in Bluemont, Va. As in past years, the experience includes both individual and group activities, time for quiet rest and relaxation, and fellowship over food. This natural setting is a welcome home-away-from-home. SCS students with questions should reach out to me at pjk34@georgetown.edu. RSVP deadline is March 1, 2024. Sign up today!
The Hasidic masters taught that as hidden, elusive, or otherwise hard to find, there is always light somewhere. The world could not exist without it. Sometimes we only find the light after we crack open all that obscures it.
Life teaches us that the cracking is so often a bitterly painful thing. Shattering hurts. And religion teaches that we must become better, wiser, more compassionate people—people who protect light, nurture light, guard it from that within us and among that threatens to obscure it—so we need not go through shatterings again and again and again.
Judaism enjoins that as we grow into better versions of ourselves, we not let our despair that we are not yet there overcome us and snuff out the search for the light that already inheres in our world, again however obscured. Judaism insists we remain unflinching in our seeking, even when we feel so very lost in the dark.
This tenacity in the search for light and resistance to being overcome by despair is what Hanukkah has always signified for me, and it does so now more than ever.
This is what I pray that all lights of all the holidays of the season will reignite in all of our souls.
Particularly during these heartbreaking times, I find glimmers of hope in all efforts to humanize and connect across vast differences and seeming impasses—efforts both longstanding and entirely new. Recently, I joined such an effort as Associate Director for In Your Shoes™ Research and Practice Center. I am moved to share with the SCS community what I wrote in the piece welcoming me to the role:
In Your Shoes™ offers me a way to double-down on my commitment to pursuing a better world, and to contribute to the ongoing, tenacious peace and justice work of the countless individuals and organizations I have been privileged to engage with over the years. Along with all those doing this work, I refuse to give up on the values and visions that we have worked so hard to bring to each other and our communities. It isn’t easy. But it is the best way I know to remain fully alive and to live purposefully, openly, and with hope in this broken and blessed world.
For those particularly invested in engaging with the issues facing Israelis and Palestinians, I commend you to learn more from this small sampling of co-existence organizations and resources I have personally worked with over the years, including:
The Hotline for Israel/Palestine founded by current Harvard undergraduate students, which non-judgmentally fields all questions and offers multilayered responses and resources for further reading from a range of perspectives on Israel and Palestine.
