Spotlight on CLAL
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CLAL Receives Grant To Explore The Future Of Religion In America: Will Examine Religious Leadership and Jewish Life in an “Open Source” World
By Judy Epstein, Director of Public Affairs
In recognition of
CLAL’s innovative work on the Jewish and religious future in America, its success in
creating boundary-crossing community building initiatives, and the thought provoking work
of its Jewish Public Forum, The Toleo Foundation of Greensboro, North Carolina has made a
grant to explore the nature of religion in a changing society.
“What would
happen in a world where everyone had the ability and authority to pick, choose, and shape
rituals, traditions and the resources of wisdom traditions?” asked Rabbi Irwin Kula,
President of CLAL. “We are moving
toward a society in which people will increasingly assemble their own identities,
interpreting and creating their own ritual expressions based on a range of religious
traditions. This will have major implications
for the way rabbis and other religious leaders think about their tasks.”
The model of the
open source software movement, in which programmers all over the world contribute to and
draw upon an evolving operating system, will frame much
of the year’s inquiry. When applied to
religion, “open source” draws attention to the notion that individuals will
become collaborators in creating and shaping spiritual and religious practices and
rituals. “Open source” offers a potentially new model of organization that is
decentralized, non-hierarchical, and allows the participant to help construct the outcome. It offers a lens through which to examine the
question of religion’s role in public life.
“As we
confront challenges that include not only global terrorism but technological changes like
the mapping of the human genome, or discoveries in neuroscience that alter our
understanding of what it means to be human, both Jewish wisdom and the wisdom of other
religions might serve as significant ethical or moral resources,” said Shari Cohen,
Ph.D., a political scientist and director of the Jewish Public Forum at CLAL. “What
is lost and what is gained when particular communities offer their wisdom – their
intellectual property – to the broader public? Who
really owns religious traditions?”
As part of the
grant, two seminars of a dozen participants each will be held during the year, culminating
in a larger gathering of 25-30 participants in June.
The first, in November, called “What is Religion For?” will bring
together an interdisciplinary and
“What does it
mean to live in a world of multiple religious ideals and to focus not on how they compete
with each other, but on how they compliment one another?” asked Rabbi Brad
Hirschfield, Vice President of CLAL. The June
meeting will focus on this question. “What
we are asking is – can we break down the boundaries between religious traditions
without diminishing the integrity of each tradition?
Can we imagine each of our communities rising to the challenge of
maintaining its particularity, without becoming parochial?”
Several public
events will also be held to bring the insights generated in the series of seminars to a
wider audience. Cities tentatively scheduled
include New York, San Francisco and Greensboro.
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