Open Doors, Opens Minds Follow-up Programming

After completing Open Doors, Open Minds: Synagogues and Churches Studying Together many congregations were eager to continue their partnership. Outlined below is a selection of these programs which can serve as a basis for program ideas for other congregations.

Social justice and service programs

• The Jeremiah Program – Helps women with young children by providing them with services, child care, and training while they attend school ( Mount Zion Temple, St. Paul, MN)
• Faith in Action – Make boxes of toiletries for the evacuees of Hurricane Katrina, contribute food to Interfaith Nutrition Network (Garden City Jewish Center, Garden City, NY)
• Built a Habitat for Humanity home ( Temple Emanuel, Greensboro, NC)

Study programs

• 6-week joint adult education Bible study series based on the Genesis series narrated by Bill Moyers (Garden City Jewish Center, Garden City, NY)
• Program based on the book The Children of Abraham: Judaism, Christianity, Islam by F. E. Peters – presentation by clergy and discussion ( Temple Isaiah, Stony Brook, NY)
• Study and dialogue on the Book of Genesis (B’nai Israel, Elmira, NY)
• Sessions on liturgy, history, marriage, burial rights, Dabru Emet, and other topics (Temple Beth El, Aptos, CA; Beth Haverim, Mahwah, NJ; Temple B’nai Shalom, Huntsville, AL; Baltimore Hebrew Congregation, Baltimore, MD)

Holiday programs

• Pot-luck gathering in the Sukkah ( Temple Chai, Phoenix, AZ)
• Shabbat services and dinner (Indianapolis Hebrew Congregation, Indianapolis, IN)
• Interfaith Seder (Temple Beth El, Aptos, CA; Temple Beth Hillel, South Windsor, CT; Oak Park Temple, Oak Park, IL)

Other

• Christian dialogue group members participated in a Synagogue trip to Israel; planning a joint trip to Jerusalem (Temple B’nai Shalom, Huntsville, AL)
• Held a joint confirmation class ( Mount Zion Temple, St. Paul, MN)
• Scholar-in-residence program (Beth Haverim, Mahwah, NJ)
• Expanded to Jewish-Christian-Muslim Dialogue (Congregation B’nai Israel, Elmira, NY; Temple Isaiah, Stony Brook, NY; Temple B’nai Shalom, Huntsville, AL)

*If you have other program ideas you would like to share with the Commission on Interreligious Affairs please contact interreligious@urj.org

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