Dear Friends,
This post comes on the heels of five days in Istanbul, Turkey attending URI's European Assembly and Regional Conference. While it is a long way from my home in San Francisco, I found that this journey was worth the jetlag and so much more. By the numbers, the participants in this conference were from 21 different countries and belonged to 24 different religious/spiritual traditions. The sheer fact of the matter is that at least one person from 24 different faiths cares and is empowered to work towards interreligious cooperation, and has a comittment to bettering this world, is something which continues to inspire me and give me hope for the future.
Through interactions and conversations with the other participants about their respective faiths, I found my connection to Judaism to strengthen - not because I felt as though my religion is "better" than theirs, but because I realized through my explanations about Judaism what most appealed to me, which ideals I held to be true and just. I so enjoyed getting to hear what aspects of their faiths inspired my friends and how willing and open they were to both share and listen. Meeting five of the other Youth Ambassadors was definitely a highlight of the trip as well. After months of conference calls, it was so nice to put a face and a smile to their voices and e-mails. Their work across the globe amazes me and mobilizes me to further commit to my Ambassador project in promoting service through an interfaith lens. Sitting together, whether at lunch or walking around the city, their empathy, awareness of the world around them, and kindness penetrated the chilly air and left me refreshed, reinvigorated, and ready to continue to improve the world through respect, dialogue, and action.
In Peace,
Doria
