Day 36 - Chanukah: Accepting Others

Rabbi YY is one of my favorite rabbis. I met him many years ago in Israel and we have stayed in contact. What I most like about him is he has the ability to get you to think outside the box. (He also has a great sense of humor and a great Scottish accent).

In this essay, he again gets us to think about how we deal with people who are different to us. In the work I do, I am constantly moving between two different worlds - the secular and observant worlds. I believe one of my missions is to try bridge the gap between the two worlds.

So for example, we love inviting people who have never observed Shabbat to spend Shabbat in West Rogers Park. We introduce them to great families, some who have kept Shabbat all their lives. It's a beautiful thing to see how friends can be made at a Shabbat table.

If you have any other thoughts to share about building bridges between people who are different, I'd love to hear them.