It all started with a pilot program to bring together members of the Hindu and Jewish communities.
The staff of the Indianapolis JCRC was inspired by the Student to Student initiative of the Jewish Federations of North America, which equips high schoolers to speak with their non-Jewish peers about their Jewish heritage and build bridges of understanding in the process. They wondered whether adults could do something similar across the city of Indianapolis – to share their traditions with each other and build deep and enduring friendships.
Working from a rich array of existing relationships, JCRC staff sought connection with new communities, beginning with a program with local Hindu leaders. They held a three-part series, first with a panel discussion on women in Hindu and Jewish tradition last May, featuring Indianapolis JCRC’s Student to Student Coordinator Risé Friedman, and then a Judaism 101 for 40 members of the Hindu community followed by a Hinduism 101 for 40 members of the Jewish community.
For Yaniv Shmukler, Director of Community Engagement at the Indianapolis JCRC, this proved to be a wonderful first step in fostering relationships with the Hindu community – and is leading to more meetings and conversations to discuss deeper questions of identity, belonging, and practice. It also has extended to similar outreach to Haitian, Filipino, and Nigerian communities, all of whom are eager to learn more about their Jewish neighbors. Shmukler reflects: “It’s relatively easy to reach out and say, ‘Let’s get to know each other,’ and then let community members and leaders build relationships with each other gradually. The trust accumulates so that you can eventually delve into more complicated topics.”
Among the many cross-cultural and interfaith initiatives the Indianapolis JCRC plans to pursue are gatherings with American Baptist churches, members of the Chin community, a subgroup from Burma, which numbers 35,000 in Indianapolis, the Archdiocese for a Nostra Aetate commemoration, Black Pentecostal Churches for teen-based programs, monthly calls with Hindu and Latino community leaders, an ongoing friendship with a local Lutheran pastor, and deepening friendships with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.
While these relationships are growing over time, Indianapolis’ community relations team is also focused on more challenging and timely issues. It has been involved with the citywide Center for Interfaith Cooperation (CIC), helping revamp a program for teens so that it more closely resembles Student to Student. This new iteration of the teen fellowship took place over the summer with Christian, Jewish, Latter-Day Saint, and Muslim teens from across the city, in which they held meetings over several days, homing in on learning about a different tradition on each one. Teens seemed more engaged and eager to connect – especially as they formed friendships over time.
Seeing the efficacy of the JCRC’s work, the Executive Director of the CIC has attended an Israel Around the Table conversation, which opens dialogue about topics related to Israel and the internal diversity of views within Israel and among pro-Israel American Jews. This experience has enabled the CIC to connect more deeply with the Jewish community in learning, friendship, and other projects of importance.
If there is a central takeaway from the programs that the staff of the Indianapolis JCRC have pioneered, it is that community relations professionals need to take the first step to encourage others to know their neighbors and build bridges. However, the work must extend beyond initial outreach because relationships grow slowly over time. The Indianapolis JCRC’s efforts prove that regularity of connection between leaders may be even more important than sporadic large, public community programs.
