There are moments when our communities are called to do more than talk about unity.
asserted
communities → be → unity
We are called to practice it.
asserted
We → call → it
That is what Flags of Fellowship represents to me.
asserted
Flags → represent → me
On Oct. 7, people across our region will gather for Flags of Fellowship, a campaign hosted by the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews.
asserted
people → gather → Christians
At Impact, that will include a unity luncheon bringing together clergy, rabbis, and community leaders, followed by an interfaith unity service where people from different backgrounds will worship, reflect, and stand together.
asserted
people → include → backgrounds
These gatherings matter because we live in a time when it is increasingly easy to retreat to our separate corners.
asserted
it → matter → corners
We can live in the same community, drive the same streets, and send our children to the same schools, yet never really know one another.
asserted
We → live → one
I have become convinced that healing happens when we choose proximity.
asserted
we → become → proximity
I had an experience that changed the way I understood that truth.
asserted
I → have → truth
I traveled to Selma, Alabama, and crossed the Edmund Pettus Bridge alongside my friend and brother Rabbi Aaron Krupnick and other Jewish and Christian leaders.
asserted
I → travel → friend
You cannot walk across that bridge without feeling the weight of history.
asserted
You → walk → history
On March 7, 1965, a day that became known as Bloody Sunday, men and women marched across that bridge demanding something as fundamental as the right to vote.
asserted
men → know → right
They were met with brutal violence.
asserted
They → meet → violence
But there is another moment from Selma that has always stayed with me.
asserted
that → be → me
Two days later, Martin Luther King Jr. returned to that same bridge with thousands of people.
asserted
Jr. → return → people
They walked to the place where violence had occurred.
asserted
violence → walk → place
They stopped.
asserted
They → stop → ?
They prayed.
asserted
They → pray → ?
Then, King turned the marchers around.
asserted
King → turn → marchers
Some questioned that decision.
asserted
Some → question → decision
But history reminds us that courage is not always demonstrated by charging forward.
asserted
courage → remind → us
Sometimes courage requires wisdom, patience, and the discipline to keep people together long enough to reach the destination.
asserted
courage → require → destination
Walking that bridge with others taught me something else: Bridges don’t erase pain.
asserted
Bridges → walk → pain
They create a path through it.
asserted
They → create → it
Our communities carry different histories.
asserted
communities → carry → histories
We have experienced different wounds.
asserted
We → experience → wounds
We practice different traditions and sometimes understand the world very differently.
asserted
We → practice → world
Unity does not require us to pretend those differences do not exist.
asserted
differences → require → us
The question isn’t whether we have differences.
asserted
we → have → differences
The question is: Will we cross them together?
asserted
we → cross → them
That is especially important today as Jewish communities continue to confront antisemitism and fear.
asserted
communities → continue → antisemitism
Christians cannot simply say that we love our Jewish neighbors.
asserted
we → say → neighbors
There are moments when love requires presence.
asserted
love → be → presence
It means showing up, listening, learning, and standing beside one another.
asserted
It → mean → one
And that relationship must extend beyond moments of crisis.
asserted
relationship → extend → crisis
One of the greatest lessons I have learned through my friendship with Krupnick is that we have more in common than what separates us.
asserted
what → learn → us
Friendship does not mean we agree on every theological, political, or social question.
asserted
we → mean → question
It means our differences do not have to prevent relationships.
asserted
differences → mean → relationships
I often say it this way: Unity isn’t agreeing on everything.
asserted
Unity → say → everything
It’s refusing to abandon each other in anything.
asserted
It → refuse → anything
…and 11 more, not listed.
The Aporia
