Narberth Interfaith Council
Our havurah is, in itself, an interfaith body. One of our primary intentions as a small local Jewish community is to include and be particularly welcoming to those who have been excluded in the past. This would include many, such as women, Jews-by-choice, gays and lesbians, interfaith couples including their non-Jewish partners, Jews of color, and working class Jews.
The Narberth Interfaith Council [NIC] was an idea put together by three members of our Havurah - Art, Bob and Yitzhak. We met for an inaugural session in the spring of 2007, with nearly 30 people in attendance, half from St. Asaph's Episcopal Church, half from the Havurah, and a wonderful and grounded couple from The Fellowship in Overbrook. Our intention is to build bridges. We are aware how organized religion can be stale, dogmatic, snooty. By bringing leadership/clergy from different groups in the area together, we will be walking the path many of the world's ambassadors of peace have walked before.
Since 2007 we have met periodically among ourselves and with various non-Jewish groups. We gather to increase our understanding of how we think and act as Jews in the light of the ways and customs of others. We have spent some Shabbats discussing interfaith themes related to commonalities among different religious beliefs, ways to integrate different perspectives within a family, within an organization, and within a larger community as well.
So join the effort we refer to as the NIC, the Narberth Interfaith Council. Please contact Rabbi Yitzhak and share with him any in-the- or out-of-the-box way of making community, coming together, celebrating and valuing our humanity!