From the clergy
Pulpit on the Common: A Podcast on the Interfaith of Faith and Public Life By Rabbi Matt Soffer
“Make the old new, and make the new holy.”
- Rav Kook
Rabbi Soffer during the recording of Pulpit on the Common
The most significant study of the Jewish community, “A Portrait of American Jews,” by the PEW Research Center, has shined a Bill Gates famously said in 1996, “Content is king.” Once flashlight on the mandate for institutional change. More than upon a time, for content, the Jewish people sat in the one in five American Jews now describes him or herself has pews and listened to 45 minute sermons delivered by having “no religion,” and among the youngest generation of their rabbis, from the pulpit. But the pulpit, the symbolic adults that figure is about 1 in 3. These mouthpiece for Prophetic Judaism, is numbers accord with PEW data trends Nowadays conversation no longer what it used to be. As blogger broadly across religion in America. Cory Doctorow said, in reaction on Interestingly, 45% of Americans who Gates’ creed on content: “Conversation is king, and the time identify as having no religion (referred is king. Content is just something to talk has come to reimagine to as the “nones”) actually do say they about.” Nowadays conversation is king, believe in God. This datum suggests and the time has come to reimagine the the pulpit. that the problem is in the institutions, pulpit. the actual organized religious community—especially the synagogue. In order to establish a new setting for the content and conversation that once was situated on the pulpit, we have launched a podcast called Pulpit on the Common. By creating a content-rich podcast on the intersection of faith and public life, we hope to revive an age-old prophetic tradition of bringing Torah and the moral imperatives of the interfaith community to the “public square,” ensuring that our values bear upon civic life. We plan on addressing a different issue of social conscience each episode, bringing together a faith leader and a civic leader for a dynamic conversation that provides every listener with a greater sense of connectedness to the world.
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MA State Senator Sonia Chang-Diaz and Revered Liz Walker were guests on the first episode of Temple Israel’s new podcast, Pulpit on the Common
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INSIGHT Vol. 15, No. 4, Spring 2016/5776
It’s time to lower the pulpit and lift up the people to the importance of spiritual engagement in civic life. We invite all to subscribe on iTunes and share the podcast with friends and family. For more information, please visit www.pulpitonthecommon.org.
