On Sunday, February 25, a meaningful “Sacred Listening Workshop” was held between Temple Har Shalom Synagogue of Warren, NJ and The Presbyterian Church at Bound Brook, NJ. We were grateful to welcome 30-40 participants, including both clergy, to engage in the practice of hearing each others’ sacred stories.

Credit goes to our friend, Jennifer Franklin Paradise, who is a former P&G Design function member early in her career and has stayed in touch with our work on Portraits in Faith. She was eager to bring this practice to her own community and we are so grateful. Here is what the participants had to say:

“I believe that the Sacred Listening: Seeing The Other program is essential to healing the divisions that threaten our world today. It is so easy to pass judgements on strangers, but when you sit face-to-face with a stranger and listen to their story, all those erroneous assumptions melt away and strangers are strangers no more. Daniel and Gina are doing essential work - tikkun olam!”

Rev. Linda E. Owens, Pastor
Presbyterian Church at Bound Brook

“Far too often, we find ourselves firmly entrenched within the severity of our own beliefs.  Daniel and Gina, through their Sacred Listening: Seeing the Other workshop, provide a context and space for participants to lower their barriers, allowing for stunning moments of connection, contemplation, and self-realization. During these complicated times, when it can be so easy to harden our hearts and our minds, the Sacred Listening experience instead shows that by honing our active listening skills and meeting others where they are, the human experience can reveal itself in all its true beauty.”

Rabbi Josh Greenbaum
Temple Har Shalom, Warren NJ

 “Thank you so much for traveling out to Jersey and leading our combined communities in the Seeing the Other, Sacred Listening workshop. Even though we tried our best to communicate the purpose and activities of the workshop, I do not believe anyone truly understood what we were embarking on. I say that because the concept and philosophy that the workshop is based on is unique and unexpected but I believe exactly the type of communal work that the world needs right now. The work that you are doing is important, please keep going and let me know if there is any way that we can support you in your ongoing efforts.”

Jennifer Franklin, Chairperson
Temple Har Shalom, Warren NJ

Thank you again to all who put themselves on the line to share.