Turning Towards Peace, Conversation and Learning

Like Jews around the world preparing to celebrate Rosh Hashana, I have been thinking about what it would mean to bring about a “good year,” a shana tova, the traditional greeting for the season. At a time filled with so much strife, so much violence, the first thing that comes to mind for me is “peace, our most precious gift of all,” as many prayers remind us. Like Judaism, Islam, Christianity, and other faith traditions underscore the connections of reconciliation and forgiveness with peace. I am reminded of that this week as I watch the news and teach Thomas Aquinas in my humanities class.

Like many schools across the country, Wesleyan has been emphasizing the importance of “dialogues across difference” and pluralism as core features of a liberal education. Conversation is, I often note, the opposite of violence, and today I am thinking conversing is also very different from judging—at least the easy cancellations that people make of others deemed unworthy of being addressed. The turn toward conversation is a move to understand and perhaps learn from those with whom we have significant differences. It’s not always easy, but it can be done with integrity and grace.

Integrity and grace are qualities we might cultivate in this season of peace, forgiveness, and education. The semester is young, and we have much to learn.  

Shana tova!