Episode 99. Bonus

For this Bonus episode, I’ve invited two British women, Lindsay Simmonds and Julie Siddiqi, both PhDs, to talk about their interfaith friendship and the public facing work they’ve done since Hamas’ attack on Israel on 7 Oct. 2023. Lindsay is an Orthodox Jew and Julie is Muslim. The fact of their religious identities and deep practice is noteworthy and relevant, as the attack and subsequent war, have proven polarizing, straining the already challenging work of bridging religious differences between Jews and Muslims. Lindsay and Julie offer an inspiring example of possibility, showing us the path to connection, communication, and healing, while not shying away from the challenges. Given the long standing and apparent intransigence of the conflict, this seemed a good time for some hope.

Highlights:

• Intersection of deep faith practice and interfaith work.
• Organizing inclusive events amidst tension.
• Impact and significance of their work.
• The role of space, gender, and representation.
• Trivializing women's impactful initiatives.
• Sustaining hope and setting intentions for the future.

Bios:

Dr. Lindsay Simmonds has worked as a Researcher at the London School of Economics (LSE), UK, working on Women of Faith and Peacebuilding. She is also a Fellow at the London School of Jewish Studies (LSJS) where she has lectured and written for 20+ years. Lindsay has been active in local interfaith work. She has five adult children and four grandchildren, and she is an active member of her local orthodox Jewish community in London.

Dr. Julie Siddiqi MBE is a mentor, consultant and gender equality campaigner with a focus on interfaith relations, applying that to social work. She has 25+ years of experience in community work predominantly in the Muslim community as well as in interfaith work. Julie is a qualified Life Coach. She was awarded an MBE in the Queen’s Birthday Honours List of 2020 and an Honorary Doctorate from the University of Middlesex. She chose Islam in 1995 and is married with four children.

Other episodes:

• Raphael Luzon Building Peace Through Interfaith Dialogue
• Lindsay Simmonds Honoring and Challenging Jewish Orthodoxy

Links for Lindsay:

• London School of Jewish Studies (LSJS)
• Abraham Initiatives, UK
• Council of Christians & Jews
• Midreshet Lindenbaum (Seminary)
• Nisa-Nashim
• Nishmat (Seminary)

Links for Julie:

• Together We Thrive

Transcript on Buzzsprout

Links for Méli:

• Website – the Talking with God Project
• Meli’s email
• LinkedIn – Meli Solomon
• Facebook – Meli Solomon

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The Living Our Beliefs podcast is part of the Talking with God Project.

Episode 98. (replay of Episode 78)

Over the last two episodes with Judith Pajo and Zeyneb Sayilgan, we’ve talked quite a bit about faith challenges and dealing with changes in life that impact religious practice. Those changes have included moving country. With that in mind, I wanted to replay an episode from 2024 that addresses these themes among others. Aaron Solberg was raised in an Orthodox Jewish home in New York. As a young adult, he traversed several spiritual thresholds, eventually converting to Christianity. He is now a minister in the Anglican church. He has also traded in the city for the remote wilderness of Canada. In this conversation, he describes the path he’s traveled and the challenges he continues to face. While his story is unique and unusual, I believe the threads that run through it will find resonance. He offers reminders that challenges are a part of life, and that walking the path and remembering, even cherishing, your past remains with you.

Highlights:

• Jewish practice seen as "legalistic," leading to feelings of obligation and guilt.
• Importance of structure and discipline.
• Appreciation for communal aspects of both Jewish and Christian services.
• Shift from fear-based obedience to love-driven practices in Christianity.
• Human struggle with discipline and imperfection.

Bio:
Father Aaron Solberg is an Anglican priest, composer, husband, and father living in the Canadian North. A convert from Judaism, he originally worked as a conductor and cellist in Germany before feeling a calling to ministry. After studying theology, he served in Baker Lake, Nunavut, (in the Canadian Arctic) and now leads St. John's Anglican Church in Fort Smith, Northwest Territories. He is the father of two young boys and writes about family life and faith, fostering a deeper understanding of spirituality within his community. In his free time, he focuses on writing and composing new music for various ensembles.

Transcript on Buzzsprout

More episodes with converts:

• Katrina Kincade
• Rabbi Tara Feldman
• Jeanne Blasberg

Social Media and other links for Aaron:

• Website – www.thesolbergs.family
• Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/theanglicanfamily/
• Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/theanglicanfamily
• TikTok – https://www.tiktok.com/@theanglicanfamily

Transcript on Buzzsprout

Social Media and other links for Méli:

• Website – the Talking with God Project
• Meli’s email
• LinkedIn – Meli Solomon
• Facebook – Meli Solomon

Follow the podcast!

The Living Our Beliefs podcast is part of the Talking with God Project.

Episode 97.

Burying a child is an unimaginable trauma that no parent should have to face. My guest today, Zeyneb Sayilgan, has sadly needed to endure that pain and grief twice. Through it all, her Muslim faith has sustained her and provided a path for healing. She has joined me to talk about her experience of loss and subsequent growth, as well as the related Islamic beliefs about death and the afterlife. We also touch on where the beliefs are similar to those in Judaism. Zeyneb brings both personal experience and knowledge to this complex topic.

Highlights:

• Zeyneb’s personal religious and cultural background
• Engagement with death in the Muslim community
• Comparison of death practices and attitudes in different countries
• Parallels and differences with Jewish and Christian practices
• Detailed overview of Islamic funeral practices
• Community healing through grief
• Life's value: time and eternity

Bio:

Zeyneb Sayilgan, Ph.D., is the Muslim Scholar at ICJS, The Institute for Islamic, Christian, and Jewish Studies in Baltimore, where her research focuses on Islamic theology and spirituality as articulated in the writings of Muslim scholar Bediüzzaman Said Nursi (1876-1960). She is the host of the Podcast On Being Muslim. You can read her publications on her blog.

References:

• https://religionnews.com/2024/05/15/what-the-dead-teach-us-about-life-a-view-from-islams-last-rites/
• https://uscatholic.org/articles/202410/what-catholics-can-learn-from-muhammad-about-grief/
• https://muslimmatters.org/2024/12/13/death-the-greatest-teacher/

Social Media and other links for Zeyneb:

• On Being Muslim podcast
• Zeyneb’s blog
• ICJS website – www.icjs.org

Suggested episodes on Living Our Beliefs:

• Elissa Felder episode
• Bonus episode on Tahara

Transcript on Buzzsprout

Social Media and other links for Méli:

• Website – the Talking with God Project
• Meli’s email
• LinkedIn – Meli Solomon
• Facebook – Meli Solomon

Follow the podcast!

The Living Our Beliefs podcast is part of the Talking with God Project.

Episode 96.

Have you lived in more than one country? Do you participate in interreligious dialogue or are you interested in it? Have you studied religion or theology? Not very many people can say yes to all of these questions. But my guest, Judith Pajo can. Born in Germany, she has nevertheless lived many years both there and in the U.S., shuttling back and forth since childhood. Raised Catholic, she has also studied theology and cultural anthropology in both countries. Judith now conducts interreligious research at Pace University in New York. With these elements as our focus, Judith and I explored her peripatetic upbringing, her current scholarship on interreligious and intra-religious dialogue, and the impact of that exploration on her Catholic faith.

While this conversation was recorded weeks ago, the recent death of Pope Francis makes it particularly timely.

Highlights:

• Diverse experiences of Catholicism.
• The impact of mobility on religious experience.
• Sound and light over words and other distractions.
• Language diversity in Catholic practice.
• Impact of October 7th attack on interfaith dialogue.
• Researcher risks and faith struggles.
• How interfaith dialogue reshapes religions.
• Research outcomes and future directions.

Bio:

Judith Pajo, PhD, grew up in both Germany and the United States. She studied Catholic theology and cultural anthropology on both sides of the Atlantic and has been teaching at Pace University in New York City for over fifteen years, with shorter stints at NYU and Fordham. Her new research on interfaith dialogue among Jews, Christians, and Muslims in Europe and North America, conceived a little over a year ago, is transforming her Catholic faith as she integrates more elements from the other Abrahamic religions into her practice. She is also guiding undergraduate students in conducting interviews with individuals from diverse faith traditions. The research group itself is an interfaith initiative; no two members share the same faith, but they are discovering that they have much in common. She is currently working on an article about cultural transgressions in interfaith work. What does forgiveness look like in practice? How do we continue interfaith dialogue? Judith lives in Queens, NY.

References:

• Church of the Reconciliation, Berlin
• Second Vatican Council

Suggested episode on Living Our Beliefs:

• Mookie Manalili episode – Catholic life

Social Media and other links for Judith:

• Profile at Pace University
• LinkedIn – Judith Pajo

Transcript on Buzzsprout

Social Media and other links for Méli:

• Website – the Talking with God Project
• Meli’s email
• LinkedIn – Meli Solomon
• Facebook – Meli Solomon

Follow the podcast!

The Living Our Beliefs podcast is part of the Talking with God Project.

Episode 95.

What comes to mind when you hear the term mysticism? Perhaps you imagine a yogi sitting cross legged in meditation, or people sitting in a circle chanting. Several religions have mystical practices, Sufism in Islam, and Zen Buddhism, for instance. Whatever the particulars, they generally share a desire to become one with the Divine and valueing of spiritual rather than intellectual understanding. Today, my guest, Lex Rofeberg, has joined me to talk about Jewish mysticism, its history, core books, challenging concepts and risks to followers. As a rabbi ordained in the Jewish Renewal movement, he is both a practitioner and critic of Jewish mysticism. Lex is co-host of the Judaism Unbound podcast and the Un-Yeshiva – a link is in the show notes. He is also an active proponent of learning from other faith traditions. In this, he shares my philosophy that learning about other paths is beneficial and does not pose a risk to your beliefs or practice.

Bio:

Lex Rofeberg (he/him) serves as senior Jewish educator for Judaism Unbound, a digital-first Jewish organization. He co-hosts and produces its weekly podcast, facilitates many of its digital rituals and events, and oversees the UnYeshiva: a digital center for Jewish learning and unlearning. He graduated from Brown University with a degree in Judaic Studies, and was ordained as a rabbi by ALEPH: Alliance for Jewish Renewal. A native of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Lex lived for two years in Jackson, Mississippi -- working for the Institute of Southern Jewish Life -- and he currently lives in Providence, Rhode Island with his wife.

Highlights:

• Embracing Jewish pop culture.
• Pantheism, panentheism and monotheism.
• Embodied worship and pantheism.
• Oneness and separation of the sacred and the profane.
• Hasidism, neo-Hasidism, and Chabad.
• The Zohar and Kabbalah.
• Reckoning with harm in by charismatic leaders.

Social Media links for Lex:

• Website – JudaismUnbound.com
• Bluesky – @lexaphus.bsky.social

References:

• Living Our Beliefs – Yusef Hayes episode on Sufism
• Living Our Beliefs – David Green on the Tanya and Chabad

Transcript on Buzzsprout

Social Media links for Méli:

• Website – the Talking with God Project
• Meli’s email
• LinkedIn – Meli Solomon
• Facebook – Meli Solomon

Follow the podcast!

The Living Our Beliefs podcast is part of the Talking with God Project.

Episode 94.

Are you a Jew, Christian, or Muslim? Do you wonder about how your holiday this spring intersects with other holidays occurring at or near the same time? What do you make of that? And what does your holiday mean to you? How do you celebrate it?

In this month's reflection, I address how Ramadan, Lent, and Passover connect thematically, and in the calendar. In these tense times when so many of us are feeling anxious and distressed, we can either give into that or strive to remember what connects us to be civil and caring and, that we can learn from each other. I personally choose the latter and I'm guessing you do as well. I thought taking a few moments to look at the main themes of these holidays and the calendar of these holidays that we can, get a little relief from the exhaustion and expand, enrich our own spiritual experience.

Highlights:

• Ramadan, Lent and Passover coinciding this year.
• Ramadan and Lent: Repentance and gratitude.
• Lent and Passover: Redemption and transformation.
• Fasting or restriction brings time and reflection.
• Exodus story as the foundation for both Lent and Passover.
• Importance of processes over time for renewal and spiritual cleansing.

Bio:

I am a public scholar and interreligious leader with a keen interest in understanding the nature of similarities and differences––especially religious and cultural. The Talking with God Project is currently my main focus, and I am actively expanding its reach through workshops, articles, panels, talks and a podcast.

​

Raised in the Boston area, I have lived in Seattle, WA and Berlin, Germany, before returning to Boston in 2017. Carving out a varied educational and professional path, I hold a B.A. in Fine Art from Oberlin College (1984), an M.B.A. from Northeastern University (1997), a Certificate in Coaching from the International Coach Academy (2015), and a Master of Jewish Liberal Studies (MJLS) from Hebrew College with a focus on Global Interreligious Studies (2019). Professionally, I have worked as a business manager, an art dealer and founder of Solomon Fine Art gallery, language trainer, text editor, business coach and now public scholar and podcaster.

​

Though raised in an interfaith non-observant home. my Conservative Jewish practice and wide range of personal and professional experiences inform my research and life.

Transcript on Buzzsprout

Social Media links for Méli:

• Website – the Talking with God Project
• Meli’s email
• LinkedIn – Meli Solomon
• Facebook – Meli Solomon

Follow the podcast!

The Living Our Beliefs podcast is part of the Talking with God Project.

Episode 93.

Did you grow up in a highly observant home and religious community where surety of belief was the norm? Aubrey Chaves did, and much as she felt embraced by the family’s deep engagement within their Mormon congregation, or ward, when she encountered differing lifestyles that were loving and not harmful to anyone, the rightness she had always believed about the church fathers and doctrine shifted from a solid foundation to something brittle. In short, it prompted a crisis of faith. Over the many years since then, she’s spent a lot time learning and struggling with her faith, emerging with a stronger and more forgiving approach to living her beliefs. These days, her spiritual views are more complex and open, for which she is grateful.

Highlights:

• Pioneer stock of Mormons on both sides of the family.
• Church provided an anchor and cadence for life.
• Crisis of faith and realizing the church had flaws and ugly history.
• The role of LGBTQ issues in faith reassessment.
• James Fowler's Stages of Faith.
• Missionary service as a transformative journey.
• Orthodoxy v. Orthodoxy.
• Faith redefined as love and trust.

Bio:

As a lifelong member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Aubrey Chaves finds deep meaning in faith, community, and the continual pursuit of spiritual growth. She serves on the executive board of the Faith Matters Foundation and co-hosts its weekly podcast with her husband, Tim. Together, they explore big questions and hope to foster expansive, thoughtful conversations that inspire curiosity, connection, and deeper engagement with faith. They live in Midway, Utah, where they are raising their four children under the beautiful snowy peaks of the Wasatch Mountains.

References:

• James Fowler, Stages of Faith
• Brian McLaren – Faith After Doubt
• Pew Research

Social Media links for Aubrey:

• Website – https://faithmatters.org/
• Instagram – @faithmattersfoundation

Transcript on Buzzsprout

Social Media links for Méli:

• Website – the Talking with God Project
• Meli’s email
• LinkedIn – Meli Solomon
• Facebook – Meli Solomon

Follow the podcast!

The Living Our Beliefs podcast is part of the Talking with God Project.

Episode 92.

Jews had lived in Libya since the third century BCE, but 1967 marked their final expulsion from the majority Muslim country. Raphael Luzon was a child at the time and fled with his family. Like many, they went to Italy. Overnight, his environment changed. Gone were his Jewish, Muslim and Catholic classmates. Gone was the exchange of holiday greetings with Muslim neighbors. But all was not lost. Those relationships had planted a seed, and that seed grew. Over the decades since university, Raphael has used his religious and cultural knowledge, along with his Arabic, Italian and English, to work in journalism, management, and interfaith dialogue. Within this latter sphere, he has brought high-level religious leaders like the Dalai Llama and Catholic cardinals together for constructive interfaith discussions. In this conversation, you’ll hear stories of success, disappointment and perseverance. Especially in these trying times, it's good to be reminded that connection is possible and what it takes to reach that goal.

Highlights:

• Upbringing as an Orthodox Jew in Libya.
• Instances of "gentleman hypocrisy" and the challenges of integrity in public.
• Overcoming challenges and finding common ground through religious literacy, sacred texts and mutual respect.
• The importance of timing and recognizing when constructive dialogue can occur.
• Participants must be a believer and open-minded, not seeing their religion as the ‘right’ way.
• Ongoing initiatives like MENA 2050.
• Libyan unity and justice effort.

Bio:

Raphael was born in Bengasi, Libya. Thrown out of Libya after a bloody pogrom during the “Six Day War”, in 1967 he moved to Rome, Italy, where he lived for 27 years. He then lived in Israel for 6 years, and for the last 24 years, he's lived in the UK.

He completed a degree in Political Science at University of Rome, then worked for 16 years in diplomacy dealing with Organization, Press and Information, Commercial and Economics, and Administration. He was also a press correspondent in Italy, for Israeli newspapers and media, including Maariv and Hadashot and the Israeli Radio Galei Zahal. In Israel Raphael was active in journalism & management. He has also worked for some years as a producer of RAI, Italian TV and I managed to build up the Jerusalem office.

Raphael was as Manager of a company dealing with Judaica items, books, crafts and silver gifts. He is currently a freelance journalist and analyst regarding the Middle East and Arab world.

Raphael’s major interests include politics, movies, reading, opera, oriental music, travelling, computers and interfaith dialogue.

Social Media links for Raphael:

• Website – https://rluzon.net

Transcript on Buzzsprout

Social Media links for Méli:

• Website – the Talking with God Project
• Meli’s email
• LinkedIn – Meli Solomon
• Facebook – Meli Solomon

Follow the podcast!

The Living Our Beliefs podcast is part of the Talking with God Project.