The following was written by Rabbi Yitshak Mandelbaum following his attendance at an Adventure in Intimacy workshop in Israel. Rabbi Mandelbaum teaches at a Yeshiva near Jerusalem.
We have conducted workshops on such issues as the Sabbath, prayers and the family, using dialogue and active listening as major tools. The participants react with great enthusiasm and the inter-personal relationship gets deeper and deeper.
When working with teacher teams we also train them to listen to their pupils and to each other. In some places the influence of this experience has been described as the most significant ever.
One of the Yeshivot we work with encourages pluralism of opinions and choices. It is well known that the Talmud abounds in disputes and holds that they are "the live words of God". Deepening the listening abilities in this Yeshiva has consolidated this approach.
I have much to add, but these are details more easily conveyed orally than in writing.
As we have settled last summer, I welcome you to participate in a workshop together with our Rabbinical college. This will be a great experience for us and hopefully for you too. The college members are wonderful men and women, orthodox and secular, who have experienced a deep process of change during the last year. They are pleasant and warm people, a group charting new routes for Jewish life and education.
Please come, we shall be waiting for you.
I thank you again for being what you are, for the meeting between us, for the special personal attention you have given me and Noa and for the inspiration that still affects me.
