Exploring Faiths – Judaism with Rabbi Elana Zelony

We live in a world where there are people of many different backgrounds around us but we usually neglect to get to know each other. Prejudices and second-hand information often shape our thoughts. Exploring Faiths was one of the first initiatives of Dialogue Institute in the early 2000s and we believe it will help overcome stereotypes and get to know one another better in today’s political and social environment.

Rabbi Elana Zelony of Congregation Beth Torah was the speaker and presented Judaism on December 6th. The audience learned the specifics of the Jewish tradition, including the history of Jewish Faith how it started, how it is different from the other denominations in key beliefs, and how it is similar or the same in other key areas. How do individuals practice their faith outside the synagogue, what are the daily/weekly obligations of the members, what are some basic good deeds and bad deeds, major holy days and how they are celebrated, what is the concept of afterlife. As well as the Jewish view on how to treat others, social justice, racial, religious, ethnic, gender-based discriminations, women’s role, giving back, community service, etc.