by Aaron Harris Woodstein '15
This piece, published in the 2014 edition of Encounters, is a part of our collection featuring past Encounters pieces. Check out more by following the "Encounters Archive" tag.
Some kids are told: don’t bring up religion or politics. At least I was. I didn’t fully grasp the significance of this as a six-year-old Jewish boy until I had my first interfaith encounter. I was talking with a nice, pretty girl from my class and she asked me what church I attended. I told her that I was Jewish. She simply replied, “You are going to hell.” As a six-year-old that really shocked me, so I exclaimed, “No I’m not! I do good things.” Right before she walked away she explained, “Since you don’t believe in Jesus, you are going to hell.” That was the last time I talked about religion with anyone outside of my faith until I was well into high school. My spiritual journey in high school is another story altogether. The first girl I dated was an Orthodox Jew. While this didn’t make me feel all that different at the time, my being a Conservative—as opposed to Orthodox Jew—didn’t seem to please her parents. The fact that I was Agnostic on top of that pretty much ended the relationship for me right there. Besides my Bar Mitzvah, which is a coming of age religious ceremony in which one reads directly from the Torah, that six-year old girl’s proclamation was my only major religious encounter.
It took until my sophomore year of college for my return to faith to begin.
At the time, we were planning the first annual “Light The Night*.” This event was created to celebrate the common ties that many religious and spiritual groups have with the symbol of light in the dark, cold winter. When we began to discuss Chanukah, I mentioned that I was in an a cappella group. It was then that we determined that I would ask to share a bit of my heritage through song. Without realizing it, I began a first of many interfaith encounters in association with the Chapel. I began to teach my group a bit of Hebrew along with some traditional Jewish melodies. I found a newfound joy in sharing bits of my culture with my classmates.
Looking towards the future, there is more to come in my interfaith journey. I plan to put on a Hell program focused around No Exit, the play that originated the quote “hell is other people.” There will be an Interfaith Coffee House, and I will be able to use my connections in the music school to contribute as much entertainment and cultural variety as I can. The most challenging interfaith experience I will likely have will be my wedding. While this isn’t in the near future, I have begun to think about how to have a ceremony that would satisfy my needs while being mindful of his. That day is not soon coming, but being in love with an Atheist has been my favorite interfaith encounter to date.
In the end, my love is reserved for anyone who is committed to human service, and who strives always to learn and share knowledge.
Question to consider
How has college shaped your own faith journey and the way you interact with other traditions?
Inspired by the work of Aaron and his fellow planners, Light the Night has continued as an annual tradition at IWU, featuring many campus groups and individuals sharing in a night of celebration and reflection surrounding the theme of light. You can read more here about this special IWU tradition.
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