iPhone app iPad app Android phone app Android tablet app

Rabbi Jack Bemporad
GET UPDATES FROM Rabbi Jack Bemporad
Rabbi Jack Bemporad’s commitment to interreligious understanding spans decades. Most recently, he lead a group of eight influential American Imams and Muslims leaders to Auschwitz and Dachau on a landmark trip that resulted in an unprecedented public declaration by the Muslim leadership against all forms of Anti-Semitism, a Congressional Hill briefing in Washington, DC, and plans for similar trips in the works. He is Director of the Center for Interreligious Understanding (NJ) and of the John Paul II Center for Interreligious Dialogue (Rome), and instructor of interfaith at the Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas (the Angelicum in Rome where Pope John Paul studied). For more information: www.faithindialogue.org and www.jp2center.org.

Blog Entries by Rabbi Jack Bemporad

Women: Living Philanthropy

(0) Comments | Posted May 17, 2013 | 10:38 AM

Paternalistic politics needs to sit up and take notice. Women now control more than half the private wealth in the U.S. Their voices cannot be ignored because of it. One of the areas in which women's impact is being felt in particular is philanthropy, a fortunate fact for our global...

Read Post

Faiths For Safe Water: A Pledge For World Water Day 2013

(14) Comments | Posted March 22, 2013 | 7:55 AM

We Don't Honor God when 8,000 children die every day from the lack of something we take it for granted every day: a safe glass of water.

It's the world's dirty secret with a staggering impact, starting with children. You may be surprised to learn when you see those heart-wrenching...

Read Post

A Sermon for Water

(29) Comments | Posted March 16, 2012 | 7:53 AM

Authors' note: Faiths for Safe Water is a project that seeks to unite all faiths around the singular religious symbol shared by all: Water. On March 17 at the historic Riverside Church in New York City, the faiths will gather for an informative and entertaining opportunity to learn more about...

Read Post

From Many, One Nation: The Case of 'All American Muslim'

(277) Comments | Posted December 29, 2011 | 2:03 PM

By Rabbi Jack Bemporad, Center for Interreligious Understanding, N.J., with co-authors: The Very Reverend Dr. James A. Kowalski, Dean of the Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine, New York City; Professor Marshall Breger, Catholic University of America, Washington, D.C. and former Reagan White House liaison to the Jewish community;...

Read Post

'All American Muslim' Celebrates All American Values

(132) Comments | Posted December 17, 2011 | 2:19 PM

Editor's Note: This piece is co-authored by:
Rabbi Jack Bemporad, Center for Interreligious Understanding, New Jersey
Professor Marshall Breger, Catholic University of America, Washington, DC
Suhail A. Khan, Buxton Initiative, Washington, DC
The Very Reverend Dr. James A. Kowalski, Cathedral Church of Saint John the Divine,...

Read Post

Ancient Texting: The Urgency Of Muslim-Jewish Dialogue

(25) Comments | Posted November 28, 2011 | 4:04 PM

A profound event quietly took place this last week: Jewish rabbis and scholars in halacha (Jewish law) met with Muslim imams and scholars in sharia (Muslim law) to discuss how improved understanding and interpretation of the foundational texts, upon which their respective religious laws are based, can help bring the...

Read Post

An Open Letter to Congress From Leaders of the Faith Community: Don't Cut Foreign Aid!

(6) Comments | Posted November 3, 2011 | 10:44 AM

The human condition is a precarious one; we cannot separate ourselves from others who are suffering. All of us are vulnerable, and in these particularly vulnerable times, we have to be counted upon to do more to alleviate suffering in the world.

But with all the chatter about religion...

Read Post

The Binding of Isaac: A Personal Meditation on Tests of Faith

(1) Comments | Posted September 28, 2011 | 8:12 AM

The Scriptural reading of the binding of Isaac is read on the first day of Rosh Hashanah in Reform congregations, and on the second day in Conservative and Orthodox congregations. According to the midrash (a commentary that expounds on Scripture), the binding of Isaac took place on Rosh Hashanah.

"And...

Read Post

Review: 'What is God?' by Jacob Needleman

(13) Comments | Posted June 21, 2011 | 9:29 AM

If you are looking for a theologically erudite discussion of the nature of God, the Divine attributes of creation, revelation, and redemption -- then this book will disappoint you.

But if you are concerned with asking and answering the question, "How can one approach the question of God in an...

Read Post

Jews and Christians Still Have Much To Learn From Pope John Paul II

(105) Comments | Posted April 30, 2011 | 10:27 PM

I first got a sense of the meaning of interfaith dialogue as a 26-year-old student on a Fulbright fellowship in Rome. I was a newly ordained rabbi representing the Reform Jewish movement in a meeting with Pope John XXIII to discuss hunger issues. With the impetuousness of youth, I asked...

Read Post