If you've ever wondered what bridgebuilding looks like, look no further than Jenan Mohajir and Rebecca Russo. Just two weeks after the Hamas attacks on Israel on October 7th and the subsequent Israeli bombing and invasion of Gaza, Jenan - who is Muslim and the mother of three beautiful Palestinian children - and Rebecca - who is Jewish and has multiple personal and familial connections to Israel (and is also the mother of three beautiful children) - came together to publish an op-ed insisting on "the importance of seeing each other and each other's people as fully human." In this episode, they tackle tough questions about what it means to be Zionist, pro-Palestinian, a committed partisan, and an unwavering bridgebuilder.

Guest Bio:

Jenan Mohajir is the Vice President of External Affairs at Interfaith America. In this role, Jenan focuses on building strategic relationships and programs with new partners across Interfaith America's emerging sectors. Inspired by faith and family to work for change at the intersections of gender, sexuality, race, and religion, Jenan has served in leadership at IA for 15 years, where she has trained hundreds of interfaith leaders from diverse backgrounds to foster a vision and practice of civically engaged interreligious leadership. Jenan completed undergraduate work at DePaul University and is pursuing her M.A. in religious studies at Chicago Theological Seminary. As a natural storyteller, she performs with 2nd Story, Chicago's premier storytelling company. Jenan proudly lives on the south side of Chicago with her children and loves to collect vintage children's books.

Rebecca Russo is the Vice President of Higher Education Strategy at Interfaith America. Rebecca oversees I.A.'s higher education strategy in this role, focusing on bridgebuilding programs and partnering with senior campus administrators. Rebecca has worked with IA since 2014 and sees college campuses as a laboratory where students can deepen and challenge their worldviews and learn to build relationships across divides. Rebecca has worked in higher education for over a decade, including roles as the Director of Engagement at Northwestern University's Fiedler Hillel and Executive Director of the Campus Climate Initiative at Hillel International. Rebecca holds a B.A. in Middle East Studies from Brown University and an MBA from Northwestern University's Kellogg School of Management. Rebecca is inspired by her interfaith experiences living in Morocco and Jerusalem and by the Talmudic concept of "these and those are words of the living God" to work toward a society where religious diversity is engaged actively and positively. Rebecca lives in Chicago with her family and enjoys singing, hiking, and chasing around her three children.

In the face of rising national polarization amid a turbulent election season, Eboo Patel and Mónica Guzmán discuss the role of curiosity, humility, and civil dialogue in a democratic society. They also discuss Guzmán’s new book I Never Thought of it That Way, emphasizing the responsibility we all share to embrace diverse perspectives with an inquisitive spirit and reflect on privilege and exclusivity in elite institutions and the challenges of insularity and assumptions that come with it.

Eboo Patel is joined by American theologian, writer, and editor of Sojourners, Jim Wallis, to discuss his new book The False White Gospel. Wallis shares his belief that white Christian nationalism is an enemy of democracy and pluralism due to its exclusionary theology and emphasis on dominance. They discuss a vision for creating a new, multifaith American church that partners across differences and revitalizes religious communities in addressing social issues.

Guest Bio: Jim Wallis is the inaugural holder of the Archbishop Desmond Tutu Chair in Faith and Justice at Georgetown University’s McCourt School of Public Policy, and the Director of its new Center on Faith and Justice. He served on President Obama’s first White House Advisory Council on Faith-based and Neighborhood Partnerships, and is the author of multiple New York Times bestselling books, including God’s Politics; his latest book, The False White Gospel: Rejecting Christian Nationalism, Reclaiming True Faith, and Refounding Democracy, was released on April 2nd, 2024, and is available wherever you buy books. In 2022 and 2023, Washingtonian magazine named Wallis one of the 500 most influential people shaping policy in DC. Wallis is also the founder of Sojourners.