Encore Episode - What It Means to be Human with Rabbi Marc Baker

Rabbi Marc Baker is the President and CEO of Combined Jewish Philanthropies (CJP), a Jewish non-profit organization in Massachusetts. Having spent most of his life in Greater Boston’s Jewish community, Rabbi Marc has served as Head of School at Gann Academy, Greater Boston’s pluralistic Jewish high school, for over a decade. He has also served as scholar-in-residence for CJP’s Cynthia and Leon Shulman Acharai Leadership Program from 2013 to 2018. Rabbi Marc has also spent 4 years in Jerusalem studying at Pardes Institute of Jewish Studies and The Hebrew University. He attended Phillips Academy Andover and received his bachelor’s degree in religious studies at Yale University. Currently, Rabbi Marc resides in Brookline, Massachusetts with his wife and four children.

Rabbi Marc joins me today to share his perspective on what it means to be human. He describes the CJP mission to bring people together and how the organization’s mission aligns with his perspective on humanity. He explains why he believes being human is not merely an individual journey, but an inter-connected one and how the modern world has lost that deep sense of interconnection. We discuss how the coronavirus pandemic has encouraged people’s sense of excessive individuality and inequality and how we can use this experience as a way to realize our individual and collective humanity as an effective guide toward a better future generation. We also discuss how moments of micro and macro fear provide us with unique opportunities of choice and the importance of getting comfortable with the complexities of being courageous.

“We are, fundamentally - in our DNA - inter-connected with one another.” - Rabbi Marc Baker

This week on Insert:Human

● How CJP’s mission aligns with what Rabbi Marc believes the definition of ‘being human’ truly is

● Why Rabbi Marc believes the human journey is not, fundamentally, an individual one

● Unpacking the term ‘individuality’ and how the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted people’s sense of excessive individuality and inequality

● The COVID Paradox of Intimacy and what Rabbi Marc believes our greatest obstacle for us to realize is our individual and collective humanity

● Confronting moments of macro and micro fear and how it’s an opportunity to choose whether to embrace fear or embrace courage

● Getting comfortable with the complexity and spectrum of being courageous

● The Circles of Trust concept and the two fundamental challenges of building cultural community

● How the Jewish community is contributing to a better world

Our Favorite Quotes:

● “Choosing hope over fear does not mean denying that we feel fear.” - Rabbi Marc Baker

● “It’s very hard to make decisions when you acknowledge there might be more than one right way.” - Rabbi Marc Baker

● “It’s continuity in the name of transformation. It’s knowing where you come from because it has something to say to where you’re going.” - Rabbi Marc Baker

Resources Mentioned:

● Book: Healing the Heart of Democracy: The Courage to Create a Politics Worthy of the Human Spirit by Parker J. Palmer

Connect with Rabbi Marc Baker:

● Combined Jewish Philanthropies

● Combined Jewish Philanthropies on LinkedIn

● Combined Jewish Philanthropies on Instagram

● Combined Jewish Philanthropies on Facebook

● Combined Jewish Philanthropies on Twitter

● Rabbi Marc Baker on LinkedIn

Insert:Human - For a Better Life & Better World

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