The goal of the Chicago Chapter's Interreligious Affairs Commission is to promote communication and improved relationships between Jews and other faith communities. The relationships must be built on honest recognition of our differences as well as our similarities, and on an understanding of the issues which motivate and concern Jews.

Some examples of our interreligious work include:

Ongoing dialogue groups where Jews meet on a regular basis with leaders of different Christian denominations to learn about each other.

Annual Jewish-Christian Clergy Retreat. Co-sponsored by the AJC, the Archdiocese of Chicago, the Chicago Board of Rabbis, Episcopal Diocese of Chicago, Greek Orthodox Diocese of Chicago, and the Metropolitan Chicago Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, the retreat brings rabbis and Christian clergy together for a full day of discussion and study.

Recent retreats have focused on "Assimilation and Religious Identity in Secular America," "Covenant in the First Century: Implications for the 21st Century," "Metanoia and Teshuva: Repentance and Return," "Going Up to Jerusalem: Encountering Jerusalem in Preaching, Liturgy and Eschatology."

Christian Leadership Seminar in Israel. This annual seminar, co-sponsored by the Jewish Community Relations Council, takes a select group of Chicago area clergy and lay leaders to Israel for an intensive, nine-day exploration of the complex issues confronting Jews, Christians and Muslims living in a land that is holy to all three faiths. Participants meet religious and political leaders, academics, and journalists as well as spend time with individuals and families in their homes.

Institute for Catholic-Jewish Education The Institute was founded and is jointly sponsored by the American Jewish Committee and the Sisters of Sion, a Catholic religious order of women, to promote a relationship of mutual respect between Jews and Catholics. Through dialogue and education, we provide unique opportunities for each community to deepen its own self-understanding, to encounter the richness of each tradition, and to explore new ways of working with the other on common goals.

Partnered Program in Catholic Grade Schools and Religious Education Programs This program includes classroom sessions for K-8, inservice for teachers, and field trips to a synagogue or Spertus Museum. Each session is designed to give students and teachers an experience of Jews and Judaism and is given jointly by a Jewish and Catholic educator.

Exchange Program with Spertus Museum A special tour for Catholic schools, grades 5-8, of Jewish artifacts and ritual items at Spertus Museum given jointly by a Jewish and Catholic educator.

Catholic/Jewish Education Enrichment Project C/JEEP brings a rabbi into Catholic high schools to teach Judaism and a Catholic educator into Jewish schools to explain Christianity. Established with a grant from the Steven Spielberg Righteous Persons Foundation, C/JEEP broadens the understanding of Catholic youth of the roots of their tradition and introduces them to modern Judaism. The program enables Jewish youngsters to go beyond old stereotypes of what Catholics believe about Jews and Judaism.