DENVER - This week, Rabbi Raphael Leban, executive director of The Jewish Experience in Denver, is launching his fourth annual Clean Speech Colorado Campaign, aimed at bringing together community members with different opinions.
“Clean Speech Colorado is a 30-day educational and awareness campaign designed to bring the timeless lessons of Jewish mindful speech to our community to bring us together, build a more loving, respectful, unified community one word at a time,” Leban said.
He said this year’s campaign is happening during a spike in anti-Semitic rhetoric and other hateful speech.
“It's interesting that the sad story of this Kanye West saga has taught the world a lesson in the power of words and the cost of words," Leban said. "We know that if we don't choose our words mindfully that there will be costs and there will be those who will be hurt, maybe ourselves and certainly others. So this campaign is in direct contrast to that. It is trying to help us to be more mindful to choose words more wisely, to have other people's interests in mind when we speak, not just our own."
Leban said starting Nov. 1, each day for 30 days he will teach a two-minute social media lesson on how to engage in tough conversations without harmful words.
“This year for our fourth campaign, we're talking about ‘Ahavas Chesed’, which is words of love,” Leban said.
Leban shared part of one lesson.
“A guy goes into a restaurant and orders fish. The waiter says, ‘Sure, we have a special today.' He says, 'I love fish.' The waiter says, 'You love fish? If you love fish, wouldn’t you rather be out swimming in the ocean than killing it and having it for lunch?' And the point being that we often think of what love means in terms of what we personally want, what we enjoy. But really, when we think about loving someone else, we have to think about what's in their best interest,” Leban said.
But Leban said the campaign isn’t about conforming.
“I think once upon a time, you could differ strongly with someone and you could still be friends. We've drifted to a place where not only are you voicing an opinion that's not mine. But now you're wrong. And even worse than that, you're bad,” Leban said. “Judaism has a very rich tradition of respectful differences of opinion. As we joke ‘two Jews, three opinions.' We like to argue and to differ. And I think that it's important that people realize our campaigns are not about quashing or, or cutting down on substantive conversation but actually the opposite.”
Leban hopes to inspire people of all faiths to ditch divisive language and learn new ways to engage with others.