Disagreements over politics have divided Americans’ homes, strained marriages, ruined friendships, and infiltrated the workplace. In a few days, we begin the 365-day countdown to the 2020 election, sure to become even more contentious and divisive.
The entire Jewish community in Colorado is seeking to change this harmful dynamic in the way they communicate with each other. Starting this Friday, the community will embark on a month-long campaign to clean up a different kind of environment — words that harm and divide.
On November 1, the Jewish Experience, a Denver-based educational outreach organization will launch Clean Speech Colorado (cleanspeechcolorado.org ), a Colorado community-wide awareness month centered on how individuals and communities, speak to and about one another. This campaign is the only statewide effort of its kind and could serve as a role model to states across the country, and communities worldwide.
Spearheaded by Rabbi Raphael Leban, head of the Jewish Experience, Clean Speech Colorado is a unique initiative that has brought together an unprecedented number of Jewish organizations (almost 60!) throughout the State for this education and awareness initiative. “The unprecedented broad reach of organizations wanting to partner on this effort is a tribute to the timeliness of this important initiative,” says Leban.
“Perhaps now more than ever, the growing divisiveness and disunity in society at large and within the Jewish community seriously undermines our regard for one another and our ability to remain respectful, united, and connected.”
“Our mission is to improve the way Jewish people in Colorado speak to and about one another through a community awareness month of the time-honored Jewish value of Guarding One’s Tongue, in an approachable, relevant way, to engender Shalom (peace) throughout the broader community,” said Rabbi Leban.
Arizona Jewish Life feature for Clean Speech Colorado in 2019. Click here to continue reading the article in full.