I’m a rabbi, affiliated with the Society for Humanistic Judaism with a Masters in Jewish Studies from Gratz College, and ordination as a rabbi from the International Institute for Humanistic Judaism. I love my Jewish cultural roots, and benefit from Buddhist mindfulness practice. I’m also a member of The Middle Way Society. I hope that together we can explore a humanist, mindful, way to be in the world, knowing our profound connections all with each other, and embracing our own power as human beings to affect the world.
Rabbi Susan Averbach 
Dear Susan
I am writing to ask whether you would be interested in being interviewed for a podcast for the Middle Way Society ? I read your post ‘The Jewish Middle Way’ with much interest which appears to be a great example of approaching the Middle Way from a more universal perspective and I’m sure our listeners would be very interested in your take on the subject..
http://www.middlewaysociety.org/middle-way/
The society is an international group, first founded in the UK, for the study, promotion and practice of the Middle Way. The Middle Way is the idea that we make better judgements by avoiding fixed beliefs and being open to practical experience. One of our members, Ed Catmull, president of Pixar and Disney Animation, describes the Middle Way as:
“… the chaotic and confusing place between the extremes. While the extremes are simpler and more attractive, it is the mess in the middle where the interesting and creative activities occur – it is where we should be.”
We challenge the overworked distinctions between facts and values, reason and emotion, religion and secularism, or arts and sciences. Though our name is inspired by some of the insights of the Buddha, we are independent of Buddhism or any other religion. We seek to support and promote integrative practice, overcoming conflicts of all kinds.
Here are some interviews that I’ve done so far with people you may know or could possibly be interested in):
Ed Catmull on creativity
Shauna Shapiro on integrating Mindfulness into Psychotherapy
Alison Gopnik on what babies think.
Elliot Aronson on cognitive dissonance
Iain McGilchrist (patron of the society) on his book on brain lateralization ‘The Master and his Emmisary’ and also on ‘Dogma and the Brain’.
Steven C Hayes on Acceptance and Commitment Therapy
Kristin Neff on self compassion
Marina Cantacuzino on the Forgiveness Project
Jonathan Rowson on the RSA Social Brain project
Alison Armstrong on Mindfulness and Compulsive Buying
Stephen Batchelor on art as an integrative practice
Sir Harry Burns on the causes of wellness
Tim Kasser on the role of human identity on meeting environmental challenges
Ha Vinh Tho, programme director of the Gross National Happiness project in Bhutan
http://www.middlewaysociety.org/audio/podcasts/
The interviews are conducted via Skype and would only take up 30 to 40 minutes of your time.
You may feel the society’s aims and values are not sufficiently in line with yours, so please don’t feel uncomfortable about saying no. I just thought I’d ask.
Kind regards
Barry Daniel