Being raised in a Jewish-Christian family instilled in me a lifelong interest in and dedication to interreligious dialogue. I have a deep respect for the ways that religious traditions inform daily life and can be a basis for cooperation for the common good. During junior high school, my family adopted a family of Sudanese refugees, which basically meant we became friends to them as they adjusted to life in Canada. My brother and I played soccer with the children and helped them adapt to school. My mom taught the Sudanese mother how to cook. I will always remember when, sharing a Thanksgiving meal together, the Sudanese mother, Angelina, refused to have any gravy on her potatoes. She thought the gravy was soup and it reminded her too much of the “soup” they had in the refugee camps. These experiences were formative and through them, I can see God’s providence in igniting my passion for getting to know refugees and learning their stories as I got older. Throughout high school, I participated in the Calgary Interfaith Youth Council. As a council including: Bahai, Christian, Hindu, Jewish, Muslim, and Sikh participants, we prayed and ate together, learned about one another’s rituals, and engaged in community service projects inspired by virtues common to our traditions. This was no mushy exercise. Each of us became bolstered in our respective traditions while coming to a solid appreciation of pluralism without relativism. In my first year of university, I participated on a Holocaust study trip to Germany and Poland through the Canadian Centre for Diversity. With Muslim, Christian, and Jewish students, I travelled with Holocaust survivors to learn how to promote solidarity and human rights. I made this short documentary about the trip. Recently, I worked for four years as the senior advisor to a Canadian member of parliament on issues of multiculturalism, foreign affairs, human rights, and religious freedom. Now, I am currently studying in Rome. I live at the Lay Centre, which has a dedicated mission to promote understanding among religions, organizing opportunities for genuine encounter and sincere dialogue. I love seeing the breakthroughs that are possible through encountering others! As Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks liked to say, "It's the people not like us who make us grow."