TEDxAmsterdam

VIDEO: Rabbi Awraham Soetendorp on compassion

TEDxAmsterdam: Rabbi Soetendorp from TEDxAmsterdam on Vimeo.

Awraham Soetendorp is currently Rabbi of the Reform Jewish Community of The Hague, and Rabbi of the Union of Dutch Reform Jewish Communities. Born in 1943 in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, Rabbi Soetendorp survived as a “hidden child”.

He asked the floor at TEDxAmsterdam to speak about the Charter of Compassion, a TEDPrize project initiated by Karen Armstrong. In his brief talk he recalled the moment in 1943 when the Gestapo and the Dutch police came to his home, and proceeded to stress his belief in the goodness of people: ““Compassion opens the heart, and when the heart is open it propels to hope.”

His short talk moved the audience immensely and he got a standing ovation.

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Since 1967 Rabbi Soetendorp has been active in a wide variety of progressive, humanitarian, and interfaith organizations and meetings including the Anne Frank Foundation, the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting, the World Council of Religious Leaders, the Earth Charter and Global Forum of Spiritual and Parliamentary Leaders. He is also the President of the Jacob Soetendorp Institute of Human Values.

The Charter for Compassion is a project launched by religious scholar Karen Armstrong, to stress the common values underlying all moral systems. Soetendorp is on the Council of Conscience that crafted the final version of the document, together with amongst others Archbishop Desmond Tutu and the Grand Mufti of Egypt, Sheikh Ali Gomaa.

The website of the Charter for Compassion has Ways to participate online to spread and endorse the Charter for Compassion, or to affirm the Charter. So far close to 22.000 people worldwide have left their name on the site.

Interviews with Rabbi Soetendorp at TEDxAmsterdam