Ilene Sameth, One Spirit’s Chief Executive Officer’s
2021 Commencement address:

My name is Ilene Sameth and I am the CEO of One Spirit and I am joined by Brad Learmonth, the president of the board. It has been an extraordinary year—to say the least.  But the nature of this year has not only been around surviving in a pandemic. For our students, and for One Spirit, it has been a year that confirmed for us how important it is to frame your life around being of service. 

The first truth we all learned this past year is how much we took for granted the possibility of being together. And for our students, who had to change every expectation they had on what the learning experience at One Spirit would consist of, the loss, along with the fear, was hard to bear sometimes. But bear it they did. But they and the institution thrived despite it. 

They created real community when they could only see each other on Zoom. They learned how to minister and counsel when they could not be in each other's presence. When the world needed healing and compassion, they answered the call. When the injustices of the world were shown with such stark clarity that they could have turned away their gaze, they looked all the more closely and cried out for justice, because they believed that they had a responsibility to have their voices heard. Through all this, our students learned and they thrived.

And One Spirit, the organization, answered the call too. Despite the odds, One Spirit grew. We grew our enrollment to our core programs—Seminary and Interspiritual Counseling. We added professional development opportunities such as Companions In Care, which provided advanced training for these uncertain times. We grew our community offerings by adding, The Gathering, our weekly spiritual experience, our daily meditation offerings, and our seven varied affinity groups to provide support during this past year.  The world told us we were needed. And we answered the call to, what is described in Judaism as Tikkun Olam, Healing the World. 

We know that our students are our best teachers. They have always brought forward the drive to answer what are the most pressing questions and spiritual needs within the larger world outside of the classroom. Over the past 2 years, even before the challenges of the last year,  we had entered a deep organizational introspection with our staff, our faculty, and with most importantly, our graduates and students, to hear how we needed to answer the call toward addressing racism.

I want to share with you that One Spirit has decided to take the affirmative steps to become an Anti-Racist organization—this is different than diversity, equity, and inclusion. That means we will work to address all of the ways we function as an organization to ensure that we break down the systemic nature of white supremacy. For we cannot effectively speak out against racism unless we have addressed it first within our own organization. We cannot truly model the highest embodiment of belonging unless we fully tackle this issue, which is central to our nation and to each and every one of us. The path to doing this is neither short nor simple. A team of nearly 20 people from all across the organization has started to look at every single aspect of One Spirit, from how we conduct business to how and what we teach, all toward ensuring that our Mission, Vision, and Values reflect who we want to be. By taking the full measure of who we are, we will seek the spiritual depth that will guide us in these important steps.

This is not a decision taken lightly but our students, especially those in the classes of 2020 and 2021, have inspired in us deep introspection and the inspiration to ensure that One Spirit always stands for what is right. While this work will be challenging, we feel that it will open us up to spiritual and organizational wholeness. We will be doing what we ask of our students each and every year. Be honest about who you are and who you have the capacity to become.