This Nov. 8, Beth El will be the proud host of former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. A fellow congregant recently spoke out against the invitation in an op/ed published in the West Extra section on Sept. 23. As president of the board of trustees of Beth El, I believe that a synagogue is the perfect venue to address difficult topics and that religious communities and institutions have a responsibility to engage with today's issues in a respectful, honorable manner.

Beth El's National Speaker Series was established more than a decade ago as a way to bring provocative leading voices to our community to address important and potentially controversial issues of the day. It is all about providing nationally recognized speakers for our community to engage in dialogue and discussion within a respectful setting.

The previous letter helps underscore why this type of discussion is so critical. We live in an increasingly polarized society where demonization poisons our ability to engage in civil, public discourse. We all see it every day in discussions about politics, health care and the handling of the economy. Our public debate is limited to only listening to those whose views are identical to our own. We each tend to limit our access to voices that mirror our own on the Internet, hundreds of television channels and through a broad range of publications. We are talking among ourselves rather than to others.

But how will we ever learn to understand each other if we listen only to ourselves? Among the many values of Jewish tradition is strong support for a diversity of viewpoints, opinions and perspectives that encourage dialogue as a pathway to tolerate differences. We seek those windows in our society through which we can see different ideas as a starting point for understanding. We believe strongly that our current political polarization should be addressed within communities of faith such as ours through events such as our National Speaker Series.

There are many in our community who are interested in hearing Dr. Rice and her perspectives on United States foreign policy. She was, after all, central to foreign policy decisions during the Bush administration, was President Bush's national security adviser during the Sept. 11 attacks, and an accomplished foreign policy scholar before that. There are others who are not as interested in an exchange of ideas with Dr. Rice, but the National Speaker Series remains open to our community to wrestle with our society's important issues through thoughtful and open discussion.

Gary J. Krupp is president of Beth El Synagogue in St. Louis Park. Condoleezza Rice is scheduled to appear there at 6 p.m. on Nov. 8. Tickets are $50 and up. For more information, go to www.bethelsynagogue.org.