"To ensure its survival, Judaism and the Jewish people must learn how to be unified without being uniform."

When I first heard this statement, I passed it over as nothing more than a clever use of language. However, as exploring its meaning became a central theme of my summer, I realized just how important it is to all Jews throughout the United States and the world.

Let me give you a bit of background. This summer, I attended PANIM's Summer JAM ( Judaism, Activism, and Mitzvah work) program. JAM brings committed Jewish teens from all around the country to Washington, D.C. for one month of intensive study, community service work, and lobbying.

As part of its mission to show teens how to meld their passions for Judaism, social justice, and politics, JAM brings in speakers for us nearly every day. But almost all the staff and students agreed that the most engaging and charismatic speaker was Avraham Infeld, President of Hillel, the foundation for Jewish campus life. He spoke about how there must be, in his words, something "seriously wrong" with our religion if it appears we can never agree on anything.

He told of us about one of the first American Jews he met when he emigrated from South Africa, with whom he engaged in a terrible argument over whether Judaism was a religion in the way that Christianity, for example, was a religion. While both men were living examples of the other's argument, neither could convince the other of their position. By the end of the argument, it was Mr. Infeld's firm belief that Judaism needed to take some extreme measures in order to stay a unified family.

And yet, there are some advantageous points in being a rather discordant people. As a Reconstructionist Jew, I pride myself in the fact that I follow different liturgy and belief systems than most others in my religious family. JAM was the first time I had the opportunity to explore the differences in my fellow Jews–the beautiful traditions of the Sephardic Persians in our group, the vibrant and spirited dancing at the Orthodox Sabbath eve services, the intense questioning and vast intellectual capacity of many of the Reform Jews.

Indeed, JAM taught me to appreciate both sides of the coin of keeping Judaism unified and not uniform. There were several community programs in which staff members from different denominations spoke of the major tenets and the pros and cons of their sect.

We were encouraged to ask questions of each other and did so with great frequency; an oft-heard dinner table conversation consisted of, "Well, is that all that sets your denomination apart? ... you know, you really can't generalize us ... but how do you deal with the part of the Torah that says ..."

Although most of these discussions were held in good taste, there were still quite a few slightly offensive things said to make me appreciate even more the need for greater unity among Jews. In one memorable dialogue, one of the Orthodox students wondered out loud how non-Orthodox Jews could still consider themselves Jewish. While it was meant more absent-mindedly than maliciously, the sentiment still conveyed how much work is yet to be done to bring our people together.

If I learned anything at Summer JAM, it was the need for unity without uniformity in Judaism today.