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Instead of sending armed forces to Yugoslavia and other global hot spots, America should be sending an "elder corps" of peacemakers, according to the founder of the Jewish Renewal movement.

Speaking through a prepared videotape and a live telephone hookup, Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi of Colorado spoke with theologian Matthew Fox of Oakland's University of Creation Spirituality.

The evening's theme was "Spirituality for the 21st Century."

About 200 attended the May 16 forum, co-sponsored by Fox's institute and several Bay Area Jewish groups including Berkeley's Aquarian Minyan, Chochmat HaLev and Kehilla Community Synagogue.

Addressing the topic of peace, the septuagenarian Schachter-Shalomi said he hopes for the emergence of elders, such as former President Jimmy Carter, who will travel to places and work for peace. That theme is explored in one of the rabbi's books, titled "From Age-ing to Sage-ing."

Fox, a former Catholic theologian who was censured by the church, is now an Episcopal priest. He is founder and president of University of Creation Spirituality, a branch of the Colorado-based Naropa Institute.

He applauded the idea of the elder corps of peacemakers and urged the audience members to follow the advice of the Jewish scholar Martin Buber and see that "we don't extirpate evil. We reconnect it to the good."

In an interview after the session, however, Fox said he supported the NATO strategy of bombing Serbian military targets as a response to the ethnic cleansing in Kosovo.

"We can't be in denial about power," he said.

In a wide-ranging discussion following his prepared remarks, Schachter-Shalomi spoke with Fox and audience members. In response to a question from Fox, Schachter-Shalomi promoted the concept of "grieving together" as a way of healing the wounds between Christianity and Judaism.

"It's too empty to apologize," the rabbi said. "But come along and grieve with us." He suggested that the focus for common grieving could be the destruction of the Temple and the crucifixion of Jesus.

He added that Jews might do well to learn to read the Christian Scripture "without getting the creepy crawlies."

The rabbi holds the World Wisdom Chair at the Naropa Institute and the Rabbinic Chair at Aleph: Alliance for Jewish Renewal. He joined Fox in encouraging the creation of communities in which people of many traditions come together for social action and spiritual sharing.

The rabbi and the theologian agreed that interreligious dialogue is at its richest when each tradition goes more deeply into its own spiritual roots.

"Wisdom does not cancel out wisdom," Fox said.

"I have a sense that we are all deployed [by God] to the same place," Schachter-Shalomi said. "And I'm a Peeping Tom. When I see people loving God, it turns me on."