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Jerusalem Interfaith Forum: The World to Come and the Spirit World in the Different Faiths
Written by Dr. Nurit Hirschfeld, Director, Jerusalem Office for Interfaith and Cooperation among Religions
Tuesday, November 26, 2013
Jerusalem, Israel - Twenty-five peace proponents gathered on Nov. 26, 2013, for the Jerusalem Interfaith Forum. Rabbi Dr. Beni Lau, who is well known in Israeli society for his involvement in social rights and religious values, hosted the forum in his Ramban Synagogue. Rabbi Lau is also known in Israel for his "Weekly Torah Portion" lectures which are broadcast by the national television station.
After a short welcome and introduction, Dr. Nurit Hirschfeld, the forum director, read from the book "Earthly Life and the Spirit World" written by the UPF founder, Rev. Dr. Sun Myung Moon:
Where do we ultimately go? To the spirit world. We call it the world after death, but it is not the world after death. It cannot become the world after because it is a world related with love. Since that world is related with love, it is not the world after death. Since it began centering on true love, when we come to practice true love, here now is the spirit world. That is why love is great. (p. 573)
As heaven is the world where people live for the sake of others, you have to go forth based on the concept of living for the sake of others. If you only think about being served, you will be destroyed. Heaven is the world filled with God’s love. The essence of love is to live for the sake of the whole, rather than to be served. … The individual must live for the family; the family for the tribe; the tribe for the people; the people for the nation; the nation for the world; the world for the universe; the universe for the cosmos; and the cosmos for God. (pp. 875, 881)
Following those words, Rabbi Lau shared his vision of the value of peace and love in society, according to his understanding of two great biblical prophets, Isaiah and Samuel: "And they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war."Rabbi Lau called this a utopian vision and not a realistic one: "If we look at these prophets’ vision as a realistic one to be truly existing, we may give up on any kind of efforts that are needed on the way to create it." He continued: "Unlike Isaiah, Samuel is a very realistic prophet; he realizes that although there are problems in people’s life, if they will listen to the prophet—who is responsible for the morality of the society and of the king—they can have a peaceful life."
Father Josef, from the Greek Melkite church in the old city of Jerusalem, agreed that love is indeed a concept. "The question is how to translate this concept to our daily life," he said. "Love is the understanding, love is the respect; peace is based on love. Those are high values from the higher worlds;yet I think we must invest much effort in order to apply those values in our lives. The vision of the last day and the spirit world starts from here and now. Eternal life starts in the way one lives life on earth and in the way one expresses love."
Father Masoud Abu Hatoum, the head priest of the Cana Wedding Church, emphasized that we should always be together with God. "The way to do it is as Rev. Moon said," he said, quoting, "to love the other as you love yourself." He concluded by saying: “Usually we don't care for the other, we just care for ourselves, and this is our problem. We should not only talk about those things, but we should work hard to implement them."
Sheik Samih Natur spoke about the concept of the spirit world according to the Druze religion. The spirit world is the purpose of life for a devout religious Druze, and is being related to in the way of life, he said. The spirit world is the situation that will prevail in the universe in the last days. The Druze religion, as all religions, encourages good deeds, integrity and helping others, not in order to get any reward but rather because that is the destiny of all human beings. Thus, one can create heaven on earth, and in the last days, one will meet on earth that reality of heaven that one has created.
Rabbi Yaakov Luft, an educator from Mevaseret-Zion, spoke about the Jewish term Tikun Olam—a Hebrew phrase that means "repairing the world" and suggests humanity's shared responsibility to heal, repair and transform the world. Rabbi Luft explained: "Having the concept of repairing the world means that the world is in-complete. That is why it is our responsibility to work and invest our efforts to bring the world to completion. The last days would be the days when our role to repair the world would be finished," he said.
Mr. Dani Rahamim, a Jewish philosophy teacher and peace activist, said hope is the most important element in our daily efforts to bring peace. "Without hope and faith, there is no point to continue in our efforts," he said.
Mrs. Miri Kamar, the secretary general of UPF-Israel, referred to the words of Dr. Moon about the spirit world, and said that these words give her hope: "If we create here in this world the reality of the spirit world, it means we can influence our existence in the spirit world. If the spirit world is a world of love and one breathes love there, as much as we practice love in this world on earth—we will be able to enjoy love in the spirit world. Moreover," she continued, "the scriptures teach us how to practice love—by living for the sake of others.”
Rabbinith Esther Bar-dea referred to Maimonides, a preeminent medieval Jewish philosopher and one of the most influential Torah scholars and physicians in the Middle Ages. Maimonides thought that the physical world and the spiritual world both exist and that human beings are created with not only a physical body but also a spirit and soul, she said. Therefore we should live in harmony and balance between our mind and body; overcoming our bodily desires is the expression of our love to God, together with taking care of our body which was given to us by God as the tool for the growth of our spirit.
Mr. Yaron Hirschfeld, the head of a Jewish-Arabic association, said that indeed it is difficult to achieve peace. "But we are here not for doing the easy things,” he said. “So let us keep on striving for peace—without fears or apologies that we haven't achieved it yet."
Mrs. Efrat Perlmuter, a homeopathic doctor, said that the hope for peace is the deep yearning of the soul for the divine source of great, deep love. Once we feel that love, we can love others instead of bearing hatred.
The writer and art teacher Mrs. Rut Reizel closed the discussion with her optimistic words that we should strive for peace and that by working hard for peace we are improving ourselves and making our soul better. "We should continue in our efforts for peace,” she said, “since those efforts are the diamonds in our wedding dress, the same dress we will put on in the world to come, facing God as our bridegroom."
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