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Jerusalem Interfaith Forum Addresses Educational Role of Religious Leaders
Written by Dr. Nurit Hirschfeld, secretary general, UPF-Israel
Monday, May 4, 2015
Jerusalem, Israel—On May 4, 2015 the Harry S. Truman Research Institute for the Advancement of Peace at Hebrew University Jerusalem held a conference on the theme, “Dialogue instead of Conflict–Education for Recognition of the Other.”
Senior members of the Jerusalem Interfaith Forum were invited by the Truman Institute to participate in a special session of religious leaders, entitled, “The Role of Religious Leaders in Education for the Recognition of the Other.” The chair of the session, Dr. Nurit Hirschfeld, secretary general of UPF-Israel, opened the discussion by speaking about the educational role of religious leaders, as well as the educational role of the Jerusalem Interfaith Forum: to focus on the values of peace as taught in the Holy Scriptures. She also said that the conference emphasizes the common values of all religions and human beings, rather than the differences, or otherness.
Archbishop Dr. Elias Chacoure, former Archbishop of Akko, Haifa, Nazareth, and All Galilee of the Melkite Greek Catholic Church, was the first speaker. He said that the Arabs and the Jews are brothers, not others, and that they together can be a large community that includes several opinions and groups.
Rabbi Ada Zavidov of the Har-El community in Jerusalem emphasized the need for each religion to address erroneous and immoral ideas about its own holy scriptures. She alluded to the Jewish scriptures, which refer to the Jewish people as the chosen people. She said it would be erroneous to view chosen people to mean that the nation of Israel is better than other nations. She sees the concept of chosen people to be a call for the Jewish nation to be highly moral, a beacon of morality in the world, rather like the elder brother who shoulders the higher responsibility for his parents. Rabbi Zavidov concluded her speech with a reminder that the Jewish Bible begins with the creation of Adam and Eve, which shows that all human beings were born in the image of God.
Sheik Samich Natur, the editor and publisher of the first Druze encyclopedia, emphasized the commitment of the Druze religion to peace and respect for other groups and religions. He talked about the prophet Jethro, who was a priest of Midian, and not only took care of Moses in his escape from Pharaoh, but also married Moses to his daughter and supported Moses in his mission of liberating the Israelites from Egyptian enslavement.
Rabbi Reuven Haskin, a lecturer in Jewish theology, emphasized the challenges that each religion faces with the contrast between their high moral values and their less moral reality. Rabbi Haskin said that people should make efforts to meet and dialogue with our exact opposites. For example, if you have right-wing political views, meet with a left-winger; if you are secular, meet with an ultra-Orthodox person. By meeting with those who are “other," people can see the godly spark in them, and thus stop seeing them as “other," but as human beings who were born in the image of God.
Sheik Dr. Omar Kayal, national inspector in the Religious Communities Department of the Interior Ministry, quoted a famous Hadith where Prophet Muhamad refers to other prophets in history and describes himself as a stone from the big building. Since Prophet Muhamad doesn’t say he is the building itself, but rather a stone in it, Sheikh Kayal explained that Muslims should respect and accept other religions and believers of other prophets.
Sheik Kayal also spoke about a commonly mistaken belief in the Middle East: that recognizing the other means denying one’s own uniqueness. He quoted verses from the Quran and Hadith that talk about Muhamad recognizing all the prophets, including Moses and Jesus. Sheikh Kayal teaches about the suffering of the Jews in Egypt (at the time of Pesach) and about Jesus’ life (at Christmas or Easter), and said “we need to know and recognize each other’s suffering so that we can feel as one body. We live on the same land, we eat the same food, drink the same water, and breathe the same air.”
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