I welcome this important meeting of people working to bring about change, to protest the stupidity of the common perception that nothing needs to be changed. G-d created and gave us of his loving kindness. He gave us the ability to make and create. We always adhere to the commandments of our G-d because He is the fountain from which we draw our strength and to which we turn for better and for worse.
We will proceed together and lead the members of our community in the name of G-d Almighty for killing was never an act to be committed in the name of G-d. I thank you and pray that this assembly will be of some value. - So much for the blessing of Sheikh Darwish who could not be with us today.
And now, I will speak for myself:
Usually at these meetings the words can be compared to a man who comes to the wide sea and does not know from where to get water. It is difficult to cope with phenomena like the rays of the sun shining down whose energies are directed only for bad purposes and for nothing positive such as helping a plant grow by the process of photosynthesis. The true believer understands that he who contends with the creatures of
G-d, with the creation, is doing the right thing. In the same way that people invent patents which are later beneficial to the general public, so also in this matter, those things that people do for the betterment of others, come round again to the general public. We are destined and bound to do good. In the Koran it is written that whoever kills one soul it is as if he has killed a whole world and he who saves the life of one soul it is as if he has saved the life of a whole world. No one agrees that killing in the name of religion is permissible. This is our guiding light which we must follow.
Sometimes there are disputes amongst us. Although we may disagree we are on pure unadulterated grounds. We remain friends. We desperately need those heroes, every one on his piece of land. Our problem is the moral level, the degree of resistance to falling to the lowest possible point. We have forgotten how to sit and discuss with one another. "How shall we sit down and talk? We will present the true facts and in a better way". We will choose things that are more moderate as they are much better, "I will not raise my voice when in silence I can achieve my goal." So we are assembled here to be responsible for each other.
We are monotheists. The worst thing is distortion of the way.
As we delve deeper into the writings of G-d's revealed book – the world - and into his secretive book – the Koran and the Torah – so we realize just how much we do not know.
We believe not in G-d's choice - (preferring one nation against another) but in justice. The ultimate truth belongs to G-d – and in His name we strive to reach the highest possible levels of integrity and righteousness. By raising the spiritual aspect of our cooperation we can serve the future generations. We can reduce the murderous killings and bloodshed from that same enemy which takes a stand against religion – ignorance and radical extremism. But the believer in G-d must open his heart to G-d's light - for the heart cannot be filled with hatred and hostility and at one and the same time be filled with the light of
G-d.
There is always room for dealings and negotiations. [The people here] are our partners. We are proud of that and together we can reach that same level of discussion and dialogue. We may not agree but we will make every attempt to abide by that high standard of aiming for perfection. Before we start the discussion we should know that these very powers of thinking and reasoning are in themselves a good deed of their own.
People are like sheep in a flock and so we ask that all those who took upon themselves the task, will take their position in the lead and prove that there is room to present the facts not in a superficial way but in a profound and thorough fashion."
Rabbi Michael Melchior, Founder of the Mosaica Center
"According to the Jewish calendar at this time in several weekly portions of the Law we read of the construction of a temple for the children of Israel who came out of Egypt. Almighty G-d commands that there should be a divine presence amongst them, through a temple. The word temple is derived partly from the word "to attract". In order to approach the sacred space it is necessary to resort to spiritual and moral means. Unfortunately the religions of our world do not conform to these ways. If we recognize the reality of the familiar image - then hatred and killing and religion seemingly go hand in hand. In my opinion if we want to create, to draw a different conclusion then we need to know from where this image comes. The root is in the discourse of distrust, fear and hatred. We define who we hate rather than who we love.
Hatred wears many masks. The most ugly and the most dangerous is hatred in the name of G-d. Hatred eradicates humane understanding and the divine presence in the other inviting persecution and death. There is no higher ideal than to transform hatred into love.
”Act in the name of goodness for between you and him there is hatred; treat him as a good person and you will deserve that to which only a very privileged person is entitled" (from the Koran).
This hatred is not a local phenomenon but a global existential problem. The question is "what must be done to create a different atmosphere?" We know that when there is a severe disease children are vaccinated from an early age. We do not give our children vaccines against hatred and it is therefore clear that the antidote needs to be an immune combination of meeting, talking and getting the other to talk and to educate towards values as we have heard here.
We live in a global village but at the same time we have never been farther apart from each other, even within our own sectors (even the Spanish Rabbis of the Shas movement and religious Zionist Rabbis attending this program for example).
Sheikh Nimer Darwish and prominent Muslims both in Israel and abroad see great importance in this program. Beyond dialogue and exchange of views, I believe in activity that can be applied to walks of society.
There have been many conferences and speeches but things never developed and did not make any impression upon the general public.
We started this process eight years ago in Alexandria, Egypt, under the auspices of Rabbi Bakshi Doron and the Muslim world was represented by prominent religious authorities, Sheikh Tantaway and his colleague Sheikh Talal Sider (deceased). We made a commitment there to the declaration of Alexandria, a document adopted by many Rabbis and great leaders in the Muslim world - and we believed that it is possible to create something new and different.
One of the first things we did with Rabbi Eliyahu Bakshi Doron was to recruit him to act following the distribution of leaflets in Hebron against the Prophet Muhammad, which caused an unruly uproar amongst residents of Hebron and in mosques. When a reaction condemning the incident was required by someone from a Jewish religious authority, Rabbi Bakshi Doron sat down with the Mufti of Hebron and condemned the incident which desecrates the sanctity of G-d's name – and is a violation to our Torah. The Mufti was surprised by the intensity of his words and in this way he was able to have a calming effect on the outraged public in Hebron.
As brothers we have a huge responsibility to our generation. This program holds great hope and expectations. Hope means rolling up sleeves and starting to work. It is possible that from this small nucleus in the Holy City of Jerusalem which is holy to us all, we can go forth with good tidings. I thank you all for your willingness to serve as a temple and to bear the whole truth."
Sheikh Muhammed Seid Tantaway died of a heart attack while visiting Saudi Arabia the day after the opening ceremony of the MANDAT program.
Sheikh Talal Sider, who served as a Minister in the Palestinian Authority, died after an illness in the year 2005. |
