“One name echoes in Judaism, Christianity and Islam,” says author Bruce Feiler to Krista Tippet on OnBeing.org. Feiler continues: “One man is at the heart of our Abrahamic Faiths: Abraham, Abraham, Abraham. And therein lies great tension.” Jews, Christians and Muslims all come from the same land, from the same family; that Abraham is a figure that is central to Jews, Christians, and Muslims. Historically and hysterically, the people in the Region are genetically connected to the twelve tribes of Israel, the Israelites. And, God’s DNA prevails in us. We are all created in His image. And in God’s image, we are more invisible than visible. We must go out of our way to see and understand the other.
Abraham, “the father of a multitude of nations,” is the father of “righteousness and justice.”
“For I have chosen him … that he may command his children and his household after him to keep the way of the Lord by doing righteousness and justice, so that the Lord may bring to Abraham what he has promised him” (Genesis 18: 19, NIV)
Abraham is called to spearhead God’s passion for justice! And from Abraham’s seed comes a multitude of nations. God calls the nations of Abraham into existence to become a “light among nations,” finding ultimate embodiment and expression in Jesus Christ among Jews and Gentiles. The Apostle Peter: “You are the heirs of the prophets and of the covenant God made with your fathers. He said to Abraham, ‘Through your offspring all the peoples on earth will be blessed’” (Acts 3:25, NIV).
What if a growing number of Israelis and Palestinians respond to the higher calling of becoming a ‘light among nations’, ‘seeking the better angels of our nature’ and act accordingly as responsible citizens in the community of men and women, especially among those they have hurt so much? Can and will the Israelis and the Palestinians destroy their enemy by becoming friends with all the give and take to make and keep the friendship? They will want nothing more than a full reconciliation with their neighbors. “We can’t get away getting something for nothing … we can’t get away with murder … let’s tear down the walls between us, share the land, and break bread together … and here is cash, earnest money, a compensatory resolve to seal the deal.”
Any peace accord, without full reconciliation, will inevitably collapse. The wounds will only be temporarily soothed, letting the disease to stealthily spread and eventually erupt and explode again.
The essence of our Abrahamic Faiths says Moshe Menuhin author of ‘Not by Might, Nor by Power: The Zionist Betrayal of Judaism’ is:
“Thou shalt not kill; Thou shalt not steal; Thou shalt not covet … Love thy fellow-man as thyself … What thou dost not like to be done to thee, do not do to thy fellow man … Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit … In the place where the repentant stands, even the completely righteous man cannot stand.”
Moshe Menuhin continues:
“One, whether Jew, Christian or Muslim, who practices or at least tries hard to practice the above noble teachings, is my brother or sister. One, who violates these evolved and civilized fundamental tenets of universal and ethical human consciousness is a fraud.
He or she only uses and abuses religion to promote a form of xenophobia, the new religion of so many subverted and brainwashed people. It is worse than paradoxical or even obscene. It is repugnantly shocking, a repulsive compromise to norms and values.”
Israelis and Palestinians must reclaim their guiding principles and fundamental beliefs derived from the Sacred Texts: “love your neighbor,” “love the stranger,” and “justice, justice shalt thou pursue.” The essence of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam insists upon its adherents to trust their moral compass, synchronized with moral courage and moral imagination to envisage full recognition and acceptance of Israelis and Palestinians; Jews, Christians and Muslims.
Abraham’s legacy was that he lived a life filled with profound courage and moral imagination. He shared the Promised Land. And humbly, Abraham persisted on paying an honest price for his grave, which was much more than what the indigenous people wanted. They intended to present the land as a gift to one whom they revered. The most preponderant lesson to be learned from the Biblical Abraham was that in his blind ambition to obey, God stopped Abraham to kill in His name.
Will the people of Israel – Palestine take up the challenge and converge toward a series of catalytic possibilities? The alternative will inevitably result in more cataclysmic calamities.
The tradition of Abraham is to honor, respect and dignify the other, in short: Revere the Stranger.
When will the people in Israel – Palestine say to each other: “Welcome home”?
This article is excerpted from *Chapter 5: Abraham – A Life without Borders; Pages 121-145.
Read more … Can ‘Abraham’ Bring Peace to the Middle East
Read more … Opinion / Pushing Palestinians Back to Armed Struggle
Read more … The salt of the sea, for the first time in Jaffa
With Every Good Wish to You, I am,
Sincerely,
Building the Bridge Foundation, The Hague
Abraham A. van Kempen
Senior Editor
*‘Christian Zionism … Enraptured Around a Golden Cal” (2nd Edition)
e-book version $ 3.33
Paperback $33.30
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