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5th June 2004
The 10th Israeli-Palestinian conference organized by the Interfaith Encounter Association and the Nablus Youth Federation and sponsored by the European Union, took place under the title "Moses and Muhammad" between 27-29 May 2004, with some fifty people at the Guest House of Neve Shalom.
We started in the first evening to get to know each other. After the short greetings and introduction of sponsoring organizations by the directors of the IEA and NYF we went into small groups in which we introduced ourselves. Beyond the biographical details we also started to relate to the theme of the great teachers of humanity by each of us presenting his or her own teachers. We talked about people who gave us inspiration or guided us in a special way and about the way and content of that inspiration and guidance. The pleasant conversation went deep into the night, way beyond the time planned for it.
In the following morning started with the presentation of the Muslim perspective by Mr. Abd el-Kader Sufan from Hawara, near Nablus. He started by stressing that in Islam there is room and respect to all prophets and messengers. A Muslim is considered heretic if he does not believe in those listed in the Koran, including: Moses, Jesus, Salomon, Abraham, Jacob, Isaac, David etc.)
Islam was sent through Muhammad to all human beings but nevertheless it obliges to respect the other religions, especially those living in peace with Muslims as well as to respect and preserve their holy sites.
In the divine books, especially the Torah and the Gospel, there are signs for the coming of Prophet Muhammad. For example: the verse in Deuteronomy 33 that is interpreted in the following way: " The Lord came from Sinai [=through Moses], and rose from Seir unto them [=through Jesus]; He shined forth from mount Paran [=through Muhammad] " Or the verse from Habakkuk 3: "God cometh from Teman, and the Holy One from mount Paran. Selah His glory covereth the heavens, and the earth is full of His praise" that is interpreted to be referring to Muhammad.
In Surat el-Bakara the Koran says we have to believe in God, all the prophets and all the books and we should not discriminate between the prophets. Mohammad said that indeed the prophets are different and their mothers are different but their God is one and the same. Therefore Islam calls for dialogue with the other religions.
As we always do, after each of the short presentations participants went to their small groups for a joint conversation, reflection and exchange, following from the presentation and other issues deriving from its content.
The afternoon was dedicated to the Jewish perspective. Dr. Yehuda Stolov started by saying that there is very little in the classical Jewish sources about either Muhammad or Jesus. Maimonides praises them for making the name of God known to so many people. Jesus is also mentioned in the Talmud as a student of Rabbi Yehoshua Ben Prahya, one of the sages of the Mishna, who went astray after some disagreement with his Rabbi. While the Talmudic judgment on Jesus is negative it is interesting to se that he was part of the highest Jewish elite and maybe this is the reason for the harsh judgment.
The biggest Jewish teacher is Moses. Moses was the person who spoke with God in the most open way possible for humans. The Jewish sages use the metaphor of a mirror to explain the difference between the prophecies of Moses and of other prophets. All prophets see in their visions reflections from the divine but while other prophets see reflections through a unclean mirror, Moses saw reflections that came through a clean mirror. Moses was the person who could go up to Mount Sinai, stay there for forty days and forty nights without eating, drinking or sleeping, bear the intensive interaction with God and bring down the Torah to the whole nation. Rabbi Kook explains the uniqueness of Moses' prophecy when he explains the saying of the sages that a wise person is preferable than a prophet.
Usually prophets bring to us the big utopist visions while the wise people teach us what is the small steps that we need to take next in order to come closer to the fulfillment of the vision. And in that situation there is preference to the actual guidance over the big but faraway vision and it is usually forbidden to make an Halachic ruling on the basis of prophecy. However: Moses' prophecy was unique in that sense too that he was able to see at the same time the big vision and the tiny details that are its components. Therefore he was the one that could bring the Torah.
How did Moses become such a great person? The sages offer many inputs to the answer to this question, most of them are connected, in one way or another, to caring for the other. It may start with Moses the Egyptian prince who cares to go out of the palace to see how his poor brothers are doing, then when he sees their oppression he doesn't hesitate to stand against the oppressors and at the same time making himself instantly change from a price to an escapee, as Pharaoh - who always suspected Moses wasn't a "kosher" Egyptian - sent to chase him. Then he becomes a shepherd who makes sure that his sheep never eat grass that belongs to someone else. And when a young goat is lost to the herd - Moses goes to a great deal of trouble in order to save it and bring it back. When he finally finds it - God presents to him the burning bush and speaks to him for the first time, giving him the mission to lead the nation of Israel to freedom.
Finally: all these great qualities do not make him a special person that was sent by God to this world with unusual traits. Moses is a regular person that made special use of his potential and can be seen as an example to what every one of us can become if we put enough of our efforts in the right direction.
The next morning was dedicated to the Christian perspective, starting with a short presentation by Sr. Karmela Farrugia:
We Christians have the same Pentateuch, Prophets and Writings as the Jewish people therefore our sources on Moses are the same as those of the Jewish People. True, we also have the Tradition of the Church especially through the Church Fathers in how to understand these scriptures. However, a number of Christians today, among them my religious congregation do our best also to learn how the Jews themselves understand these Scriptures because the more complete the picture is better. I looked for example at Ps. 77:20 "Thou didst lead thy people like a flock by the hand of Moses and Aaron", Ps. 103:7 " He made known his ways to Moses", and Ps. 106:23 would destroy them had not Moses" In these three texts G-d is the one in charge and Moses his agent. Because of the short time we have I thought of dwelling rather on some texts from the New Testament and see how they relate to Moses.
Mt.17: 3 On Mt. Thabor "And behold there appeared to them Moses and Elijah, talking with him". Here we see that the 'him' refers to Jesus and scripture tells us that Jesus is in company with Moses and Elijah. Later on in the text in verse 5 "He was still speaking, when lo, a bright cloud said, "This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; listen to him". In Christian teaching the cloud is the Father. So here we see that Jesus is the Son in the company of Moses and Elijah.
Mt.19: 7-9 "They said to him, 'Why then did Moses command one to give a certificate of divorce, and to put her away?' He said to them, ' for your hardness of heart Moses allowed you to divorce your wives, but from the beginning it was not so. And I say to you: whoever divorces his wife, except for unchastity and marries another, commits adultery.
Here we see that in this text while Moses is acknowledged as the lawgiver, the newness is that Jesus modifies Moses' teaching for he says: ' I say to you whoever divorces his wife, except for unchastity and marries another, commits adultery.'
Lk. 16:29-31 "But Abraham said 'They have Moses and the p; let them hear them'. And he said: 'No, father Abraham; but if someone goes to them from the dead, they will repent'. He said to him, if they do not hear Moses and the prophets, neither will they be convinced if someone should rise from the dead.'" Here we see that Jesus has such an esteem for Moses and the Prophets that those who do not hear Moses and the prophets will neither be convinced by someone who rises from the dead.
Lk.24: 27 "Beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he interpreted to them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself."
Here I would note that while acknowledging Moses and the prophets certain texts there are interpreted as referring to Jesus.
Therefore I would conclude this part of how Moses is seen from the Christian perspective by saying that while we share the Old Testament sources with the Jewish People yet the Christian tradition sometimes deviates from the Jewish one by referring them to Jesus. In the New Testament, Jesus is equal to the Father and Jesus acknowledges the authority of Moses.
We have no scripture sources about the Prophet Muhammad. I presume because since chronologically Islam comes after Christianity. Neither do we have dogmatic teachings about the Prophet Muhammad himself. We do have polemic literature in the middle ages and earlier after the rise of Islam. I'm not interested in dealing with this, one because this is neither the scope of this meeting since it dealt with crusades etc. neither it is a constructive area. I'd rather go to contemporary Christianity and here I refer to what is the Catholic Church's teaching and recommendation to us Christians regarding Islam and the Moslems.
In 1964 the Catholic Church held its Second Vatican Council. In one of its documents called: 'Nostra Aetate' in Latin meaning 'in our time' in chapter 3 we Catholics are told by the Magesterium of the Church how we should relate to Islam. The essence is given at the first sentence: "Upon the Moslems, too, the Church looks with esteem".
We also had the Juma Prayer and the Recieving of the Shabbat Prayer, conducted by the Muslims and Jews respectively and witnessed by all others.
Just before Shabbat we were blessed by the visit of Eyal Davidov of the Drummers' Circle that gave us the chance to drum together for about an hour. And in the evening we had a social evening with snacks, dancing and singing together till late at night.
When we concluded participants noted the deep level of interaction that was gained by the interfaith, non-political, approach and the friendships that started as a result. We fare welled with strong hugs, looking forward to the next conference that is tentatively scheduled for 26-28 August.
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