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Opening Session - Speech of Chief Rabbi Michael Melchior - First World Congress of Imams and Rabbis for Peace

Published on 2007-12-27 17:35:15

Here in its entirety the opening speech of Chief Rabbi Michael Melchior who attended to the First World Congress of Imams and Rabbis for Peace (Brussels, January 3 to 6, 2005).

Chief Rabbi Michael Melchior, born in 1954 in Norway was successively, Rabbi and educator of a Jerusalem congregation, International Director of the Elie Weisel Foundation, Chief Rabbi of Norway, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs and  Deputy Minister of Education, Culture, and Sport in Ariel Sharon’s government.

 

Eminences, Excellencies,
Presidents,
My dear colleagues,
Ladies and Gentlemen,

We once had a meeting with a famous zoologist in Israel and we asked this zoologist if it was possible to disguise a wolf so that it could live with a lamb. And the zoologist having thought over this question, said something, which showed that it was not only animals that he did not understand: he replied that it was much easier to accomplish the biblical vision of world peace by making the wolf and lamb live together than it was to make humans live together.
As have certain of my predecessors who have spoken before me, I cannot stand here before you without thinking of the enormity of the tsunami tragedy that we have seen in the course of the last week. None of us were present when God created the earth, the sea and the sky. We have no reply, but what we do have is an engagement. And I believe in this engagement, which several of you have mentioned - to fraternity - because when we are faced with such an event there are no words to describe a tragedy of such dimensions. And it is then that we see how we humans are so small. We see how great the universe is, how great are the forces of the universe. How they are dangerous and powerful. And we see that the only contribution we can make is the contribution of fraternity.

The Grand Rabbi Sirat has mentioned the meeting of two brothers in history, that between Cain and Abel. The Bible says: “Cain and Abel were brothers; and Cain said onto his brother Abel…” but what he said is not mentioned. This is a very beautiful gift to a Rabbi, because he can use the wealth of his interpretation concerning the words spoken by Cain. In fact the truth is what was said was probably not that important as no one wanted to hear it; it was a monologue and not a dialogue. And that has been a characteristic of humanity over the centuries. We have always had monologues, just one party had spoken and we have not gone on to a dialogue to create something together.

What characterizes this meeting, the event which is taking place here today, is that we are here and we are listening to each other mutually, we did not come to say what we have to say but to listen, to show respect and dignity, to show that there is hope for humanity, that Jews listen to Muslim leaders, and that Muslims listen to Jewish leaders.

I would like to thank Alain Michel and his team for their tenacity, and I would like to say that when we started, they knew nothing of Jews and Muslims, but they discovered many things of Jews and Muslims. The sole reason they were able to continue, in spite of all the difficulties that they encountered, was they had an engagement. The only program was to bring us together to develop the difficult question of peace and fraternity. And they merit our applauds and our profound gratitude.

In psalm 65, it is said: “he who listens to prayers knows all humanity”. Prayer is an individual thing, an intimate thing. But if it is really linked to the Almighty, it cannot be exclusive. Our rabbis have said that human beings cannot listen to several voices at once, though on occasions we try to do it in television programs! But the rule says we can only listen to one voice.
Today there are very many of us here, and God All Mighty can listen to many voices, to all those who really pray. God listens to those prayers and accepts them. In religion, there is a holiness that transcends our divergences of opinion, even if we have different ways of praying and different languages of prayer. We have a prayer that is our own, and there is a prayer that is common to all humanity. We should reply to humanity. We experience pain that is the imprinted on our soul and that comes from the past. How could we live with this pain, without being prisoner of this pain? If we are prisoner to this pain, we add suffering to the suffering we already have. We will only add to the pain and suffering.

And then comes the question of knowing what the role of religion is. We could say that in the western world today that religion signifies submitting to totalitarianism, that there is a clash of civilizations, that there is an existential battle. We also could submit ourselves to this notion and return home to lead this existential struggle. But I believe that we are here to bring a different message. We have come here to say that if there is an existential struggle, there will be no victors. Not one! The whole of humanity would suffer from such an existential struggle and a clash of civilization.

We had already commenced in Alexandria almost three years ago, when leaders met together led by the Grand Rabbi Bakshi Doron, the Archbishop of Canterbury and Sheikh Talal Sider and many others Muslim and Christian leaders, engaged to stop religion being used for unworthy ends, to creating more sufferance and pain.
I even asked to Sheikh Tantawi when we were preparing the final declaration of Alexandria, if we could use the expression that says “to kill or to make suffering in the name of God is a desecration in the name of God”. In Islam, the desecration of the name of God is a euphemism more complex than in the Jewish tradition. It is for this reason that Sheikh Talal said it was necessary, before using this expression, to have the approval of Sheikh Tantawi, who said before the whole world that when it is a question of killing in the name of God, in the name of Allah, then one could use this expression, which was not according to him a profanation of the holy name of God. Certain said in his name, some months after, that he had never accepted this expression: he then sent a personal message, to communicate to the whole world, reaffirming to us that he maintained what he had said.
The message of Alexandria should be taught in our synagogues, in our churches, in our mosques, should be taught in our schools. It is necessary to work with this text with our children in our communities. It is necessary that it should be introduced everywhere. It is the veritable test of religion today. It is the test of humanity.

Can I accept the image of God as someone who is not in my image? If I cannot, then I make God in my own image. To make peace is to believe that my foe is created in the image of God, it to recognize his humanity. Religion is at the very heart of the identity of human beings. And the voice that commenced in Alexandria and that we find here, this voice should be heard everywhere.

We should give power to those who struggle against totalitarian forces, to those who give hope to the future of humanity. We should engage ourselves to put an end to all manipulations of holiness, manipulations that only result in massacre and bloodshed. This can only be achieved if religion units its forces. Political forces are not sufficiently strong to do it. I do not know if they want to do it, but even if they wanted to do it, we have seen they cannot do it alone. They need spiritual support, support in the beliefs of the holiness of life so that it can come about. I hope and I pray that God listens to the prayers of all those gathered together today. It is necessary that we work within the framework of education, to spread the word to our political leaders. Politicians should carry their own role, and we our own.

And I would to conclude repeating the splendid words that I learnt from the late Grand Rabbi of Great Britain, Lord Jakobovitz, who would have been amongst us today in this conference. He said to me one day that when a Jew ends his prayers, he ends by praying for peace.
That God who has made peace in the heavens, make it amongst us. When a Jew says that, he steps backwards three times to show his respect to God, but also to say to humanity that it is not sufficient to ask God that he makes peace. We should, us, show an example symbolically, by stepping back three times, to honor our next: in doing so we help God to make peace, and we help him who has made peace in the heavens, to make it amongst men.

I thank you.

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