In the immediate aftermath of the Sept. 11 attack, Muslims and Jews stood outside the Blaine House and proclaimed that the attack would not stop the efforts of both communities toward interreligious peace and understanding.
Israeli tanks head toward the Gaza Strip border in southern Israel on Thursday. Ohad Zwigenberg/Associated Press
In the more than two decades since 9/11, that effort has not stopped. It has focused on teachings that define both of our religious communities. Among the most relevant are the following.
In the 32nd verse of the fifth Sura of the Holy Quran is a retelling of the biblical story of Cain and Abel:
“For this reason we have ordained for the Children of Israel that whoever kills a person, unless it be for manslaughter or for mischief in the land, it is as though he had killed all men. And whoever saves a life, it is as though he had saved the lives of all men. And certainly our messengers came to them with clear arguments, but even after that many of them commit excesses in the land.”
The best-known place for the first version of God’s pronouncement is found in the Jewish Mishnaic tractate of Sanhedrin, the fourth chapter of which deals with trials and court procedure. There, in a discussion of the need to warn witnesses of the heavy responsibility resting on their shoulders in cases involving possible capital punishment, the Mishnah declares that they should be told:
“Therefore, Adam was created singly, to teach us that whoever destroys a single life in Israel is considered by Scripture to have destroyed the whole world and whoever saves a single life in Israel is considered by Scripture to have saved the whole world.”
If only we had taken those teachings and used them to find peace between Israel and the Palestinian people.
We did not, and the results have been horrific.
And we must ask: Where, if anywhere, can we now go? We are Jews and Muslims living in a land that has allowed us the freedom to practice our religions openly and with dignity. But we are not in Israel or in Gaza.
Yet, we have sat together as Muslims and as Jews, seeking to understand what our religious teachings have in common and what we must do to overcome those that separate us.
We have taken the example of Dr. Izzeldin Abuelaish, a Palestinian physician who was born in a refugee camp in Gaza, grew up as a refugee and, until the 22-day Gaza War ending in January 2009, was renowned for treating patients in hospitals in both Israel and Gaza.
Dr. Abuelaish has written that “the people I talk to – patients, doctors, neighbors in Gaza, friends in Israel – are not like our leaders. We all lament the lost decades, the uncertain future. However, as incredible as it may sound to watching us from afar, we believe in each other. We have many more similarities than differences, and yet for over 60 years we haven’t been able to bridge the divide between us.”
That divide struck Dr. Abuelaish in the most horrific way in January 2009. An Israeli army tank shelled his home and killed three of his daughters, ages 21, 15 and 14. His 17-year-old niece was also killed. Dr. Abuelaish, who was also in the home, watched in horror.
Despite his overwhelming pain and sadness, he has said that “tragedy cannot be the end of our lives.”
The Muslim physician responsible for saving not one but many lives in Israel and in Gaza writes: “What happened to my family still strikes me as inconceivable. I lost three beautiful daughters and a wonderful, loving niece. I cannot bring them back. What I can say is this: Let my daughters be the last to die. Let this tragedy open the eyes of the world. … If I could know that my daughters were the last sacrifice on the road to peace between Palestinians and Israelis, then I would accept their loss.”
If only that had been true. The human losses and the destruction that rage in Israel and Gaza have led to many more sacrifices, with no end in sight.
But we Muslims and Jews in Portland will continue to sit together, asking ourselves where are our brothers and sisters in Israel and in Gaza are going, what they are doing. And if we can help to save that one Jewish, that one Muslim life in Israel, Gaza, or here at home, then the words of the Creator of heaven and earth will have meaning for us both.
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