The “Abrahamic” religions — Judaism, Christianity, and Islam — might build better understanding of each other and each others’ feelings about “the Holy Land” through the joint study of sacred text, specifically Genesis.
So contended Professor Yehezkel Landau in his presentation at Sacred Heart School of Theology’s second annual Lux Center lecture Feb. 12, titled “Biblical Resources for Peacemaking: Liberating Lessons from Genesis.”
Landau rejected the book of Exodus — with its iconic tale of liberation from slavery — as a source for his discussion because of what he called its simplistic “good guy/bad guy” duality and its “excessive casualty rate.” “Liberated people can become oppressors,” he said.
Instead, he said, “I choose Genesis for my own basis ground of liberation theology.” He argued that Genesis, for all its stories of dysfunctional families, holds valuable lessons for international peace.
Genesis is all about relationships or “binary complementarities” and partnerships, he said. Instead of fighting among each other to be Number One or to hold the top position, Landau argues that we should keep in mind the concept of Genesis 2:18, “It is not good for man to be alone,” and we should learn to cooperate with each other.
He returned repeatedly to Abraham and the generations that followed him for examples of people shown cooperating rather than competing. Landau said, “Sometimes it’s helpful to read the Bible for what it could have said [explicitly] but didn’t.”
In Chapter 13, Abraham offers the best part of the land to his nephew Lot. In Chapter 14, when Lot is kidnapped, Abraham rescues him.
Later, after Sarah dies, Isaac goes to Hagar’s well, and Abraham marries Keturah. According to Landau, the great medieval scholar Rashi identified Keturah with Hagar, which suggests that Isaac effected his father’s reconciliation with his half-brother Ishmael’s mother.
Landau briefly mentioned the near-deadly conflicts both Jacob and Joseph have with their brothers, then pointed out how Jacob finally learns his lesson and gives a shared blessing to his grandsons Ephraim and Manasseh.
According to Landau, who has devoted decades to improving understanding between Jews and members of the other two religions, the root of the conflict between Israelis and Arabs lies in their failure to communicate and their tendency for millennia to view each other as enemies.
Landau believes Israelis and Arabs are mutually interdependent and must find a way to coexist in peace. He proposed the creation of “a spiritual foundation for diplomacy and political compromise.”
However, beyond admitting he saw “a subtle supersessionism” in Muslim beliefs and suggesting that the some 100 people attending read an article he wrote comparing Shi’ite Mahdism and Jewish Messianism, Landau said little about Islam.
Instead, he focused on improving Christian understanding of Judaism. “You shouldn’t be reading the TaNaKh [the Hebrew name for the Jewish Bible] without Jews,” he said.
Landau drew upon teachings from Midrash, Rashi, Rabbi Nachman of Bratslav, Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel, and some of his own mentors for many of his Bible interpretations.
He exonerated Judaism of teaching the spiritual vs. physical dualism or the gender hierarchy found in Christianity. He called Jesus a “radical Pharisee” and reminded Christians in the audience that their religion’s founder never knew of any book called the “Old Testament.”
He also claimed that Jews and Christians have been violating the ninth of the Ten Commandments (“You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor,” Exodus 20:13) against each other for 2,000 years.
Landau was born in Chile, earned a B.A. and M.T.S. from Harvard University, and made aliyah in 1978. He directed the Oz veShalom-Netivot Shalom peace movement for several years. He alsoco-founded the Open House Center for Jewish-Arab Coexistence in Ramle, Israel.
He currently teaches interfaith relations at the Hartford Seminary in Connecticut.
Milwaukeean Susan Ellman, MLIS, has taught history and English composition at the high school level and is a freelance writer at work on a historical novel.
Loading ...