Three faiths to teach together

Last year, right after the Oct. 7 attack, Congregation Sinai Rabbi David Cohen called his friend Fatih Harpci, a religion professor at Carthage College. The pair of local religious leaders were about to teach a course about Judaism and Islam for the second year.  

The rabbi asked: Was this the right time to gather members of each faith to delve deep into their traditions, teachings and scriptures? 

“I said ‘If we are not going to do this in a time like this, then when?’” Harpci said.  “We have to get together. I am not a politician. I am not a bureaucrat. I am an individual that can create awareness about these religious communities and… break down the barriers and bring people together.”  

The two went ahead with the course, holding six sessions with about two dozen participants last fall, discussing each religion’s rites of passage and traditions centered on birth, marriage and death.  

The setting “creates the potential for dialogue. Taking individual courses here and there wouldn’t put those ideas in close enough proximity to really have some synergy to be able to really talk about them,” Cohen said. 

This year, they will hold another session. This time, they will examine big ideas such as justice and forgiveness. They will also be joined by Father Silas Henderson, a Roman Catholic Salvatorian priest, who will bring Christianity to the class.  

“The hope is that not only will we be able to recognize some of the fundamental values that we share, but it may also then help us know how to have richer and fuller conversations with each other about the things that matter most,” Henderson said. “I think at the core of each of our faith traditions is this desire to live in right relationship with God and each other, what we would call righteousness.” 

The class begins in November and will consist of five or six sessions with each of the religions taking turns hosting at their local location. About 25 to 30 participants will be involved. Those who would like to participate are encouraged to reach out to Cohen, Harpci or Henderson.  

As the “new kid on the block,” Henderson said he looks at the class as an opportunity for learning and introspection about his Catholic faith.  

“It even gives me an invitation to reflect on how I can share that with others in a way that can also be life giving for them, not with any expectation of agreement or conversion, nothing like that, but just for the sake of the dialogue, for the sake of the relationship, for the idea of sake of mutual enrichment,” he said. 

The course is not intended to look at just the religions’ commonalities, but also the differences, which are key components for learning, Harpci said.  

“It’s not just simply a kumbaya,” he added. “We talk about differences, like, what makes Judaism different from Islam? What makes Islam different from Christianity?” 

The class is an opportunity for the participants to step outside of their religion and become exposed to new ideas.  

“To be able to do that with people who are knowledgeable about it,” Cohen said.  
“When a congregant from Sinai has a question about Islam, Fatih is going to know the answer. In fact, he probably knows the answer about Judaism and Christianity too.” 

The class is a product of a growing relationship between Congregation Sinai and the Turkish American Society of Wisconsin, a Greenfield-based nonprofit. Early on, Harpci spoke at a Congregation Sinai interfaith discussion group. When a group of Jewish and Muslim women created a cultural program focusing on foods that come from each religious community, Harpci gave a lecture to the group about Turkish coffee. Congregation Sinai and the Turkish American Society of Wisconsin, where Harpci is a member, have held events and meals together. As part of the continuing relationship between the two organizations, Cohen and Harpci jointly taught courses, with sessions held at Congregation Sinai and the Turkish American Society of Wisconsin.  

There are no grades or tests, allowing participants to engage more freely with the curriculum. The first class in 2022 was titled “Muslim and Jewish Understanding of Biblical Narrative.” Participants examined significant individuals from both the Torah and Quran such as Abraham and Moses, examining their similarities and differences. They also looked at how Jews and Muslims read the book of Genesis and the significance of Noah in each religion.  

The texts are similar, “but the emphases are very different. The personages who loom large in each faith tradition are different,” Cohen said.  

Harpci said that one of the main objectives of the class is for those of faith to understand their religion in a deeper way.  

“You will understand your religion better,” he said. “This will give you a chance to clarify misunderstandings by listening to the others and answering questions, answering the critiques or criticisms that others might have.”   

One of the challenges for Cohen has been to represent the multivocal traditions of Judaism.  

“I don’t think that’s just true about Jews. Frankly, I think it’s true in this area in general,” Cohen said. “A good challenge for me has been to represent Judaism in enough variety to be relevant, but not so much as to make it a pile of mud.”