Religious Tolerance in Astana

A religious Jew from Israel sharing a stage with a religious Muslim from Iran, discussing interfaith values. Sadly, this sounds like a fantasy, far from the reality we live in. Living in Tel Aviv, I’ve experienced the realities of war, including a front-row seat on October 1, when we saw 200 projectiles from Iran, and Israeli interceptors, lighting up the night sky. But what would it look like if we could change our reality?

For 24 hours, I got to experience that, at the Forum of Young Religious Leaders, hosted by the Congress of Leaders of World and Traditional Religions in Astana, Kazakhstan. Just one week after facing rockets, I found myself surrounded by religious leaders from all over the world, speaking a plethora of languages, but united by a common message: Religion can be a force for good and unity in the world, and it is our duty to work for that.

I heard a speaker from Al Azhar university in Cairo present a book on dialogue between the Pope and the Mufti of Al Azhar, and a Shi’a leader from Iran introduce his institution’s research on interfaith relations, before I presented my own books, one on learning practical values in the Torah, and one sharing Christian, Druze, Jewish and Muslim youth voices from Israel and Gaza.

At this year’s inaugural forum, we were asked to grapple with topics like “Spiritual values in the era of Digitalization and AI”, and “Religion and Sustainable Development”. But more fundamentally, we were there to answer the question “can religion bring us together rather than dividing us? Our response was an overwhelming “YES” in two dozen languages. At lunch I sat down next to a colleague from Qatar, who shared with me a traditional Muslim teaching showing that Muhammad had close friends who were Jews. For dinner three different Kazakhstanis approached me to speak to me in Hebrew, although none were Jewish.

During my presentation, I told the audience that to speak about spiritual values and technology, we must first be clear about what our values are, and challenged myself and my peers to identify the core messages underlying our respective faiths, ideas of justice and humanity that can bind us, embracing our diversity and differences.

One of the highlights of the experience was visiting the Yryskeldy Haji Mosque in Astana–where solar panels surround the window-lined, all-white mosque, ensuring that it the mosque is a net energy producer, able to generate more green energy than needed for the 2,000 people who can pray in the mosque. I met the imams leading the mosque, and together we shared blessings for peace in Arabic and Kazakh. I requested to pray my afternoon prayers in this special mosque, and I, a kippa-wearing Jew, was welcomed. I prayed for peace, at home and around the world, but also for religious leadership that is committed to the future of our planet and our carbon footprint.

The mission of using religion to bring people together will not always be easy. Not all religious leaders spread messages of tolerance, or work to bring us together or make the world a better place. There are major potholes in the world, wounds that need to heal, and scars that we must be mindful of. But I left Astana spiritually rejuvenated.

Two weeks after the Forum, I welcomed thirty people into my Sukkah: Bedouin Muslims from the negev desert, Palestinian students from Jerusalem and northern Israel, Jewish students from the center of the country, Bahai and Muslim leaders, and diplomats from Finland, Ireland, Malta, the Philippines, and Romania. Just two hours after we experienced alarms about incoming rockets, we sat outdoors, shared our cultures, religions and languages, and talked about how we can build peace, and a better future, together.  A 2,500 year old Jewish aphorism that I live by, from Avot, teaches: “You don’t have to finish the job, but you can’t abstain from doing your part”. Each Forum, each sukkah meeting, brings us a step closer to a world where we embrace our differences, cherish our diversity, and learn from one another.