Tulsa World: Learning from each other

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Learning from each other
A speaker says religions need to engage in dialogue.

RESPECT
Dvora Weisberg: "We need to approach other religious traditions with respect."

By BILL SHERMAN World Religion Writer
Published: 11/21/2009 2:23 AM
Last Modified: 11/21/2009 5:37 AM

As a college freshman at Brandeis University, an essentially Jewish school, Dvora Weisberg was shocked when her new Catholic roommate asked her, "Why did you kill Jesus?"

Weisberg, who spoke Monday at Temple Israel's E.N. Lubin Clergy Institute on Judaism, is now director of the School of Rabbinic Studies at the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in Los Angeles, where she trains upcoming rabbis.

And she has come to understand that she and her college roommate were "talking past each other" all those years ago.

Her roommate was asking a theological question, not a historical question: "How can it be that 2,000 years later, you still reject Jesus?"

"We come to interfaith dialogue thinking we have a common language, but we don't," she said.

Different faith communities make assumptions based on their own master story, or sacred myth.

For Jews, she said, it is the Exodus story. For Christians it is the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus, dying for the sins of humanity so that humanity can be saved.

Jews focus on national salvation. Christians focus on individual salvation through faith.

Jews and Christians have different views of Scripture, she said, and even read their shared Scripture differently.

And they have a different view of history, she said. "For me, the death of Jesus was a historic event. For her (the roommate) it was a pivotal event in human history."

Weisberg, who taught Christian origins at William and Mary College, said she found her exposure to the New Testament fascinating.

She said people engaging in interfaith dialogue need to know their own faith story well, and Jews and Muslims need to understand how their viewpoint is shaped by living in a Christian culture.

People of all faiths genuinely interested in matters of faith should talk to each other out of genuine curiosity, hoping to learn something new they can appreciate about God, she said.

"We need to approach other religious traditions with respect."

She said American Jews should "relax" a little about the hot-button issues like the "Passion of the Christ," the Mel Gibson film that many Jews feared would rekindle anti-Semitism.

And when Christians try to evangelize Jews, she said, "You don't have to engage or be rude, but understand it as an act of love and concern."

"If a Jew responds to evangelism, I'll be sad, because we failed, but it's OK," she said.

"I love Judaism. This is who I am."

Bill Sherman 581-8398
bill.sherman@tulsaworld.com By BILL SHERMAN World Religion Writer

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