re: #18 CuriousLurker

So can we do that, Bob? Can we sit down and just talk person to person without having to remind each other every time about all the hatred & bias that’s lurking out there, and without having to measure every sentence against their looming presence? Or is that just another liberal pipe dream?

Sure, but you know how to do this? We get down to business, and we have the same business—we have to understand what Abraham knew about the universe. We never talk about the business of being Muslim or the business of being Jewish.

What are our spiritual jobs? Right now, they converge. What’s also odd is that Jews never talk about Judaism. We’re just a little off topic, and that get’s in the way.

Of course, there are the more secular discussions—that bona fide nutballs could win an important US election, that’s important business. They have a case, those who take on that task. But in the arena of bigotry, we just walk through it and get down to brass tacks. I’m totally up for this.

And there are other important secular discussions about food, water, energy, and medicine. Those help. But to me, it all never gets too far away from Abraham.

So, there’s Abraham—and about 4000 years ago he somehow came to the understanding that the people of the world would see things through his perspective, that they would somehow be descended from him. That’s a pretty damned profound understanding, since that is what has happened. But how does one earn that honor? Many explanations from Jewish interpretations don’t quite add up. However, I think the text gives us sufficient clues to what might have set him not just apart, but made him a cornerstone of humanity.

Let’s start here. No more combing JPost or Hurriyet. No more posts from Reuters. Just us two trying to answer an old question. And you know what, it makes the Middle East conflicts in every country secondary—because they’re not getting down to business. If they would get down to business, I don’t see much time for war. If one is genuinely feeling one’s Jewish Neshumah (deep soul) and you are feeling the Muslim concept for deep soul (there has to be one, Abraham and all), who has time to argue over dry land? Who has time to study bigotry? Who has time to even entertain the idea of segregated buses? Everyone is just a little bit off topic.

Anyway, that’s where I would start. That’s how I would bypass the muddy waters. Let’s talk about Abraham. I know the Jewish story of the man. But I don’t know the Muslim story. What do you know about him?