[W[e can't say, unfortunately, that those who take xenophobic and racist and discriminatory readings of our Jewish tradition have nothing to stand on. They can find sources in the Talmud and the Bible and a lot of Jewish sources, just as I can, but at least we can show that our vision is - and this is another mandate of ours, us as Rabbis for Human Rights - as authentic, as textually based, as Jewish, and to struggle from within for our humanistic understanding of the Torah.
Rabbi Arik Ascherman
43
Religion
Vision
And what would be the role of religion in resolving it?
The solution has to be not to abandon the field but those of us who have a different understanding of their respective religions, in my case Judaism, need to fight from within and not only surrender the field to those who have a different vision. I think we can't say, unfortunately, that those who take xenophobic and racist and discriminatory readings of our Jewish tradition have nothing to stand on. They can find sources in the Talmud and the Bible and a lot of Jewish sources, just as I can, but at least we can show that our vision is - and this is another mandate of ours, us as Rabbis for Human Rights - as authentic, as textually based, as Jewish, and to struggle from within for our humanistic understanding of the Torah.