Similarities and Differences
I want to talk about similarities vs. differences and why we often overfocus on differences instead of similarities. I was thinking about the expression of anti Semitism. To be clear, I’m not talking about anti Zionism, I’m not talking about criticism of Netanyahu’s government. I am talking about expressions of anti Semitism, mostly outside of the US, mostly toward Jewish targets. We see a dramatic increase in the frequency of those. I was thinking about the relationship between Judaism and Christianity. What strikes me is that we are designed to think about them as different religions. But the reality is that they share so many similarities. Think about Catholics and Protestants. Catholics and Protestants have a lot in common, but not everything in common. Nevertheless, at least for a while, there have not been any serious fights between Catholics and Protestants. On a day-to-day basis, you don’t generally see anti-Catholic sentiments from Protestants and anti-Protestant sentiments from Catholics. I know Ireland but, in general, across the world. So when I look at this, I think that Protestants and Catholics mostly get along. Mostly. So why is the perception of Judaism so different? How come the Catholics and Protestants mostly think of themselves as Christian and under the same umbrella but Jewish people are perceived to be so different. I know, of course, there’s a belief in Jesus Christ, there’s a question of the Jewish role in crucifixion and things like that. But when you think about it, the similarity is just profound. The similarity in the belief of one God, the same God, belief in the Ten Commandments as a general principle, the belief in love thy neighbor the commandment to care about other people as much as we care about ourselves. If you look at the list of values, the importance of respecting your family, and the set of values, the similarity is tremendous. There’s a belief in God vs. God and Jesus Christ, but the beliefs in terms of values are so similar. How come we’re not focused on that that similarity? Imagine if we brought together all the religions of the world. As somebody who is Jewish, I look at Catholics and Protestants, I and think they quite similar. I understand the differences, but quite similar. I think somebody, like a Buddhist, for example, would look at Judaism, Christianity, Catholicism, and Protestantism, and say, “You’re really very similar.” I think we should start thinking about the similarities. I think that we have for too long emphasized the differences, and it’s time to think of the similarities in our ideals and in terms of our core values. I do think we’re much more similar than people think. And for some reason, for way too long, we’ve focused on the differences.
