At a time when conflict is already lethal and interreligious understanding is more urgently needed than ever, some might argue that we should gloss over the points of difference. I agree about the need for interreligious understanding; I disagree about the recipe for achieving it.

Rabbinic sages often referred to humans as 'creatures that speak.' While language that we find for sacred experience may be inadequate to convey the significance of that experience, it is upon us to search for those words.

If you make a decision, in your own life, to reach out across the sometimes wide chasm of religious beliefs and practices, you can make a difference.

One of the best ways to dismiss the ideas of others, without ever having to think about them, is to label them as quickly as they are uttered. Some roads to hell may be paved with good intentions, but others are made smooth by a flippant bigotry that avoids truth by stereotyping.

The bottom line is that no matter what our beliefs are, they are often based largely on interpretations handed to us by others.

What brought these and others from across the globe to Israel this sunny day in October was their firm belief in a certain set of principles. Foremost among them was a belief in the oneness of man.