“Intolerance of groups is often, strangely enough, exhibited more strongly against small differences than against fundamental ones.”

–Moses and Monotheism, Sigmund Freud (1938)

Our temple was destroyed because of “Unnecessary” hatred. Is hatred ever “Necessary”?

Attending Muslim, Hindu, Catholic weddings, or funerals, you’re struck by the many rituals identical to Jewish ones

What we call Kiddushin, Ketubah, Tahara and Mikveh, Muslims term Nikah, Mahr and Ghusl. They similarly require witnesses and that religious marriage certificates be publicly read at the wedding. Israel and Muslim countries cleanse their dead, bury them in shrouds, forbidding autopsies. If Halal and kosher food restrictions aren’t precisely identical, they are certainly kissing cousins.

Couples marry in sacred spaces Jews call Chupas, Hindus call Mandaps, Catholics term Altars. Our marital Hakafot are Hindu Septipadi, including seven blessings and breaking glasses. Catholic and Jewish brides and grooms are escorted down the aisle by their parents to be blessed by their clergy.

With such striking similarities, why, for God’s sake, don’t we focus on them, instead of the small differences?

Even within ethnicities, we microscopically find justifications to hate each other.

Britain’s longest continuous military campaign was not against France or Spain, but its Commonwealth neighbor, Northern Ireland. Intra-Muslim Shite -Sunni war-casualties dwarf Muslim-Israel ones.

Not only do secular and........

© The Times of Israel (Blogs)