At the heart of Judaism is the belief in the reality of otherness. God is not humankind. Humankind is not God. God creates otherness in love, as we, when we become parents, create otherness in love. Hate is the inability to accept the other. Cain could not live with the otherness of Abel, and he killed him. The builders of Babel could not live with the politics of otherness- they insisted on ‘one language and a common speech’, rejecting the dignity of dissent.
The whole of Judaism is about making space for the other, about God making space for us, us making space for God, and about human beings making space for each other.
Suggested Discussion Questions:
1. What is the reality of otherness?
2. Why are we naturally averse to otherness?
3. How does Judaism combat otherness? How can we as a community combat it?
Time Period: Contemporary (The Yom Kippur War until the present-day)