Essays about true peace's inclusive nature (war divides, peace unites).
These writings unify secular thought with religious (Jewish, Christian, Muslim, and others) at a level morally absolute.* This remarkable harmony and absolutism is possible because these diverse belief systems share--alongside the convictions of even wild animals (which all have a survival instinct)--the following perspective: Good promotes life, while bad, death.
* This book, which is not about abortion, posits, as an absolute morality that applies to all the living, that life is good, death, bad.
Book Summary: "Breakthrough to Peace-Even in the Middle East!" details a peacemaking plan, simultaneously secular and religious, that is based on peace's inalterable foundations. These foundations both are commonsensical to all societies in any age and are embedded into . . . Jewish, Christian, and Islamic thought.
Beginning with a linguistics lesson founded on . . . logical principles that underlie Semitic languages, the peace plan, both eternal and novel, reveals that in each of the languages that Jews, Christians, and Muslims deify, peace is conceptualized inclusively. Because war, with opposing sides, is divisionary, that peace is inclusive is obvious. Continuing with this overlapping theology and social logic, because unreasonableness, which includes injustice, excludes and leads to conflict, inclusivity is achieved only through fairness, which is sufficiently loving our neighbors as ourselves.
Because one man's food may be another's poison, one may rightly wonder, "About what are we to be fair and equally treat others?" To answer, this peacemaking method is foremost concerned with fairness over nothing more than the life-sustaining basics that pertain to all humans: water, food, shelter, clothes, sanitation, lack of fear of bodily harm, and so forth.
For peace's sake, this methodology is ideal because (1) any lack in meeting basic needs would cause conflict naturally; and (2) any complex social malady unrelated to fulfilling fundamental requirements-say, a dispute over a national border's delineation-would be magnified were necessities unfulfilled even for a segment of society seemingly unconnected to the greater complexity. Consider: such an underserved segment would be unavailable to help in relation to its primary needs being unmet; and, such a group's social volatility could draw focus and resources away from solving the more intricate problem.
[The] . . . devoutly religious should recognize their divine obligation to adhere to this plan's first-things-first approach . . . [because] not meeting basic needs causes conflict naturally-which means generates dispute by breaking the rules established by the Creator of Nature. And, the Creator . . . is revered by the religious as God, Allah, and Hashem ("Hashem" is the Jewish, colloquial term for the Almighty). Actually, were those who claim to be religious to focus on other concerns before the fulfillment of necessities, such could be rightly considered to be impiously and sinfully choosing man's desires over the Creator's.
A quote from "Breakthrough-to-Peace"
"This question regarding desisting from violence for the sake of supplying the basics should be asked of all the parties in the Israeli-Palestinian dispute. [Consider: ] for peace, the Creator does not command that a particular land be called Israel or Palestine . . . [or] that an embassy . . . be housed in one city and not in another. However, for peace, the Creator does command that all be fed and safe in their homes! First things first: a baby has need for milk and a place to sleep soundly . . . but no need . . . [to know on which] side of the Green Line . . . he or she happens to reside! . . . [T]he complex issue of land ownership, as well as the other . . . problems . . . can be dealt with later. After there . . . exists . . . a provision for everyone's inescapable need
About the Author:
Quotes About Ideas in this Book and Rabbi Gruber:
"Among the various rabbis whom we have worked with, we have found that the beliefs and views of Rabbi Gruber are closest to the positions and teachings of traditional Islam on major doctrinal issues . . .
"We believe that [Rabbi Gruber's] input and efforts will greatly help the cause of peace among all communities in the Middle East on positions we previously thought irreconcilable."
Omar Koné, Sufi Shaykh (Sufis comprise Islam's inner "branch"); Regional Director, Haqqani Foundation; and, Imam and Congregational Leader, Naqshabandi Soufi Centre, Montreal, Canada
----------------------------------------------
"The letter [to President Hollande] {a letter to then French President, Francois Hollande, is included in the book} is . . . testimony to [Rabbi Chaim Gruber's] intense religious concern and sensitivity . . . [his] desire to help build peace . . . and to [his] living, intimate relationships with Muslims . . . [The letter, also, ] witnesses to the soundness and spiritual goodness of [Rabbi Gruber's] views. . . . I am grateful for the opportunity to see [his] efforts and vision . . . blessings on [Rabbi Gruber's] work and may the Lord make possible the good things [that he] envision[s] for all of us."*
Francis X. Clooney, SJ; Parkman Professor of Divinity and Director of the Center for the Study of World Religions, Harvard University
* Quote taken from a personal communication
----------------------------------------------
"Now is a vital time for [Rabbi Gruber's] peace message."
Maxine Hong Kingston, Professor and Author
----------------------------------------------
"Excellent! [Everyone in the Muslim world could agree, ] from the secularists to the Salafists!"*
Jean Maher President, Egyptian Union for Human Rights, French Office
*This spoken quote is identical or nearly so
