by Dan Shoker

My story is that I am a student at Heythrop College (University of London) studying Abrahamic Religions. I spent my summer interning with the Three Faiths Forum. I am a Jew, from an Orthodox background. The Three Faiths Forum provided me with a great opportunity to come into contact with a diverse range of people. At the end of the internship, I had three weeks in Israel to look forward to. Originally, I booked the trip so I could have a break and catch up with family. What I didn’t bank on was a sudden thirst to talk to as many people as possible.

I remember getting out of the taxi to go to my hostel in Jerusalem, where I planned on spending three nights. Straight away I met someone from England, who was only a couple of years younger than me. After all the usual questions you might ask someone who you have just met, I found out that he was a Masorti Jew in terms of his background, but considers himself culturally Jewish. It was interesting to hear about his views of Judaism, as he struggles to find a basis for certain aspects of Judaism into his life.

Well that was it – I became hooked on listening and questioning. The next day, I got talking to two Orthodox Jews, one from North London and the other from Vienna. We stumbled upon the subject of Progressive Judaism. The big question that came to light after our discussion was “who is a Jew”? I also brought this up with someone from South Africa the following week. In order to really get the “meatiest” answers from them, I found myself playing “devil’s advocate” without trying to reveal my own position. The general conclusion was that progressive Jews are “not really” Jewish. Ouch. It was fascinating to hear their arguments, even if I couldn’t accept them myself.

Other stories I heard came from Messianic Jews, Messianic Christians and “Sons of Ephraim” (they keep Jewish practices, observe Jewish festivals, but ultimately believe that Christ was/is the Messiah and through him salvation is found). But what have I got from all this? Everyone I spoke to had a preconceived notion of “the other”. No one really had a decent insight into the heart of the faith of others. Should we disregard something as “wrong” based on it being incompatible with our own beliefs and understandings? Or should we start listening more to each other in order to form proper judgements? The Three Faiths Forum works towards improving our understandings of “the other” with their education programmes. This includes the “Encountering Faiths” session, which allows pupils to hear personal experiences from a Jew, a Christian and a Muslim. After all, “everybody has a story to tell”.