Interfaith Understand Conference

I am completely blown away by how well the conference went. Not only was the turn out fantastic, but the speakers were incredible. Coming from a political science major background, I was particularly interested in workshops and such that had a political slant to them. Therefore both the Neve Shalom Wahat al-Salam presentation and Rabbi Herschfield's speech particularly appealed to me. I had seen two presentations given by a member of the community at Neve Shalom Waha al-Salam and each time I am still encouraged by what they have created. I think about all the children who are going to grow up in an environment in which people are respected and celebrated for their differences. I think about all the people who are able to see others as simply human beings. It gives me hope that a message of peace can be accepted and embraced among all the hostility. Something else that gives me hope is that people can really change. What Rabbi Herschfield said about running from any message of absolutism and non-questioning really stuck with me. I think a lot of times people think that just because nobody is getting killed everything is ok. However if people continue to live in a society in which they are not allowed to voice their opinion, then something needs to change. Everyone has the right to speak out for what they think is wrong and to question authority. I think that if someone like Rabbi Herschfield can change he message from one of hate to one of understanding and cooperation, then most people can change. Therefore I was distressed to hear Eboo Patel say that religious fanatics should simply be destroyed. That ideology seems to simply breed more hate. If all religious extremists were killed, then Rabbi Herschfield would not have become the interfaith leader he is today. I agree with the Rabbi when he said that we need to talk to other people and see what they have to say. He said that although nobody is always right, nobody is always wrong either. Therefore I think that we need to really get to understand those who don't agree with us and see where they are coming from. It is only from there that we can move forward and really work together.