When Faith Is Taken Seriously

A Blessing to Our Partners and Readers

May our shared work be guided by responsibility rather than performance,
by depth rather than slogans,
and by long-term commitment rather than passing gestures.

May we be granted the patience to invest time,
the courage to build trust,
and the clarity to speak moral truth even when it is demanding.

In these weeks, we have seen that when religious leaders meet one another with seriousness and humility, something real begins to take form—
through quiet conversations, public engagement, lived encounter, and ideas that ask us to rethink peace, antisemitism, and the meaning of alliance.

May we continue this work with honesty and resolve,
and may it bear fruit in understanding, responsibility, and shared humanity.

Rabbi Dr. Yakov Nagen
Rabbi Dr. Aharon Ariel Lavi

Why Theology Shapes Reality

Five years after the Abraham Accords, one lesson is becoming increasingly clear: agreements built on interests alone do not sustain peace.

In a recent article and podcast conversation, Rabbi Dr. Yakov Nagen and Sheikh Ghassan Manasra argue that ignoring faith leaves a vacuum. Engaging it creates responsibility.

Jewish–Muslim fraternity is often misunderstood as compromise. In reality, it is an act of faithfulness. Honoring the religious integrity of the other strengthens one’s own tradition. Judaism and Islam meet not by flattening differences, but by depth.

Peace cannot survive on policy alone.

It requires meaning, memory, and moral courage.

Leadership Across Borders

Recently, Rabbi Dr. Aharon Ariel Lavi met with Ravan Hasanov, Executive Director of the Baku International Multiculturalism Centre, in Baku, Azerbaihan.

Azerbaijan is a majority-Muslim country with deep regional and international influence and a long, complex relationship with Jewish life. The meeting focused on future collaboration and shared responsibility between Jewish and Muslim leaders, grounded not in public relations but in long-term vision.

Jewish–Muslim reconciliation does not advance through declarations alone. It advances when leaders are willing to invest personally, internationally, and patiently.

More details on this developing partnership will follow.

Rethinking How We Confront Antisemitism

Christian, Muslim, Hindu, African, and Global South partners are standing with the Jewish people, but, too often, they are not being engaged.

On January 29 in New York City, we hosted a closed, in-person discussion to present this research and explore what actually works. It was a productive, strategic conversation about allies, coalitions, and responsibility.

When Encounter Becomes Responsibility

Interfaith work becomes real when it moves beyond statements and into lived experience.

During December, a delegation of senior Muslim leaders from the United States and Canada joined us in Israel, with help from our partners at Ministry for Regional Cooperation, The American Muslim & Multifaith Women's Empowerment Council (AMMWEC), and Sharaka. These were educators, community leaders, journalists, and faith-driven public voices who chose to see reality up close. Together, we stood at the Gaza border, visited sites marked by October 7, met Israeli communities still carrying deep trauma, and engaged in long, honest conversations about faith, responsibility, and moral leadership.

The delegation did not come to negotiate interests but rather came to listen and to learn. At ANU – Museum of the Jewish People, they signed a joint Jewish–Muslim reconciliation declaration, committing themselves publicly to confronting antisemitism, rejecting religious extremism, and building sustained partnership rooted in faith.

At the same time, another moment quietly captured what genuine religious freedom looks like in practice. Soraya Deen, a Muslim leader from Sri Lanka and CEO of the Muslim Women Speakers Movement, who joined the delegation, stood inside the Muslim prayer space in the Knesset feeling gratitude in the recognition of her faith and the freedom to pray. Her testimony reflected daily reality and it showed what it means when religious identity is neither erased nor instrumentalized, but respected.

These two moments belong together.

One reflects the courage to encounter pain and responsibility across borders. The other reflects the everyday possibility of coexistence grounded in respect.

Both remind us that Jewish–Muslim partnership is not about blurring differences. It is about honoring them and allowing faith, when taken seriously, to become a source of accountability rather than division.

This is the work we are committed to advancing:

principled, lived fraternity rooted in truth, dignity, and shared moral responsibility.

Local Work, Global Lessons

In the Bedouin city of Rahat, we recently facilitated a meeting between a cohort of North American law students and Sheikh Hassan Abu Elyon, a religious leader who runs a hospitality and mediation center serving his local community.

The discussion focused on religion as a tool for community-building, conflict mediation, and reducing isolation that fuels polarization. This is interfaith work at ground level, rooted in lived reality and serious study.

Across continents, institutions, and communities, one theme continues to emerge:

Peace, dignity, and resilience require moral roots.

We will continue working where slogans fail through leadership, scholarship, lived encounter, and partnerships that take faith seriously.

Thank you for being part of this work.

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Together, we can build a Middle East defined not by rivalry, but by reverence.

With hope and conviction,
The OTIC Team