The idea of the Jews as Or Lagoyim – a “Light to the Nations” – originates in the book of Isaiah. In chapter 42, God says to the people of Israel:

 

            I, the Eternal, in My grace, have summoned you,

And I have grasped you by the hand.

I created you, and appointed you

A covenant people, a light of nations.

 

This is a message of comfort to an exiled and suffering people. It is not exactly clear what “light to the nations” originally means, but it is clear that it implies a relationship with God and a responsibility to be present to the other nations.

 

Many Jewish thinkers have therefore understood “Or Lagoyim” as a commandment to be an example to the world – of spirituality, ethics, and Godliness. Rabbi Abraham Isaac Kook, Israel’s first Chief Rabbi, saw the revival of the Jewish state as the fulfillment of this ancient prophecy. Rabbi David Einhorn, an early Reform rabbi, famously formulated the idea into a “mission of Israel” – an instruction to be a beacon of morality, compassion, and spiritual goodness. And indeed, Reform Jewish thinking continues to “reaffirm social action and social justice as a central prophetic focus” (from the 1999 Pittsburgh Principles for Reform Judaism).

 

As part of this larger mandate, it is important to build relationships with communities of other faiths. This is especially important because we so often share ethical and spiritual goals, and a desire to make the world a better place. However, the goal of such relationship building measures is generally not to convince others to follow the mitzvot that Jews believe in, but rather to find ways to work together to serve our communities.

 

The best way to be Or Lagoyim is to live according to our own values, to commit ourselves to Tikkun Olam (repairing the world), and to work together with congregations of other faiths to repair the world that we share.

The Jewish value of tolerance comes out of the teaching that all human beings have inherent worth. This idea is found in the very first chapter of the Torah:

 

And God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. They shall rule the fish of the sea, the birds of the sky, the cattle, the whole earth, and all the creeping things that creep on earth.” And God created humanity in God’s image, in the image of God, did God created him; male and female God created them. (Genesis 1:26-28)

 

The concept of “Tzelem Elohim – the Image of God” is central to the Jewish view of humanity. It says that every person is imbued with a piece of the divine, and therefore is worth of respect. The Rabbis further develop this idea in the Mishnah, exploring the notion that all of humanity is descended from a single ancestor:

 

It was for this reason that man was first created as one person [Adam], to teach you that anyone who destroys a life is considered by Scripture to have destroyed an entire world; and anyone who saves a life is as if he saved an entire world." And also, to promote peace among the creations, that no man would say to his friend, "My ancestors are greater than yours. (Mishnah Sanhedrin 4:5)

 

Not only do all human beings have inherent value, but we are all part of a single human family. No one person’s ancestors are greater than anyone else’s, since we all have the same common ancestor – Adam.

 

And yet, there are divisions between people. We divide ourselves into ethnic, national, and religious groups, and we have a tendency toward conflict. The ancient Rabbis understood this human tendency, and they wrote about the importance of interfaith tolerance via a concept called “Mipnei Darchei Shalom – Ways of Peace.” This is from the Talmud:

 

One should not stop poor gentiles from gathering gleanings in the fields, on account of the ways of peace. One sustains poor gentiles along with poor Jews, and one visits sick gentiles along with sick Jews, and one buries the gentile dead along with the Jewish dead. All this is done on account of the ways of peace. (Babylonian Talmud, Gittin 61a)

 

It is, in a sense, a how-to manual for fostering friendly interfaith relations: feed and sustain the poor of other communities, visit their sick, bury their dead. On the one hand, this is pragmatic – it has always been in the best interests of the Jewish community to have good relations with its non-Jewish neighbors. But at the same time, it reflects the deeply held Jewish belief that all human beings deserve to be treated with respect and dignity, and that communities can get along even when they differ in their beliefs and practices.