The Light of Peace

NYT ED: President Obama’s meeting this week with the Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, was a reminder of how much the Palestinians and leading Arab states, starting with Saudi Arabia and Egypt, must do to help revive foundering peace negotiations.

It is astounding that never is there in all the rhetoric about peace mentioned the Torah and the Koran–both books of prophecy, both deriving from the same father, Avraham. Though these two books are the most important item to both peoples they are completely left out of negotiations. Religion is separate from politics yet in both books, Torah and Koran religion is never mentioned–there is no word in Hebrew or Arabic for religion.

Ultimately, anything that makes peoples lives better is acceptable, but peace will not come from politics; politics is antithetical to peace. In Hebrew Shalom/Peace also has the meaning of Complete because nothing is complete without peace. So important is peace that the last thousand years of the seven thousand year cycle of the human being on planet earth is devoted to peace–called the Thousand Years of Peace beginning in the year 6000–only a couple of centuries away from now 5769.

Peace will come from light and light, in the ancient times came from the olive; the olive is bitter, but it makes beautiful light. Similarly, life separated from God is bitter, but it gives us a chance for our light to shine.