In each generation of our ancestors in the Book of Genesis, we see a favoured child and a rejected child. Isaac is favoured over Ishmael. Jacob is favoured – by his mother – over Esau. If it wasn’t enough for the less-favoured sibling to have that lived existence, our ancient rabbis created ancestral links between the rejected child and nations that have historically antagonized the Jewish people.
Ishmael is described as the father of all Arab peoples which, of course, is the culture from which the Islamic religion emerged. Esau is described as the progenitor of Rome – not only the Roman Empire that destroyed the 2nd Temple and exiled the Jews but also Rome as the place of growth and entrenchment of Christianity.
Why might the Rabbis have created these ancestral linkages (which, it can be clearly stated, are not historically verifiable)? For most of the last 2,000 years, almost all Jews lived as minority communities in Christian or Muslim-controlled lands. Perhaps, identifying the ruling religious group as ‘family’ helped these Jewish communities feel a little more at home or a little less perilous in their minority position.
In general, life for Jews under Islam was more tolerant and peaceful than for Jews under Christianity. Islam placed Jews under the status of dhimmi, a quasi-protected minority due to their shared monotheism. Christianity persecuted Jews for centuries, accusing Jews of killing Christ and rejecting the opportunity to become Christian.
And yet, in our modern Western societies, we have seen moments of togetherness among Jews, Muslims and Christians as peoples of monotheism and of faith in general. While some of these connections have been challenged in the last year and a quarter, others have strengthened.
Like Isaac and Ishmael and like Jacob and Esau, each of whom eventually reconciles with their brother, may we continue to find positive connections among our ‘family’ of monotheistic religions and beyond.
