Disclaimer: This article was originally published on June 5th, 2019. It has since been taken off the website, edited and published again after the website's redesign.

Note: I wrote this article in response to a Facebook thread. As such, it is meant to be accessible. I simplify things and do not go into theological nuance. All I do is present a case for empathising with other religious traditions.

Jewish communities often discourage discussion of other religions. No foreign tradition is a shoe-in for the Jewish worldview, so it's easy to see them as devoid of value. But I believe that this approach causes harm to both individual Jews and Jewish communities as a whole.

The religious market

Modern day religiosity is a choice. We live in a disenchanted world and can't believe with the naïveté of our forefathers.

When living a religious life becomes an option among many, the scrutiny with which one chooses their religion is also increased. Just as it's impossible to ignore the possibility of a completely secular existence, it's foolish to outright deny the appeal of other religions.

Modern religions come in all shapes and forms: from neopagan outdoor activity clubs to alien cults. There are hundreds of Christian denominations. Many Eastern religions have grown more accessible, and developed Western followers and offshoots.

A religion needs to offer something substantial to survive in this over-saturated market. It has to provide real solutions to real problems. The least we can do to remain intellectually honest is acknowledge the existence of competing value propositions.

The Big Questions

It's not hard to point out how similar the tenets of many religions are. Some Jews even claim that "Judaism can offer everything other religions do", but that is simply not true.

Religions are incompatible because of the questions they deem paramount. While the answers to those questions may overlap, it is the questions themselves that shape their worldviews.

Judaism centers on the covenant between G-d and man. We are obligated to maintain the relationship between the Creator and His creation. As descendants of Israel, we are tasked with "wrestling with G-d". We ask, how can we maintain the connection between the mankind and the Absolute? And the answer is, we can make the world holy through commandments.

Traditional forms of Christianity are a radical departure from that thanks to their focus on salvation. Sin puts us in G-d's debt. God has arranged the ultimate sacrifice to end all sacrifices. He became fully human and, through his death, carved a path to salvation. Christians ask, how can sinful humans merit redemption? Their answer is, faith in Jesus and good deeds.

Buddha claimed neither own divinity nor the gift of prophecy. He issued a set of instructions for the elimination of suffering. He asked, how do we aleviate suffering and rise above impermanence? And the answer he found was, seeing things as they are and deeds of kindness.

The Living Drama

The central question of one's religion determines the dramatic framework of the person's life.

Every morning observant Jews relive the trust fall of the Binding of Isaac. After every meal, we remember the exile of our people. Every time we pray, we internalize the history of our collective relationship with G-d.

Christians are hyper-aware of their ability to transgress and the world's tendency to encourage such behaviour. Their drama revolves around the absurdity of the crucifixion — a tragic, but unavoidable and, ultimately, redemptive event.

Buddhists acutely experience alienation from their own senses, and cultivate loving-kindness in the face of suffering.

Just as we empathise with literary drama, we can empathise with the drama at the heart of other religions. A new kind of life experience may prompt us to ask new questions, and thus create fertile ground for religious exploration.

Other religions' central conflicts have a peripheral role in Judaism. We may be able to offer the same answers, but the framing of the answer is just as important as its content. If we fail to acknowledge this fundamental difference, and shut down all discussion of other religious traditions, people will be more likely to seek answers elsewhere — perhaps, in a different religious group.

The search for common ground

Even if you agree with my earlier statement, you may still want to dismiss other religions for purely theological reasons. You may find that Christian claims of divine incarnation, or Buddhist tolerance for pagan rituals invalidates their entire intellectual traditions.

But religions are more than their doctrines and origin stories. Jews know that neither the roundabout way we brew tea on Shabbos nor our faith in the Burning Bush conveys the meaning of Yiddishkeit. But that's exactly what our religion is reduced to in the eyes of many others! When an acquaintance of mine found out that I'm observant, her first question was "So, do you believe in numerology?". Do we really want people to judge our religion by excerpts from Wikipedia? Or do we want them to know what our values are? If so, why do we treat other religions the same way?

We have to stop focusing on the rituals we can't insert into our personal frame of reference, or origin stories that beggar belief. Instead, we should look at the experiences and value systems these religions provide.

If our communities approach other religions from a place of empathy, it will inevitably impact the way we counduct inter-religious dialogue. It will secure our own faith, demystify our neighbours, and help eradicate the us-versus-them mentality.