‘My Dream Is to Create a United Religious Nations’
Monday, December 29th, 2008 - by Terry Melanson
Yona Metzger, the Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi of Israel, talks to SPIEGEL ONLINE about the Abraham as the father of all three monotheistic religions — Islam, Christianity and Judaism — and explains how that connection could be a starting point for a dialogue of peace between them.
SPIEGEL ONLINE: Chief Rabbi, Jews refer to Abraham as “Our Father Abraham.” How difficult is it for you to accept the fact that Christians and Muslims also call Abraham their father?
Metzger: This is not difficult at all. It fits very well with the Jewish religion. A close look at the word “Abraham” reveals that it is constructed from the words “father of many nations.” So, if Muslims associate themselves with Abraham’s son Ismael, or Christians associate themselves with Abraham’s grandson Esau, or we associate ourselves with his other grandson Jacob, then three great monotheistic religions were born from him.

