Rabbi David Rosen, American Jewish Committee (AJC) International Director of Interreligious Affairs, today addressed the Bahrain Dialogue Forum, a gathering of more than 200 interfaith leaders from around the world.

Pope Francis; Dr. Ahmed Al Tayeb, Grand Imam of Al Azhar and Chairman of the Muslim Council of Elders; and His All Holiness Bartholomew I, Archbishop of Constantinople and Ecumenical Patriarch are among the representatives of faiths participating in the two-day forum, entitled “The East and The West for Human Coexistence.” The Forum is organized by the Supreme Council of Islamic Affairs in Bahrain, in cooperation with the Muslim Council of Elders and the King Hamad Global Centre for Peaceful Co-existence.

Rabbi Rosen was invited to address the session on “The Role of Religious Leaders and Scholars in Addressing Contemporary Challenges: Climate Change and the Global Food Crisis.”

“More than ever before we can see today how much we are all in the same boat. Our responsibility is an immediate existential one for one another, for future generations, for humanity,” said Rosen. “But we must not forget that our responsibility for our common home is our responsibility for Creation itself, the manifestation of the Divine Presence and Providence in the world. Thus, the degree to which we truly take care of its wellbeing is the degree to which we truly love God, the Creator of the World.”

Other forum sessions are addressing the topics of  “Importance of Interreligious Dialogue,” “Experiences of Promoting Global Coexistence and Human Fraternity,” and “Peaceful Coexistence.”

“The protection of our environment for our wellbeing and for future generations must be seen by us as a religious imperative of the highest order,” stated Rosen. Citing Genesis in the Hebrew Bible, Rosen noted that the “human person” was placed in the Garden of Eden “to work it and to preserve it.”

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