Continuing on my adventure in Melbourne, while attending the Parliament of World Religions. The past few days I focused on the Abrahamic traditions, through the lense of both intra and inter -religious relations. For those of you who may not know, I also work on a project called the Abrahamic Family Reunion, which you can learn about here>> The Abrahamic faiths include Judaism, Christianity and Islam.

The first step on this Abrahamic track was a workshop entitled:

• Who do we want to be - Exploring the Mission of the Jewish People in the 21st Century. Rabbis on the panel included David Rosen, Jeremy Lawrence, David Saperstein, and and Brad Hirschfield. Racheel Kohn of ABC News - 'The Spirit of Things' moderated the session.

In this intra-religious workshop, the rabbis represented the diverse spectrum of Jewish tradition, from Orthodox to Reform. Rosen spoke eloquently on the need for Jews to forge new horizons and seek cultural vitality. Currently, Judaism is defined by a society in conflict, and is losing its universal values. The Jewish identity needs to get away from its basis on victimhood, because in its destructiveness the Jewish people can not flourish. "Judaism needs to be a living tree of life' Rosen proclaimed.

I'll admit I was intrigued by all four rabbis, and their very persuasive and also humourous presentations. I even had the pleasure of riding next to Rabbi Lawrence on the train home the other night. (Another noticing: Australians chat with eachother on the train. I don't think I did that on the Metro in DC, or on the BART in SF). Lawrence is an Orthodox Rabbi based in Sydney. He expressed the importance of Jewish education to help unify the different communities. "We are a Noah generation," he said.

It was said Noah invented the plow, and that his given name meant he would bring comfort to the world. In this same vein, we as a generation need to tend to our 'gardens' and through such actions, the world will be comforted.

Rabbi Saperstein may be the most well known of the four on this panel, because of his special relationship with President Obama. While his discussion of what the Jewish people want to be in the 21st century was equally intriguing as the others on the panel, I will simply quote his concluding words: "We need to be a luminous talit, binding us altogether.'

This statement was made in relation to the bitterness cited between the various Jewish communities, but I think it is a strong metaphor for the whole world.

Last to speak was Rabbi Brad Hirschfield whose message was simple:

1. GO INWARD - to find the best of yourself
2. GO OUTWARD - to build a better world
3. GO UPWARD - to connect spirituality to God

The next workshop I attended with an Abrahamic theme was:

• JCMA - A Working Model of Interfaith in Action - I almost missed this in the PWR program because I had no idea that JCM stood for Jewish-Christian-Muslim! Luckily, I read the small print and was able to experience the rather exciting work of this organization. Pictured above are Shifra, Paul and Khaled - a Jew, Christian and Muslim.

The Jewish-Christian-Muslim Association of Australia engages in several activities, including a yearly conference that brings together those interested in dialogue with those of another faith. What seperates this organization from others doing interfaith work, is that they do not shy away from tough subjects. While music and potlucks may be a part of their gatherings, JCMA also engage in intellectual study of each others texts and. Or as Mark Pedersen put it: "This is not an interfaith playground."

JCMA holds a conference every year, and a women's conference every few years. If you are in Australia and would like to attend their upcoming 2010 conference entitled, "Greening With God: Faith & the Environment," click here>>

The last half of this session, the audience pretended to be grade school students. In this role, we learned from a the interfaith facilitators pictured above. As kids we asked questions, and the reps were always honest and transparent in their answers - including tough questions on whether Jews killed Jesus, the right to same sex marriage in each tradition, and why the hijab is worn by Muslim women. So far this facilitating trio, and others in the organization, have shared their message of unity in diversity with more than 13,500 students in the state of Victoria.

Moving on to the last session I attended today, which was titled:

• Educating Religious Leaders for a Multi-Religious World - an extremely diverse, both internationally and religiously, was arranged. The one person I would like to highlight here is Hajjah Maria Ulfah - Vice Rector of the Institute for Quranic Studies in Jakarta. Her school in Indonesia is known for producing female scholars of the Qur'an and Hadiths. In the following clip, you can hear Ulfah recite a prayer in Arabic. (Please excuse the bad video quality, its the sound that matters!)

Last but not least, it was by great fortune I ran into Rachael Kohn in the hallway today. When I told her how much I enjoyed the panel on Jews in the 21st Century yesterday, she was eager to interview me and learn more about my own work in Abrahamic relations. She ended up recording an interview with me that will air on her show, The Spirit of Things, in early 2010. I'll be sure to link to the podcast here when it goes live.