Arab News Op-Eds

The US holiday season is defined by tradition, gratitude and family. It is a period to reflect on the blessings of life, celebrate communally with our neighbors, and spread the gifts of love and charity. No other time of year reminds us so strongly of our common faith and common fate.

Five years ago, the very notion of Yeshiva University, the pre-eminent institution of higher Jewish learning in the US, honoring the secretary general of the Makkah-based Muslim World League would have been met with stupefaction or downright indignation.

Nelson Mandela, one of the true heroes of our modern age, declared only a few years after his long incarceration ended: “Sport can create hope, where once there was only despair. It is more powerful than governments in breaking down racial barriers. It laughs in the face of all types of discrimination.”

In the Talmudic “Ethics of the Fathers,” compiled almost two millennia ago, Rabbi Tarfon offers us several lessons on the importance of completing the unfinished task. “It is not your duty to finish the work, but neither are you at liberty to neglect it,” he explains. After all, “the day is short, the work is plentiful, the laborers are indolent, the reward is great, and the master of the house is insistent.”