On Sunday 18th February 2007, Rabbi Neil spoke at St. Peters Church by invitation of Canon Jim Richardson OBE.

It was the first time a Rabbi had been invited to speak at the community, and a number of our community went to share in this important interfaith event, which was also reported about in The Daily Echo.

Canon Jim welcomed the community, Rabbi Neil and Student Rabbi Jenny, before the first reading from Exodus in which Moses descends Mount Sinai but has to wear a veil because of his radiance. The second reading, from II Corinthians 3, was more controversial, being about how the Jews wear a veil of ignorance when they read Scripture, and it was this verse that Rabbi Neil chose as the topic for his sermon.

He spoke about the difference between absolute truth and relative truth, and said that when viewed from a position of relative truth the text was not so offensive - that was how one group of Jews perceived another group of Jews many years ago. Were we to hold the same opinion nowadays that would be problematic, yet we are not obliged to do so.

He spoke keenly about the importance of understanding the role of interpretation when reading any text. "One cannot pick up an English Bible and say "...the Bible says..." because often it really doesn't say what we might think it says in translation. All we can say at the most is "This translation of the Bible says..."" Rabbi Neil expanded this to explain how he believes that we all interpret God's word differently, how "sacred stories are not what God said to us verbatim, but as human attempts to describe intimate, indescribable moments of connection with God. They are about how we see God and how we respond to an awareness of God. Since different communities meet God differently, it doesn't offend me that religious stories will always differ, and indeed often contradict."

With this in mind, Rabbi Neil came to the crux of the sermon. He explained how interfaith dialogue had changed throughout the ages, from the antagonism of the Corinthians passage to today where we actively explore the religious traditions of other faiths. "By doing this," said Rabbi Neil, "we're inviting other people to explain an aspect of God that we previously had not understood. Interfaith dialogue then becomes the purest vehicle for understanding God's will."

Reflecting on the sermon later, Canon Jim reminded Rabbi Neil of the white light that is passed through the prism. Each faith community has been gifted with one particular colour of light, but to only explore that one colour would not allow us full access to the original source.

It is our hope that Canon Jim will come and share some of his particular faith experiences with our community at some point in the near future.