And when considering the hundreds of millions who are not spiritually engaged, would it not make more sense to speak of them as worthy of respect simply because they are endowed with tzelem Elokim?
The Latrun monastery is located in Emek Ayalon, the place where Yehoshua miraculously made the sun stop. Alas, for too many of our brethren, time has stopped with regard to the way they interact with non-Jews. While we won the biblical battle, we are not going to fare as well in the ones ahead if we cannot recognize the rules of the game in interacting with the world at large – and that we bear some of the burdens of galus even in our Jewish state.
Rabbi Yitzchok Adlerstein directs interfaith affairs for the Simon Wiesenthal Center in Los Angeles and holds the Irmas Adjunct Chair in Jewish Law at Loyola Law School.