How To Maintain Cordial International Relations

The guiding principle for international relations , or rather any relationship, should be cooperation and trust. Our broken relationships with others can never be resumed properly unless we have real trust in others. Unless we act in good faith, our actions become meaningless, if not disastrous. To have cordial international relations, we must rededicate ourselves to the universal values of love and brotherhood and reassert the principle of peace and justice .


Terrorism represents an extraordinary phenomenon, purely destructive and disastrous. Various methods adopted by terrorists include assassination, expropriation, kidnapping, destruction, hijacking, suicide bombing, taking innocent civilians as hostages, etc. The following passages speak of man's brotherhood; it is necessary to ponder over these ideals: "Have we not all one father? Has not one God created us? Then why do we deal treacherously, a man against his brother? Justice, justice shall you pursue, That you may live in your land, you shall not do wrong to him."


The world today lacks peace because in our hearts, we are not seriously desirous of it. We will offer lip service upon the altar of international friendship, yet we are not willing to denounce war. Ask yourself why people hate and kill when they seem to have everything. What is everything? What do they lack? This understanding does not come easily. Yet it is the only pass key to mysteries of the world. Let us realise fully that 'war is hell'. And every dollar and pound we spend on rockets and drones, we are robbing someone of bread and God. Only then will we climb on the tortuous and perilous road to peace. Achieving peace through justice will prove to be a wrenching task. We must let go of traditional rhetoric, stereotypical thoughts or conceptions.


The major problem is not bombs or nuclear or chemical weapons - these are actually products of the problem. The main problem is that human imagination has not yet expanded to the point where it comprehends its own essential unity. People are not yet aware of themselves as a single interdependent species requiring proper performance of certain vital services if the humankind is to be sustained.


We can only cope with broken relationships through trust, peace, goodwill, and a better understanding; some compromise must be worked out. Tolerance towards representatives of other religions and respect for human rights must be the basis for peaceful existence.


The common Hebrew word in this context is Shalom, which means peace be unto you. The infinite longing in Judaism for peace and goodwill finds expression on every occasion.


Prophet Isaiah said, "And He shall judge among the nations and shall rebuke many people, and they shall beat their swords into ploughshares and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation; neither shall they learn war anymore. The wolf and the lambs shall feed together, and the lion shall eat again like the bullock, and dust shall be the serpent's food. They shall not hurt and destroy in all my Holy Mountain, said the Lord."


Peace is one of the pillars of the world; without it, the social order cannot exist.


Authored by: Rabbi Ezekiel Isaac Malekar