A young science graduate has published a book explaining the Jewish attitude towards other faiths based on his campus experiences in London.
Sina Cohen, who was president of the Jewish society at Royal Holloway, University of London from 2008-11, hopes that The Jewish Position on Other Religions will be helpful to students.
Now working in the medical devices industry, the 23-year-old said that at university, he had been “frustrated at seeing so many Jewish students stumped by questions asked by their non-Jewish colleagues regarding their Jewish faith and practice.
“Questions like ‘Why don’t you Jews follow Jesus or Muhammad?’ or ‘What’s the difference between your religion and mine?’ are just a few of the many I got asked by missionaries and non-Jewish friends on campus.”
Not knowing the answers “makes us look weak, and Judaism even weaker. I just don’t see many Jewish scholars representing and defending us from some of the ridiculous claims made about Judaism by certain adherents of other religions on campuses across the UK.”
The book, available on Amazon, contains chapters on the basic beliefs of Judaism, its approach to non-Jews and its view of Christianity, Islam and Eastern religions.
It has received endorsements from a number of rabbis, including the emeritus spiritual head of the Spanish and Portuguese Jews’ Congregation, Rabbi Abraham Levy, and Rabbi Harvey Belovski of Golders Green Synagogue.
Mr Cohen said he started jotting down “the most common questions asked and what the greatest Jewish thinkers have historically responded. I promised myself I’d turn these notes into a published book as soon as I graduated.”
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