My deep gratitude to:
Marie Brenner, who appeared like an emissary of the angelic kingdom and made this book happen.
Sofia Groopman, my superb editor, who cares deeply about writing and writers and helped make this a much better book.
Sarah, my life partner in all ways.
Moriah, Gavriel, and Shachar, who bring me great joy and have deepened my understanding of Israel.
Terry Kassel, Paul E. Singer, Max Karpel, and Daniel Bonner of The Paul E. Singer Foundation, for their generous friendship and support. Special gratitude to Harry Z. Cohen, for his tremendous work on behalf of this book.
Lynn Schusterman and Lisa Eisen of the Charles and Lynn Schusterman Family Foundation, for their generous support and for their friendship over the years.
Larry Weissman and Sascha Alpert, my literary agents, who helped me shape this book.
Donniel Hartman, for his friendship, support, and inspiration; for his valuable editorial comments on this book; and for challenging me to aspire to my higher self.
Jonathan Kessler, who believed in this book even when I wavered and who offered me his encouragement and wisdom and friendship. If this book has a sandak (godfather), it’s Jonathan.
Jonathan Rosen, whose indispensable feedback in this book’s early stages helped me find my voice.
Haroon Moghul, for his literary and spiritual friendship.
Tal Becker, Elana Stein Hain, Donniel Hartman, Yehuda Kurtzer—my longtime colleagues and friends in the Shalom Hartman Institute’s iEngage seminar, who have enriched me intellectually and spiritually and challenged me to deepen my thinking on the issues raised in this book.
Alan Abbey, Irfana Anwer, Lauren Berkun, Meirav Fishman, Maital Friedman, Dalit Horn, Marlene Houri, Hana Gilat, Rachel Jacoby Rosenfield, Yehuda Kurtzer, Kate Lee, Haroon Moghul, Gidon Mais, Shiri Merzel, Tova Perlow, Tova Serkin, Atara Solow, Sabra Waxman, Mick Weinstein—my colleagues and friends at the Shalom Hartman Institute, who have helped make MLI a success.
Yoel and Nomi Glick, for their boundless friendship and support.
Stefanie Liba Engelson-Argamon, a blessing in my life, whose devotion and spiritual friendship immeasurably enrich me.
David Suissa of the Jewish Journal, my partner and brother who is always there when I need him.
Gary Rosenblatt and Thea Wieseltier of the Jewish Week, a blessing to the Jewish people, and who are among the first people I turn to for partnership on a project.
Dan Senor, for his friendship and guidance.
Diane Troderman and Harold Grinspoon, beloved friends and supporters.
Angelica Berrie and Ruth Salzman of the Russell Berrie Foundation, and Julie Sandorf and Nessa Rapoport of the Revson Foundation, founding supporters and ongoing partners of MLI.
Jonathan Burnham, for believing in this book.
Tina Andreadis, Milan Bozic, Rachel Elinsky, Tom Hopke, Doug Jones, Muriel Jorgensen, David Koral, Leah Wasielewski—the wonderful team at HarperCollins.
Bambi Sheleg, who left us too soon, and who first gave me the idea for this book when her groundbreaking magazine, Eretz Aheret, published a special issue devoted to letters written by Israelis to their Palestinian neighbors.
Moshe Halbertal, for his insights into the nature of the sacred.
Parvez Ahmed, Ali Ammoura, Mijal Bitton, Sam Freedman, Yechezkel Landau, John Moscowitz, Noam Zion—for their valuable feedback on this manuscript.
All the participants in the Muslim Leadership Initiative, who have taught me the meaning of holy courage.
Irfana Anwer, Toby Perl Freilich, Zach Gelman, David Horowitz, Debra Majeed, Leslie Meyers, Raiyan Syed, Claire Wachtel, Inas Younis—for their friendship and support.
Harry Aaronson, Leora Balinsky, Evan Charney, Rivka Cohen, Gidon Halbfinger, Sam Mellins, Yossi Quint, Daniel Schwartz, Aaron Tannenbaum—my gifted interns at the Hartman Institute who provided research assistance.
Dalia Landau, founder of Open House, an Arab Israeli–Jewish Israeli coexistence center in the town of Ramle—whose courage and open heart have challenged me to go deeper in my commitment to coexistence.
David Hartman and Menachem Froman, two beloved mentors and friends who taught me, each in his own way, how to expand the borders of Jewish being, and whose presence I sorely miss.