By Roni Gosch and Dr. Lucas Schulte

This past October, Tri-Faith Initiative had the honor of hosting our first Bridges of Understanding: An Interfaith Dialogue Experience. The idea for hosting an interfaith weekend began over two years ago with the proposal of inviting a scholar experienced in interfaith work with two or more Abrahamic religions. From the very beginning, the scholar in mind for this first event was Rabbi Dr. Reuven Firestone, known in interfaith and scholarly circles for his textual workshops, his research and publications,  and his founding of the Center for Muslim-Jewish Engagement. In early August of 2025, Tri-Faith Initiative started working with Firestone to create the specific programming and schedule for the Bridges of Understanding event, with each session planned as an in-depth examining of interfaith texts, accompanied by handouts with further resources for attendees that wanted to keep researching. 

Firestone flew into Omaha from Los Angeles the morning of Oct 16 and immediately facilitated a Lunch & Learn at Temple Israel on the topic “Abraham: The First Jew? First Christian? First Muslim?” Texts discussed in this session included several from the Jewish Bible, the New Testament, Babylonian Talmud Yoma 28b, a 6th century C.E. pre-Islamic Arabian text associated with the Ḥums, and several passages from the Qur’an. Following the Lunch & Learn was a workshop at the Tri-Faith Center called “Abraham and Ishmael in Scripture and Tradition.” For this workshop, small groups worked on texts from Genesis 21 in the Hebrew Bible, Sura 2, Sura 14, and Sura 22 in the Qur’an, an 8th-century C.E. Jewish story about Abraham and Isaac found in Pikey deRabbi Eli’ezer, Ch.29/30, and a medieval Islamic story about Abraham and Isaac from A History of Prophets and Kings by Muhammad b. Jarir al-Tabari. That evening, Firestone presented the Rabbi Sidney and Jane Brooks Lecture at the University of Nebraska at Omaha, entitled “Problematizing Prophethood, or, How to Tell a ‘Real Prophet’ from a ‘False Prophet.’”

The following day, a light breakfast at Countryside Community Church accompanied Dr. Firestone’s presentation on “The Birth of Religion.” In this presentation, Rabbi Firestone guided participants through the sweeping transition from tribal religions to the Abrahamic monotheisms known today by considering both historical and scriptural perspectives. After this, Dr. Firestone held a conversation with members of Tri-Faith Initiative’s Emerging Clergy Seminar, which brought up-and-coming religious leaders from across the country to this immersive experience on the Tri-Faith Commons.  

The capstone to our interfaith experience was a moderated chat with him and Dr. Abla Hassan, the Professor of Practice in Arabic Language & Culture at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln. With a PhD in Philosophy of Language, she specializes in Qur’anic studies, Islamic feminist thought, and hermeneutics. Hosted at the Tri-Faith Center, this program took place shortly after the weekly Juma’a prayer service happening next door at American Muslim Institute. Their chat, moderated by Tri-Faith’s own Director of Education and Outreach, Dr. Lucas Schulte, covered topics such as the history of medieval Jewish/Muslim relations,  the alignment of values in both Judaism and Islam, what each speaker admired about the other’s religion, and how having a deeper understanding of the complexities they both discussed help us to build better Jewish-Muslim relations in the future. This fireside chat culminated in a Q&A session, where attendees were encouraged to submit questions that the pair would answer.

Rounding out this interfaith dialogue experience were guest presentations at the faith partners on the Tri-Faith Commons. Rabbi Ruth Sohn, a scholar married to Rabbi Dr. Firestone, spoke at the evening Shabbat service at Temple Israel. Then on Sunday morning, Rabbi Firestone spoke from the pulpit at Countryside Community Church on the topic “Faith and Truth.”  

Over 250 people joined us over the course of three days and five programs, not including the Sunday and Shabbat services he led.

“I loved how Reuven made this detailed and lofty text as understandable as possible for someone brand new to certain versions of the text he presented,” says one attendee. “I also loved how he gave an overview of the Quran before diving in.”

As an interfaith organization, the Tri-Faith Initiative facilitated this interfaith experience as a way to encourage the congregants of our faith partners as well as outside guests to ask themselves, “What does it mean to be interfaith? How can I find the common thread between me and my neighbors?”

We hope to bring Bridges of Understanding back in 2026! Thank you to everyone who attended, and thank you especially to Rabbi Dr. Reuven Firestone and Dr. Abla Hassan for coming to speak with us!