Shavuot, holiday commemorates revelation at Sinai when the Jews were chosen by God to receive the Ten Commandments, will commence Tuesday evening. This idea, that the Jews are the chosen people, is one of the most misunderstood concepts in history.

Some people do not believe in God at all, while others believe in many gods. Others believe that God infinitely shapes their lives and their afterlives. Others look to themselves to be shaped. There are a variety of different religions, and as many as 22 major religions in the world today.

We need religion that encourages personal questioning and critical thinking. We need less doctrine and more humble acknowledgement of mystery. We need more of what the early Hasidic rabbis of Eastern Europe called mochin d'gadlut -- an open, expansive mind.

Any Jew, Christian or Muslim who bothers to look into the face of Sikhism will find the face of the God of Love looking back. The same is true for any of the world's religious and spiritual traditions.

The Torah teaches that the earliest civilizations knew God's unified nature quite well but that there was an unfortunate descent of comprehension over the generations.

In Hinduism, polytheism and monotheism coexist in a relationship much like the parts of a wheel. The many deities are like the spokes, emanating from the hub and each playing an important role.

We cannot point to any three other religions that form so intimate a narrative relationship as do the successive revelations of monotheism -- Judaism, Christianity and Islam.

Twice in the last three decades, the Supreme Court has specifically identified that phrase as being void of substantive sacred meaning. If you are a believing monotheist, is that how you want God's name treated?

Until moderate Muslims find each other, 'find the other hand,' and start a global response, nothing less than a cacophony of figurative clapping, we will remain as we are now: voiceless.