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Four diverse congregations are searching for answers in small but significant ways. Congregation Beth Mordecai, St. Peter's Episcopal Church, First Presbyterian Church (all from Perth Amboy) and The Muslim Center of Middlesex County (Piscataway) have come together to read and discuss "Abraham: A journey of Three Faiths," by bestselling author Bruce Feiler.

Since ancient times, mutual respect for learning has brought people of different faiths together, transcending even those factors which otherwise drove them apart. So how is this modern book club faring? Rabbi Melinda Zalma of Congregation Beth Mordecai, said that originally she had thought of doing a book club with the synagogue.

"One congregant suggested several books including this one, and once I started reading it I realized it begged to be shared with other religions," Zalma said. "I first asked the Episcopalian church to join us. One day I walked past the Presbyterian church a couple of doors down. Their upcoming sermon topic was Abraham, so I invited them to join us, too. I heard about the mosque in Piscataway, part of the Metuchen Edison interfaith Clergy Association, so I asked the Imam too, and he said yes."

The first meeting took place on Nov. 3 at Beth Mordecai. Eight people, representing all four faith houses, were present. "We learn about the other faiths and get to know what they believe in a bit more, and you always learn more about your own faith when you interact with others and listen to their own beliefs," Zalma said. "Sometimes you meet on common issues, and sometimes it resonates your own beliefs more because you believe something different. We're excited to be doing this, and beginning to know our members and people of other faiths. Abraham is a central figure for all three religions. We hope the message that comes out of that is the image of Abraham to bring us together in peace."

Reverend Peter Hofstra, of Perth Amboy's First Presbyterian Church, agreed.

"There were some discussions among some of us that were pretty close together," Hofstra said. "We really did not know exactly how this was going to run, but it seems to have gone over very well. It was intended as a pilot project - people in town have questions on their own faith, and intense curiosity about our neighbors. We seem to share a common question: what is similar between us; what is different between us? Abraham is, for Christians, the beginning of the faith journey. His faith was in his obedience, his direct heed to God is in our own faith an example. We look back thru our history to see how God spoke and acted. I think we have learned that each of our faith traditions has built up around Abraham."

As a paradox, Hofstra finds a binding strength in the differences that set Jews, Christians, and Muslims apart. "I think this book study has reinforced our differences, caused us to accept our differences, and made us realize that at the end of the day we don't have to agree. But there's enough commonality in God's promise that our differences lead to mutual understanding rather than hatred."

The second meeting of the book club, at St. Peter's Church on Nov. 10, attracted around 25 people. Imam Raouf Zaman, of the Muslim Center, hoped to see the attendance grow with each scheduled meeting. "Rabbi Zalma contacted me to be involved in this book review and discussions and I gladly accepted," Zaman said. "We had met at other interfaith occasions through the Metuchen interfaith group."

Zaman met with the rabbi and the pastors of the nearby churches in Perth Amboy for an initial discussion on how to study the book together.

"The book is interesting to me because it has an interfaith approach," he said. "The theme that runs through all three of the monotheistic faiths is the role of Abraham. All of us agreed that we would have a good basis for discussion."

The topic was not the only factor binding the groups together. Zaman described the evening's mood as "such a nice atmosphere where we can express our views on a particular matter and listen to the views of others and get to understand them better.

Getting to know each other personally impacts a great effect on everyone."

David Adams is Eucharistic minister and former senior warden, St. Peters Episcopal Church. He remembered running into Zalma one Saturday last summer.

"I had finished my daily run and was on the way home," Adams said. "I saw the rabbi walking home after services and I crossed the street to talk to her. She asked whether we did book studies, mentioned that the temple was thinking about doing this discussion on this book on Abraham, and asked me, 'Well, do you think anybody at St. Peter's would be interested?' I said I thought so because we had just finished a four-week study session on the Old Testament prophets."

What did he learn? "I think that for me, Abraham is not one of the people that we focus on. We understand him as one of our ancestors, but our time is spent more with the New Testament than with the Old. And the stories that we know about Abraham really have to do with the sacrifice of Isaac, or of Ishmael depending on where you're reading in the book. But there's a lot more to the whole story and a lot more on how this person impacted all of us very greatly. I think for me and for a lot of people it was very enlightening and very eye-opening."