Respect for difference: Tim Gee has a reflection for World Quaker Day

‘Respect for difference leads to peaceful coexistence.’

by Tim Gee 26th September 2025

There’s a story from early first-century Palestine that I love. It’s about a man who visits two rabbis, and demands that they each recite the Torah while he stands on one leg. 

The first teacher sends the enquirer away for his impudence. The second teacher instead invites the enquirer to stand on one leg and calmly says: ‘What is hateful to you do not do to others. That is the Torah, the rest is commentary. Go study it.’