According to the Torah, the awareness of HaShem - the One Compassionate Creator of all life - did not start with the People of Israel at Mount Sinai or even with Avraham and Sarah, the first patriarch and matriarch of the People of Israel. The opening chapters of the Book of Genesis reveal that there was an awareness of the One Creator at the very

There was an awareness of the One Creator at the very dawn of human history.

dawn of human history; however, this awareness began to decline as many people began to worship the various forces within creation as gods. In the following passage, from his classical work, the Mishneh Torah, Maimonides describes how paganism began in the early era of human history:


"In the days of Enosh (before Noah), people made a serious mistake. The sages of this era erred and Enosh himself was among those who erred. They considered that, since God put stars and heavenly bodies in brilliant splendor above us to regulate life on earth and to be His first servants, then it is fitting to honor and glorify them.... When they conceived this idea, they began to erect temples to the stars, offered up sacrifices to them, praised and glorified them in speech, and prostrated themselves before them - to obtain the Creator’s favor, according to their corrupt notions. This was the root of idolatry." (The Book of Knowledge, "The Laws Concerning Idolatry" 1:1,2)
 
At the next stage, explains Maimonides, the awareness of the One Creator began to be forgotten. There were some wise and righteous individuals, however, who preserved the original pure consciousness of the One Creator of all life. Maimonides mentions the following individuals as examples: Hanoch, Methuselah, Noah, Shem and Ever (ibid).
In addition, the midrash cites a tradition that Noah’s son Shem and Shem’s grandson, Ever, established "yeshivas" - schools for spiritual study - where spiritual seekers could learn how to serve the One Compassionate Creator of all life (Genesis Rabbah 63:6,10).
When Avraham and Sarah - descendants of Shem - emerged as spiritual teachers, they taught people about HaShem - the One Compassionate Creator - wherever they went. The midrash teaches that Avraham taught the men, and Sarah taught the women (Genesis Rabbah 39:14). And after they arrived in the Promised Land, Avraham established a spiritual hostel where he proclaimed, "the Name of HaShem, the God of the Universe." (Genesis 21:33) Through their acts of lovingkindness, hospitality, and the sharing of their resources with those in need, Avraham and Sarah taught people through the power of their example that human beings are created in the Divine image with the capacity to emulate the Divine compassion, love and justice.
The above teachings remind us that belief in HaShem is the ancient spiritual heritage of all the peoples of the Earth. A reference to this idea is expressed in the following verse from a psalm by King David, which describes how, in the Messianic age of enlightenment, people everywhere will begin to remember this forgotten heritage: "All the ends of the earth will remember and return to HaShem; all the families of nations will bow before You." (Psalms 22:28)
 
Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch, in his explanation of that verse, writes: "Defection from God was never an inborn trait with individuals or with humankind as a whole. The unspoiled hearts of children are close to God, and the same was true of humankind in its pristine state. Alienation from Him came much later. Therefore, through the stimulus

There are still many people today who believe that they cannot approach HaShem directly.

emanating from Israel, they will all remember. Their original consciousness of God will come alive again, and they will return to Him." (The Psalms – Translation and Commentary by Rabbi S. R. Hirsch)
 
When the original spiritual consciousness will return, all peoples will recognize that they can get close to the One Compassionate Source of all life. They will then directly call upon the Name of the Compassionate One, as it is recorded in the following Divine promise concerning the Messianic age of universal enlightenment: "For then I will change the nations to speak a pure language, so that they all will call upon the Name of HaShem and serve Him with a united resolve." (Zephaniah 3:9)
And it is also written, "On that day HaShem will be One and His Name One." (Zechariah 14:9)


The Messianic age has not yet arrived, and there are still many people today who believe that they cannot approach HaShem directly. For example, a few years ago, I read a letter from a Christian woman who had difficulty understanding how Jews can have a loving and intimate relationship with God, as she felt that God was too awesome and remote for people to relate to in a direct manner. She therefore believed that people needed to go through Jesus in order to find God. This traditional Christian belief is a contradiction to the ancient Jewish teaching that all human beings can approach God directly, and the Book of Psalms can serve as a classic example of this direct approach.
I know some Jews who are involved in interfaith projects, and they recognize that this Christian approach to God is not right for Jews; however, one of them suggested, in the name of "religious pluralism," that we recognize this Christian belief as an equally valid approach for Gentiles. If we gave such recognition, however, we would lose a major teaching of the Torah’s universal vision - one which proclaims that every human being, Jew and Gentile, can approach God directly. This teaching is expressed by King David in the following verse from the Book of Psalms: "HaShem is close to all who call upon Him, to all who call upon him sincerely." (Psalms 145:18)
A classical Biblical commentator, Radak, explains that this verse is revealing that HaShem is close to each individual who calls upon Him sincerely, "whatever nation one belongs to."
In other words, you don’t have to be Jewish in order to experience the loving closeness of HaShem; moreover, you do not need an intermediary in order to experience this closeness. This universal teaching reminds us of the potential within every human being to get close to HaShem, and we cannot give up this sacred and universal teaching in the name of "religious pluralism." This is because the Beloved One who redeemed our people is also the Loving God of all, as the Prophet Isaiah proclaimed to us: "His Name is ‘The

This universal teaching reminds us of the potential within every human being to get close to HaShem.

God of Love of all the hosts of His creation’; Your Redeemer is the Holy One of Israel; God of all the earth will He be called." (Isaiah 54:5; translation of Rabbi S. R. Hirsch)


Notes
1. When we proclaim, "Hear O Israel, HaShem is our God, HaShem is One" (Deuteronomy 6:4), we are also proclaiming that we are to only serve the Unifying One. We therefore do not deify any object, force, creature or human being, in order to maintain our consciousness of the One Unifying Source of all creation. In this spirit, the Divine voice proclaimed at Mount Sinai, "You shall not have other gods before Me" (Exodus 20:3). And it is also written, "Know it today and take it to heart repeatedly that HaShem alone is God; in Heaven above and on Earth below, there is none other." (Deuteronomy 4:39)
Therefore, we do not view any human being as our Lord and Savior, and we remember that the Torah states, "God is not a man." (Numbers 23:19) We also remember the following Divine proclamation: "I, only I, am HaShem, and there is no savior aside from Me." (Isaiah 43:11)


2. For those who cherish our universal spiritual vision, I highly recommend the following classic: The Psalms - Translation and Commentary by Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch (Feldheim Publications). In his introduction to this work, Rabbi Hirsch writes:
"However, David did not expect that the influence of his songs would be limited solely to the spiritual and moral edification and refinement of the generations of his own people. He confidently felt that his psalms would have an impact also upon the spirits and emotions of all the other nations. He viewed himself and his songs as servants and instrumentalities to advance that Divinely-promised future on earth when delusion and injustice will have vanished from among humanity, when, with the restoration of reverence for the One God, the supreme reign of truth, righteousness, and love, and hence of salvation, will have begun on earth."