An interesting sociological phenomenon detailed on Ynet.

When it comes to women's modesty and laws of gender separation, many of my progressive brethren (and sistren) react with a "mixture of pity and contempt". On the one hand, the covered woman "must be" uncomfortable wearing "so many" layers of clothing. On the other hand, they "must be" victims of an oppressive patriarchal society dictating how they can and can not dress. The tznua/modest woman is often forced to justify herself on two levels: "yes I am comfortable" and "yes I am dressing this way voluntarily."

A piece on Ynet sparked my interest with regard to this:

She was walking in front of me in a crowded Jaffa street, covered in black from head to toe: Shoes, socks, pants, a long dress on top, gloves (!) and of course – a veil, which revealed only a pair of black eyes.

It was steaming hot outside – over 30 degrees Celsius and terribly humid, and I immediately felt sorry for the poor woman. How hot she must be, I thought, how sweaty, how miserable it was to go through the scalding Mediterranean summer like this. And then feminist thoughts began running through my head – "How can women be oppressed this way? What a humiliation! Why doesn't she rebel against this? What a pity she's unaware of all the things she is missing out on in the world," etc. I practically couldn't take my eyes off of her.

While I was busy with my progressive thoughts, I noticed that the girl walking beside me was staring at me, and I was mortified when I recognized the look in her eyes. She was looking at me in the same way I was looking at the woman in front of me. Over 30 degrees Celsius and terribly humid, she was wearing shorts and a tank top, while I was wearing a head scarf, two shirts worn one on top of the other in order to cover my arms, a long (and hot) jeans skirt, etc.

"How hot she must be," she was probably thinking, "How sweaty she must be, how miserable it is to go through the Mediterranean summer like this…" and this is before feminist thoughts began running through her head - "How can women be oppressed this way? What a humiliation! Why doesn't she rebel against this? What a pity she's unaware of all the things she is missing out on in the world." She practically could not take her eyes off of me.

Continue reading "Who are you to judge?" »

Posted by Y-Love at 05:09 PM | Permalink | Comments (7) | TrackBacks (0)

Iranian delegate Mohamed Sadiq Husseini and American Jewish delegate Joseph Ehrenkrenz got into a shouting match at the 5th Doha Conference on Inter-Faith Dialogue this past Wednesday following Ehrenkrenz's making what Husseini took as inaccurate accusations against Iran. Husseini, an advisor at the General Secretariat for the Centre for Iran-Arab Cooperation in Tehran, angrily interrupted when Ehrenkrenz who said Tehran wanted to eliminate all the Jews in Israel.

Speakers included Dr Souad Al Hakim, from Lebanon; Joseph Ehrenkrenz, from the US; David Lazar, from Israel; John Taylor, from the US; and Jerald Whitehouse from Venezuela. Professor Saad Harib, from the UAE; and Dr Mohamed Ben Breika, from Algeria, were the moderators.

Qatar's Peninsula Daily reports:

An Iranian delegate stunned the audience at an international inter-faith dialogue here yesterday when he angrily interrupted an American panelist who said Tehran wanted to eliminate all the Jews in Israel.

Joseph Ehrenkrenz was in the middle of his speech when Mohamed Sadiq Husseini shouted back at him.

"Ya, Yahud!," (Oh, Jews!), he said loudly, putting his microphone on, "Iran does not have any such agenda. What you are saying is a lie. Contrarily, your designs are suspect…Look, what you are doing at ‘Guatenamobay’."

Ehrenkrenz said that in the 1930s, the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem congratulated Hitler for his anti-Jewish stance and "sought his help"...

The biggest challenge before the rabbis (Jewish spiritual leaders) today is to protect the community. Palestinians have influenced Muslims around the world. "We are getting threats from Tehran. Their decision is to eliminate all the Jews in Israel. The UN is not taking any action," said Ehrenkrenz.

No sooner than he finished his sentence, Husseini, who is advisor at the General Secretariat for the Centre for Iran-Arab Cooperation in Tehran, interrupted him with an angry protest, speaking in Arabic.

However, this, in the big picture, may prove irrelevant if everyone takes the same plan of action as the Israeli delegate David Lazar:

One-to-one meetings between delegates representing the three different faiths have been taking place on the sidelines of the convention on sensitive community and religious issues and on how to further dialogue, especially between Muslim and Jewish leaders.

"We will keep in touch with one another through e-mail and personal visits. This is important," said Lazar.

Posted by Y-Love at 05:27 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

From the Canadian Jewish News:

A retired U.S. Navy chaplain says his experience as a rabbi in the armed forces taught him that focusing on common social issues is the best way to improve relations between Christians and Jews.

“The secret of the chaplain corps was not talking about theology first...Instead, we rolled up our sleeves and talked about shared concerns [first] – [soldiers] in pain, those in fear, those suffering from doubt or loneliness,” Rabbi Arnold Resnicoff told the the 21st annual Neighbourhood Interfaith Dinner...

Rabbi Resnicoff said it’s possible to be moved by the faith and teachings of others, noting that he was inspired to become a rabbi by a Christian chaplain who served with him in the Vietnam War...He said Jews and Christians have “conflicting visions of the end of days,” and so he stressed the importance of working together on issues in the here and now, such as poverty and homelessness.

“The more we focus on getting through today – making this a better day – the more we can agree. Therefore, focus on poverty, crime, injustice and discrimination. Work on projects like Habitat for Humanity, which help the homeless.”

Rabbi Resnicoff outlined three pitfalls to avoid in interfaith dialogue, which he calls the “rules of engagement.” Firstly, he said comparisons between religious groups can’t be a comparison between “our best and their worst.” Secondly, one can never compare “our teachings to their actions.” Thirdly, in a comparison of teachings, don’t compare “our beliefs to their words” because beliefs are learned in context while words can be taken out of context from others’ holy books.

What did he call for religious citizens to form a united front to combat?

Poverty, crime, injustice and discrimination.

Four things which no religion advocates, yet four things which are often caused by disunity. Actions and gestures of interfaith unity deserve the utmost of respect.

Posted by Y-Love at 05:16 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

From Malaysia-based JUST International (The International Movement For a Just World) comes this story of Jewish-Muslim co-operation and dialogue.

A contingent of about seventy Jews and Muslims from throughout Western Europe who are involved or interested in creating interfaith dialogue on a community level met last week at the Conference on Jewish-Muslim Dialogue held in Brussels. The article relates:

What is the role of the Middle East conflict in Jewish-Muslim dialogue? Is the media a positive force for change in inter-religious relations? How can local communities be successfully engaged in dialogue? These were a number of the questions tackled by representatives of Jewish and Muslim organisations at a Conference on Jewish-Muslim Dialogue held in Brussels...

Addressed by speakers including Imam Dr Abduljalil Sajid (Chairman of the Muslim Council for Religious and Racial Harmony UK), Rabbi Michel Serfaty (Founder & President of Amitié Judéo-Musulmane de France) and European Commission Culture Director Vladimir Sucha, participants were reminded of their shared religious and cultural heritage and were encouraged to join forces rather than working against each other.

A key outcome of the Conference was the establishment of a European Platform for Jewish-Muslim Co-operation to both encourage and to raise the profile of local, national and Europe-wide dialogue and co-operation initiatives.
In providing a forum for the sharing of experiences, ideas and good practices, the Conference also witnessed the initiation of new partnerships

In providing a forum for the sharing of experiences, ideas and good practices, the Conference also witnessed the initiation of new partnerships between organisations and the development of project ideas in the arts, media coverage of Jewish and Muslim issues, religious diversity training, grassroots involvement, academic co-operation and joint lobbying efforts. Awards for best practice in Jewish-Muslim co-operative initiatives were also proposed....

Ken yirbu, and considering the rise in both Muslim and Jewish visibility and community size in places like France and the UK, dialogue like this is only going to prove itself more and more necessary as time goes on.

Posted by Y-Love at 12:41 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Fighting the good fight against anti-Semitism and Islamophobia, NYU, through its new "experiment" at interfaith coexistence, is doing a wonderful job, according to the Jewish Week:

In the kosher cafeteria at New York University, a Jewish student holds up a piece of pepper steak from his lunch, displaying it to his friends.

“What does this look like?” he asks.

The friends stop chatting for a moment to train their eyes on his fork. They are dressed for a warm spring day, some in sweatpants, others in jeans, a few wearing yarmulkes and one young woman in a hijab, a traditional Muslim head covering.

They laugh. “Israel,” someone shouts, and it is true, the piece of steak looks just like the Jewish state. “I’m going to eat Israel!” says Jonathan Einalhori, holding the steak aloft. “No, wait,” someone else says. “Have one of the Muslims eat Israel.”

They laugh again, and Einalhori eats his lunch.

Two weeks earlier, these students had barely met, before a spring break trip to New Orleans, to volunteer after the devastating Hurricane Katrina, brought the 15 Jewish and 15 Muslim students together to work on building new homes and new friendships.

Gutting houses and helping to build new ones in the Chalmette neighborhood of New Orleans, far from the frenzied, academic environment of NYU, the students were taken out of their usual roles and free to explore each others’ cultures and traditions. Though they expected to find many places of divergence in their beliefs, experiences and lifestyles, they were surprised to find as well how much they have in common.

“It wasn’t like we came to some brilliant conclusion that will bring world peace,” said Kate Gribetz, a freshman from Manhattan. “But we found we had so many commonalities, it’s not worth it to dwell on one difference.”

In New Orleans, when their work on the houses was complete, the students attended a Jumu’ah service, Islam’s Friday afternoon prayers, and a Shabbat service on Friday night. Each group learned about the others’ prayers and traditions, while at the same time, they say, deepening their own faith.

“Seeing the passion Muslims had toward their religion inspired me to have more toward mine,” says Gribetz, who was raised Modern Orthodox.

The students who traveled to New Orleans, and many in the community, attribute the warm feelings between Muslims and Jews to the sincere friendship that has developed between two men who, not long ago, were students themselves: Rabbi Yehuda Sarna and Brother Khalid Latif, the rabbi and imam at NYU.

Rabbi Sarna, 28, and Brother Latif, 24, began as coworkers but soon became friends. When the controversy over the anti-Muslim Danish cartoons arose in 2005, Rabbi Sarna supported sit-ins and protests by Muslim student groups. When former Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu came to speak at NYU last fall, Brother Latif helped lead a post-speech discussion on relations between Israel and Lebanon. When the war broke out last summer, both men called each other, not only to plan how to deal with the fallout on campus, but simply to check in.

“We are able to model the kind of relationship which people should have,” says Rabbi Sarna. “We’re not just politically correct, but friends with mutual respect about each others’ religion.”

Rabbi Sarna concedes that because both men are traditional on their respective religious spectrums, the students in New Orleans felt comfortable taking part in unfamiliar worship services, flirting with each others’ stereotypes and becoming genuinely close.

“It wasn’t a hippie, ‘Kumbaya’ feeling that people should lay down their guns,” says Rabbi Sarna. “By the end of the trip the Jewish students [saw the Muslims] as cousins, people worshipping the same God in a different way.”

Posted by Y-Love at 04:28 PM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)

With a hat tip to my boy Talut, a beautiful story on Muslim-Jewish unity from Northwest Arkansas. From the Morning News:

Jewish congregation "thrilled" to work with Muslim contractor on new building

FAYETTEVILLE -- Who knew religious divisions could be solved in an Olive Garden?

Fadil Bayyari and Jeremy Hess laid the groundwork a few weeks ago for Bayyari, a Muslim, to build a new home for Temple Shalom, Fayetteville's Jewish congregation. By the time the endless salad and breadsticks arrived, Bayyari reached an understanding with Hess, head of the temple's building committee. The coming together of faiths often pitted against one another wasn't lost on either.

"Even though this is a Jewish worship place, it is great we can represent the community," Hess said.

Bayyari, a Springdale general contractor, will donate his services to Temple Shalom as they proceed with plans for a $1 million building at the intersection of Sang Avenue and Cleveland Street. Bret Park, the architect designing the new Temple Shalom, said it is too early to calculate how valuable Bayyari's donation will be.

"We don't know how much the materials are going to be," Park said. "We haven't gotten there yet."

The symbolism of the men working together is more significant than bricks and mortar, temple president Bill Feldman said. Bayyari and Feldman agreed demonstrating the positive side of Muslim-Jewish relations is important locally and internationally. "We are able to get beyond the differences in the United States," Bayyari said. "Why can't they?"

Bayyari said he approached Hess through a friend in the local Rotary Club about lending his services. He said he thought it would be an important way to show his support. Bayyari previously built a mosque for Fayetteville's Muslim community.

"We are all children of God when you look at it," Bayyari said.

He noted that, if you trace Islam and Judaism to their roots, both begin with Abraham. He said meeting with Hess he saw how the two faiths shared common themes, and so did the people.

"We grew up in the same house, except his father was Jewish and my father was a Muslim," Bayyari said.

Posted by Y-Love at 05:37 PM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)

From the French Journal Chretien:

Christian radio talk-show host Janet Parshall, a high-profile American evangelical known for her strong support of Israel, has dropped out of a Jerusalem conference sponsored by a Christian caucus of the Israeli Parliament...

Parshall says she is also troubled that the strict religious political party Shas has yet again introduced legislation in the Knesset that would give up to a one-year prison sentence for people who share the gospel in Israel.

"I thought, wait a minute : we can’t just blindly support Israel," she observes. "We have to be able to tell them, as a friend, [that] you can’t do that. You can’t silence us. "

The Christian radio commentator says Israel understands by now who evangelical Christians are...Also, Parshall points out, there is the added problem of censoring Christian evangelism, i.e., that "as Israel begins to move deeper and deeper in that direction, they start to replicate their Islamic neighbors."

Meanwhile, the evangelical spokeswoman notes, she believes an "evolution" has occurred in the Christian pro-Israel lobby, often characterized by "a kind of blind support that says no matter what Israel does, Israel can do no wrong."

However, Parshall contends, "I don’t believe that of our government and I certainly don’t believe that of the Israeli government. And friends tell friends, in love, when they see things that they think are wrong."

But Parshall says there are some in the Christian pro-Israel lobby who harbor such a "blind allegiance to Israel" that they even foster a belief that there is a different plan of salvation for the Jews. "That’s not true," she insists. "Scripture says there’s one name under heaven whereby all men will be saved."

Christians should not have to "choose between the cross or Israel," the American evangelical says.

And again, the legislation is talking about minors, and does not impact Christian worship at all. Furthermore, it most negatively impacts Jewish outreach organizations. Ms. Parshall must realize that Jewish identity -- and that identity's being unique from a Christian one -- is a very important idea for many Jews, especially in Israel, and her mission, which she refers to as "spreading love", negates that concept.

Ms. Parshall forgets -- many Israelis are in Israel because of the cross.

Posted by Y-Love at 04:26 PM | Permalink | Comments (4) | TrackBacks (0)

Meet Kamal Salim, a self-titled "reformed terrorist", a former "fundamentalist Muslim" who preaches about Christianity in increasingly popular pulpits:

A man in a kaffiyeh is preaching to mainstream crowds of "middle Americans". That's got to be accomplishing something as far as interfaith unity and racism are concerned.

Posted by Y-Love at 10:09 AM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

In a statement that the Independent Catholic News all but glossed over, Bishop William Kenney CP, Auxiliary Bishop of Birmingham, and Spokesperson on European Affairs for the Catholic Bishops, spoke about what he described as "a vociferous and aggressive secularism in certain parts of Europe."

Romania is about to enter the European Union, and is not as secular as many of its other European counterparts. Romania, it is being assumed, will eventually "get with it" and renounce some of its religious traditions in favor of the more "enlightened" secularism.

The Birmingham Diocese gives Bishop Kenney's statements in a bit more context:

"At a time when there is a vociferous and aggressive secularism in certain parts of Europe it must be said that all people who have any faith, and not just Christians, are going to need to stand together for the values which Europe and not least Romania stand for."

Are citizens of faith not marginalized here too? Are words like "fundamentalist" and "fanatic" not thrown around with the same venom as "racist" on this side of the ocean?

As in Europe, so too in America. All people who have any faith are going to need to stand to gether for the values which we ourselves stand for. Even if those values transcend America.

Posted by Y-Love at 06:32 PM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)

In Connecticut, an interfaith rally draws Christians, Jews, and Muslims together under the "Tent of Abraham":

Dr. Adeeb [Kareem, president of the American Institute for Islamic and Arabic Studies,] "The common denominator arising out of this dialogue is that it will disarm the scoundrels from using religion as a pretext for aggression," he said.

From the New York University news, one student describes spring break as being punctuated by interfaith unity:

Never could I have possibly imagined a trip that would end with Jews and Muslims sharing their meals in the kosher cafeteria. Or with Muslims asking me if I am coming to Shabbat dinner on Friday night. Or with Jewish students sitting around a bonfire shouting "Takbir," an exclamation Muslims use to proclaim the greatness of Allah.

The Muslim Council of Britain, not an organization known for linking up with "secular Muslims", made an unprecedented show of interfaith unity in London:

Inayat Bunglawala, secretary-general of the Muslim Council of Britain, said his organization's ties with the Muslim Brotherhood shouldn't be a barrier to ties between the two communities, as they don't seek to undermine Jews in the UK. He added that the Muslim Brotherhood believes the creation of Israel was a tragic mistake.

He said he understood the issue of Hamas was problematic: "They have no intention to recognize Israel. Until they move on, that I can understand why it is a point of contention."

"I wish progress would be made on the Middle East peace process but don't see why that should prevent good ties between Jews and Muslims here," he said.

They came to find common points of humanity, not to debate politics, war or religion.

Advertisement
Such was the purpose recently for the event ‘Speaking Across Differences,’ where about 150 Muslim, Christian and Jewish residents of Downtown Brooklyn and Carroll Gardens/Cobble Hill gathered in the cafeteria at the High School for International Studies, 284 Baltic Street.

“The reality is that change doesn’t happen with big, grand, global statements but happens in small increments on a human level,” said Marcia Kannry, founder and president of the non-profit Dialogue Project, Inc., which put the event together.

Wonderful people all of them. As are all people who make it a point to build bridges and not walls.

Ken yirbu.

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From the Canadian Jewish News:

Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty recently paid a visit to an Ottawa public school to launch a provincial program aimed at building character among students. But even before the program was announced, the students at Charles H. Hulse Public School had embarked on a remarkable inter-ethnic adventure.

Of its 500 students – who hail from 75 countries – approximately 70 per cent are Muslim. Most had never met a Jewish person before, but some had nevertheless formed extremely negative and hateful impressions of Jews. After hearing anti-Semitic remarks from some the students, Patrick Mascoe, a Grade 6 teacher at Charles H. Hulse, was dismayed.

“I thought it was sad that these kids had already figured out who they hated, based on ignorance,” he said.

But instead of the teacher being reactive and yelling at the children -- who were undoubtedly out-of-line for using racial slurs in a classroom -- the teacher was proactive and chose to build bridges and teach the children a lifelong lesson.

Mascoe decided to use a letter-writing course that he teaches to start a pen-pal project between students at the inner-city school and students at Hillel Academy, a local Jewish day school.

“I thought this would enable the kids to see how many similarities there were, rather than differences, between them.” At the end of the year, Mascoe invited the Hillel students to visit his school, where they engaged in collaborative, team-building games. In the afternoon, Holocaust survivor David Shentow spoke to the students about tolerance.

Mascoe said there was resistance from some Muslim parents at first, but eventually most of them came around to the idea, and in the program’s second year, there was participation from the Muslim community as well...

“The kids are proud of their school and proud of taking part in this. Our school is very multicultural, and at this age level, you can reach them about being respectful and tolerant and about character building,” Mascoe said.

“I tell them you might not like everyone you meet, but you can’t just dislike someone because of their race or religion.”

Rabbi Jeremiah Unterman, director of education at Hillel Academy, agrees.

“It is very important that we teach our children to view others in a positive light, and at the same time we look forward to opportunities in which other people have a chance to interact with us and see us in a positive light,” Rabbi Unterman said.

“I think that it is an imperative of the Jewish tradition, from the Book of Genesis, that we must treat every single person as being made in the image of God. That means that we have respect for everyone on earth. It is important to reach out to other people and we are happy when other people reach out to us to make friends. We are all descendants of one set of parents, which means we are all family.”

Posted by Y-Love at 01:44 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

I don't know who these people are, or what their authority is to issue such a decree, but it's a nice gesture.

The Jerusalem Post reports today:

"The Arab, Muslim, Palestinian side has accepted" the idea of negotiating a two-state solution with Israel, but was awaiting an affirmative response from Israelis and world Jewry, Sheikh Abdullah Nemer Darweesh, the founder of the Islamic Movement in Israel, told participants of the Global Forum for Combatting Anti-Semitism on Sunday evening.

"I am a soldier, and hopefully the lead soldier, in the war against anti-Semitism and Islamophobia in the region," he declared, adding that "you have nothing to fear from the one-and-a-half billion Muslims [who think as I do]."

As proof, Darweesh gave the example of the Saudi initiative at the 2002 Beirut Arab Summit, noting that it not only included a call for recognition of Israel, but "full normalization of relations, something that amazed me."

"Believe me," he added, "nobody questions the Jewish right to Jewish holy places."

Can't hurt.

Posted by Y-Love at 01:49 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

The American Muslim today features an article from Dr. Abdul Cader Asmal which states, basically, that Jewish-Muslim coexistence is no longer simply a good idea, but rather an imperative.

In his article, Dr. Asmal states:

The time to ratchet down hostilities is now.

The coming together of typecast foes may not be easy. On the other hand allowing fascists to chart the future of humanity is not a viable option. Rapprochement is the only answer to Israel’s survival and Islam’s renaissance. There is nothing incompatible between Islam and Judaism that prevents Muslims and Jews from living together again. They have a moral imperative to do so, resting on the Muslim belief of a divinely-assigned stewardship of God’s creation, and the Jewish belief of ‘Tikkun’ or healing of God’s creation. With these credentials Muslims and Jews should not only be able to coexist but respond to the call, ‘peace on earth and goodwill to all men’, a timeless message with a universal appeal, we can all live with.

(I'm assuming that everyone knows, already, the Talmudic quote from the Mishnah in Sanhedrin 4:5, which states that "for the sake of peace, no man may say my father was better than your father". Not being prejudiced against Muslims, and by extension, combatting Islamophobia and all bigotry, is not only a "moral imperative" but a law.)

So then, how about this: it is a well-known fact in Jewish Law that one is not allowed to do things which would cause anti-Semitism ("hatred" for Jews, or eivah). R' Moshe Feinstein, perhaps one of the greatest codifiers of Jewish Law in the 20th century, said in his work Igros Moshe (1:184) that Eivah can mean two things: 1) Such ill will that the non-Jew will want to take revenge against the Jew; or 2) where the Jew did not do anything that warrants revenge, but the non-Jew develops feelings of hatred. We see from the Code of Jewish Law (Volume Orach Chaim, opinion of the Rem"a to 148:12 and 291:2) that (mainly the second type) of eivah can override a rabbinical prohibition, if one has sufficient reason to believe that by doing the rabbinically prohibited thing he will decrease/prevent eivah, he can do so.

And if we have sufficient reason to believe that the anti-Semitism could lead to life-threatening violence, one may even be allowed to violate even a Scriptural commandment (as it is saving a life).

How much more so if we are not talking about transgressing anything. How much more so if we're talking about unity and "baseless kindness", the two things which we know will bring the coming of the Messiah (he should come quickly). Even if you would say, somehow, that it is forbidden to show love and kindness and unity to Muslims, we see, that since by doing so, anti-Jewish hatred would be decreased, the whole point is moot and it would be permitted anyway.

So at least from a Jewish standpoint, there's no reason not to work toward coexistence and unity.

A moral imperative? It's way past that.

Posted by Y-Love at 03:01 PM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)

From the European Jewish Press, a story of peace and coexistence...live on the radio.

The first radio station in the UK ever to be run jointly by Jews and Muslims made history last Thursday night when it started broadcasting.

Radio Salaam Shalom, a project by students of two universities in England’s South West, has attracted media interest from around the world by bringing the two faiths together.

The station, which is broadcast over the Internet, features both Jewish and Muslim presenters and promises a mixture of music, talk and feature-led programmes.

Wait! Hold your yawns!

But while Radio Salaam Shalom hopes to focus on the faiths’ often overlooked similarities and shared culture, bosses have also vowed not to "duck" the potentially divisive issues between them, such as the Israeli-Palestinian dispute, during live discussions.

A spokesman for the station said it will focus on "the many aspects of Jewish and Muslim life and allow two cultures which have been linked for thousands of years to talk together and share their experiences."...

Farooq Siddique, a member of the Bristol Muslim Cultural Society and presenter on the station, said he hoped the project would help improve community relations.

“Basically when you think of two communities who don’t get on, the first one you think of is Jews and Muslims.

“The idea behind the station, at a time when chasms are opening up between communities here in the UK and around the world, is to act as a bridge and bring communities together to discuss their problems.

“There’s so much we have in common. The Israel-Palestine issue has come to define Muslim and Jewish relations, but prior to that the relationship was the exact opposite.”

The idea came from Jewish and Muslim students at two universities - Bristol University and the University of the West of England - as a means of forging closer links with each other.

Insha'All-h, im Yirtzeh Hashem this will be seen one day as the introduction to a sorely needed new chapter in UK Jewish-Muslim relations.

Posted by Y-Love at 02:25 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

21,700 people have been nominated for the "Righteous Gentile" award given by the Israeli Holocaust Museum Yad Vashem since the award's inception. Sixty of those have been Muslim.

But up until this week, no Arab Muslim from an Arabic-speaking country had ever been nominated as a Righteous Gentile for their actions during the Holocaust.

Until now, that is.

From The Jerusalem Post:

At the height of the Second World War, Khaled Abdelwahhab hid a group of Jews on his farm in a small Tunisian town, saving them from the Nazi troops occupying the north African nation.

More than six decades later, Abdelwahhab has become the first Arab nominated for recognition as "Righteous Among the Nations" by Yad Vashem, Israel's official Holocaust memorial. The honor is bestowed on non-Jews who risked their lives to save Jews from Nazi persecution....

"I asked, did any Arabs save Jews in the Holocaust?" [Washington Institute For Near East Policy Head Michael] Satloff said. "If they did, these are stories about which Arabs could be proud. It would also entail accepting the context, because it would mean there was something to save Jews from."

That search led Satloff to Abdelwahhab, the cosmopolitan son of an aristocratic family who was 32 when German troops arrived in Tunisia in November 1942. The north African nation was home to some 100,000 Jews at the time.

According to Yad Vashem, the Germans instituted anti-Semitic policies in Tunisia, imposing fines on Jews, forcing many to wear Star of David badges and confiscating property. More than 5,000 Jews were sent to forced labor camps, where 46 are known to have died. Around 160 Tunisian Jews who happened to be in France were dispatched to European death camps. Most Tunisians, according to the material compiled by Yad Vashem, did not attempt to intervene.

Abdelwahhab, an amateur archaeologist and architect with something of a hedonistic bent, served as an interlocutor between the population of the coastal town of Mahdia and the German occupation forces, Satloff said. He was also a country farmer, a sometime Tunisian civil servant and an avid traveler.

When he heard one evening that German officers were planning to rape Odette Boukris, a local Jewish woman, he gathered her family and several other Jewish families in Mahdia - a total of around two dozen people - and took them to his farm outside town. He hid them for four months, until the German occupation ended.

Mr. Abdelwahhab should be counted among the Righteous of the Nations of the World and his soul should be elevated by the recounting of his deeds. Ken yirbu kamohu.

Posted by Y-Love at 02:34 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Another example of interfaith unity accomplishing wonderful things.

From Boston.com:

N.H. Jews, Muslims serve meal at shelter
December 26, 2006

MANCHESTER, N.H. --New Hampshire Jews and Muslims say serving Christmas meals to the poor on a Christian holy day shows that different faiths can work together. Volunteers from the two religions were at the New Horizon shelter Monday. They worked in the kitchen and on the serving line where turkey, stuffing, cranberry sauce and sweet potatoes were on the menu.

For more than 25 years, members of a local synagogue have volunteered Christmas Eve and Christmas at the soup kitchen. This year, members of the Islamic Society of Greater Manchester joined in.

Posted by Y-Love at 01:15 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

The Washington Post gives us this heartwarming story of Muslim-Jewish unity borne out of the Tehran Holocaust conference:

Local Muslim leaders lit candles yesterday at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum to commemorate Jewish suffering under the Nazis, in a ceremony held just days after Iran had a conference denying the genocide.

American Muslims "believe we have to learn the lessons of history and commit ourselves: Never again," said Imam Mohamed Magid of the All Dulles Area Muslim Society, standing before the eternal flame flickering from a black marble base that holds dirt from Nazi concentration camps.

"We stand here with three survivors of the Holocaust and my great Muslim friends to condemn this outrage in Iran," said Sara J. Bloomfield, the museum's director, addressing a bank of TV cameras in the room, known as the Hall of Remembrance.

Major American Muslim and Arab-American organizations have condemned the Iran conference. The Muslim speakers at yesterday's ceremony did not mention that event but called for recognition of the suffering Jews experienced in the Holocaust and condemned religious hatred. Asked afterward why they did not single out Iran, the Muslim leaders said the problem was broader than the recent conference.

"The issue here is: There might be somebody from X and Y country, a Muslim, saying the same thing," Magid said. If anyone wants to make Holocaust denial an Islamic cause, he said, "we want to say to them: You cannot use our name."

Bloomfield, the museum director, noted that Magid delayed his trip to Mecca for the annual hajj pilgrimage by a day to attend the ceremony.

"That's a pretty strong statement," she said.

Continue reading "Holocaust Conference Aftermath: Muslim-Jewish Unity" »

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From San Francisco's Inside Bay Area.com:

Japanese, Muslims recall racism
Pearl Harbor, 9/11 ushered in problems for minorities
By Michael Manekin, STAFF WRITER

When the Imperial Japanese Navy swooped over Pearl Harbor 65 years ago and destroyed more than 2,400 American lives, Mas Yamasaki was watching a church basketball game in Sacramento. He was 12, and he didn't know that he would soon live in a detention camp at Tule Lake — sleeping on an Army-issued mattress, braving the elements without indoor plumbing or heat.

The child of Japanese immigrants, Yamasaki was born an American citizen. But he spent 31/2 years of his American childhood in the camp — he was considered a threat to national security. The internment of Japanese immigrants is familiar to most Americans — in large part, because Yamasaki and legions of Japanese camp survivors have made their voices heard.

Now, Yamasaki and other survivors are speaking out against a new danger.

"We were stereotyped," said Yamasaki. "Now, with the Muslims, it's the same thing. Everyone's pointing fingers saying they're an enemy." The Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor stripped Japanese Americans of their homes and freedom. But five years ago, the actions of 19 hijackers radically altered the lives of the county's estimated 6 million Muslims.

"Pearl Harbor gave the United States the excuse to discriminate against Japanese Americans by saying these guysare potential saboteurs," said Steve Okamoto, co-president of the San Mateo chapter of the Japanese American Citizens League (JACL). "Now, they're lumping (Muslims) together like they did with the Japanese."

And one particular Imam is also like-minded, expanding his actions to include interfaith unity with Jews and Christians:

Continue reading "Japanese-Muslim Unity In California" »

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A small neighborhood in the city of Istanbul, Turkey, could serve to teach a lessons to the billions of us who are not privileged to live in such proximity with such a model of interfaith unity.

We learn about the ancient neighborhood of Kuzguncuk from the Voice of America:

Kuzguncuk, is an ancient part of Istanbul, the only city in the world that lies in two continents; Asia and Europe. For hundreds of years it has been inhabited by Muslims, Jews, and Christians; Turks, Armenians and Greeks. Kuzguncuk lies on the Asian side of the Bosporus Strait.
There is a church, a mosque, and a synagogue, right beside each other. The priest of the Armenian Orthodox Church, using a key made in 1835, opens the doors to a Christian world within a Muslim one.

The priest is one of a few who come from another part of Istanbul to serve the faithful. And when he says faithful, he is referring to Jews and Muslims, as well as Christians, who enter this holy place to pray. "There is no difference between us....There is no difference. There is only one God and different paths to that God."

Continue reading "Interfaith Unity: A Small Turkish Model for World Peace" »

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From The Frederick (MD) News-Post:

The president of Frederick County's largest Jewish congregation met with the spiritual leader of the local Muslim community, and plans are in the works for a festive joint gathering in December.

"My goal for this meeting was to establish relationships between Frederick's Islamic and Jewish communities," said Andy Carpel, president of the Beth Sholom Congregation, in a press release issued Nov. 22...Yahya Hendi, imam of the Islamic Society of Frederick, reaffirmed his commitment to "dialogue with all people, Jews and Christians," according to the press release.

"I would want more Muslims to understand the Jewish story. I also urge more Jews to understand the Muslim and the Palestinian story of pain and suffering," the press release quoted him.

Imam Hendi's August call for dialogue among Muslims, Jews and Christians has led to meetings, dinners, and joint celebrations, and the dialogue has continued to gain momentum.

One call to dialogue and so many results. One love to Imam Hendi and may it be G-d's Will that the shared atmosphere of respect experienced at so many meetings and dinners translate into the abatement of anti-Semitism and Islamophobia in our respective communities.

Ken y'hi ratzon. Insha'All-h.

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From the Canadian Jewish News:

In the fight against militant Islam, one of the new theories is this: if you force Muslims to look like everyone else, they’ll start acting like everyone else. That thought was the driving force behind the French government’s 2004 decision to ban religious symbols in schools.

It’s also the driving force behind a new bill proposed by the Dutch government that, if passed, would forbid Muslim women from donning facial veils in public, and it’s the reason former British foreign secretary Jack Straw admitted in a recent editorial that he asks Muslim women to remove their veils during conversations with him.

The effort to end fanaticism – religious or otherwise – is always a worthy cause. But inherent in this endeavor is the danger of becoming precisely the fanatic you had hoped to eradicate. In the effort to create uniformity and civic equality, it’s quite possible that what we reward is actually a form of secular fanaticism.

In 1959, Philip Roth posed the question that we should all be asking ourselves right now: who are the real fanatics?

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Audio from CBC (10 minutes, RealAudio):

From the CBC:

The Montreal Police Service is defending an article that recommends women officers call for backup from male colleagues on calls involving the Hasidic Jewish community.

The article, published in the October issue of the internal newsletter L'Heure Juste, is part of a series of features on different religions and cultures, and aims to assist officers who find themselves in potentially awkward situations, said a police spokeswoman.

"That's the reality," said Insp. Joanne Paquin. "If we don't understand the differences of all those cultures, maybe we won't respond the right way."

But the Montreal Police Brotherhood insists the force has gone too far, accusing it of denigrating its female officers by suggesting they can't do the job alone.

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You can't stop the unstoppable.

Much love to Jay-Z and Russell Simmons for this most worthy endeavor.

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Will you get a load of this? You wouldn't believe who a Norwegian-Danish coalition is calling "the example" for interfaith coexistence in the world.

Syria.

I'm serious.

The Syrian official state news agency SANA reports:

Receiving a joint Norwegian-Danish delegation that includes representatives of the Islamic communities in the two countries and headed by Chairman of Islamic-Christian Dialogue in Denmark Monk Lissie, Dr. Hassoun stressed that all religion doctrines came for the sake of human happiness and to plant amity and tolerance values among different nations and peoples.

For her part, Monk Lissie expressed admiration of the coexistence and tolerance she saw in Syria among all religions which proved that Syria still represents an example of tolerance and deepening the dialogue among civilizations.

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British Chief Rabbi Rav Sir Jonathan Sacks, head of the British Chief Rabbinate of the United Hebrew Congregations of the Commonwealth, spoke to the Australian Jewish News in an interview published today. Rav Sacks spoke about various topics including the Pope's Islam comments and interfaith relations when seen through a macroscopic historical lens, as well as Muslim-Jewish relations in the UK today.

Much of what he said would shock many of the right-wing Orthodox Jewish communities in America today, especially here in New York.

AJN: How are relations between the Muslim and Jewish communities in Britain?

Rabbi Sacks: We have to lead the way in good community relations, what we call darchei shalom. We are reaching out to Muslims, to Hindus, to Sikhs, establishing bonds of personal friendship.

That sometimes pays dividends. We saw the impact of this on 7/7. The British Home Office established that the risk of a major terrorist incident in Britain made it more or less inevitable but what they really feared over and above the casualties of the terrorist attack were those that might emerge from an enormous backlash against Muslims not unlike that in Holland after the murder of film-maker Theo van Gogh. But there was no backlash in Britain.

Crisis tests the underlying health of the organism and the underlying health of Britain was evident because we'd put the work in and we keep putting it in.

AJN: Is it the duty of rabbis and Jewish leaders to defend the rights of Muslims to the Jews?

Rabbi Sacks: I have appointed a rabbi specialising in Jewish-Muslim relations. If we get left out, that will leave our community very vulnerable. I see inter-faith as something that should be a rabbi-led initiative.

On other subjects, Rav Sacks was equally enlightening vis-a-vis his point of view. Regarding gender relations:

AJN: Certain streams of Orthodoxy have gradually tried to increase the participation of women in shul services and other aspects of Orthodox life. Where do you feel the line should be drawn in terms of women's role in Orthodoxy?

Rabbi Sacks: We have done everything we can within the parameters of halacha to enhance the position of women in shul life. We have girls celebrating their bnei mitzvot in synagogues after the main Shabbat service, we have women on shul boards, things that never happened before.

Very early on in my chief rabbinate, together with the London Beth Din, we laid down the parameters for women's prayer groups.

The most important thing we have achieved is in the area of the agunah (chained woman). We have gett legislation and pre-nuptial agreements. Any family law judge can refuse to grant a civil divorce until a Jewish divorce has been given.

At least I know I'm at least a little in line with da'as Torah. I can breathe a bit easier now :)

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Just seeing this article from George Washington University's Daily Colonial is enough to make me start beaming:

President Stephen Joel Trachtenberg, a handful of ambassadors and over 300 students filled the Marvin Center Grand Ballroom Thursday night for the fifth annual interfaith celebration of Iftar.

The dinner is the traditional breaking of Muslims’ daily fasts during the month of Ramadan. Thursday’s event was sponsored by the Muslim Students Association, the Jewish Student Association and Program Board, in conjunction with Trachtenberg and the University.

Guests enjoyed free Kosher and Halal cuisine – food that has been specially prepared under the guidelines Jewish and Islamic laws, respectively – during some brief comments by the university’s president and representatives from MSA, JSA and PB.

The event began with a joint speech by Fawzi Hindi ‘08, president of the MSA, and Adam Broms ‘09, president of the JSA, welcoming attendees. Representatives from both groups then recited their respective prayers accompanied by English translations.

“With all that’s going on in the world, we need to show we can and must get along and live in harmony,” said Saif Inam ‘08, MSA’s vice president. “What’s going on in the world doesn’t reflect our faiths.”

Inam, like many attendees, sampled food from both the Jewish and Muslim tables. Though not all preparation guidelines are the same in the two faiths, there are many similarities. Much of the food could be eaten by those practicing either diet.

These people saw that, on both sides, here were G-d-fearing people who want to do the right thing. People who are adverse to killing and who do eschew violence. On all sides of the room and spectrum. They used this as a vehicle for peace and unity.

Baruch Hashem w'alhamduliLl-h!!

The event was also attended by the Ambassador from Chad, Mahamoud Adam Bechir, who said:

“I hope this initiative will even further interfaith dialogue,” said Ambassador Mahamoud Adam Bechir of Chad. “And that will lead us to a better world.”

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In The American Muslim, Dr. Robert D. Crane, former Deputy Director for Planning for the White House National Security Council and Director of Da’wa at the Islamic Center on Massachusetts Avenue in Washington, D.C., explains a Qur'anic dictum in the light of so much Islamophobia post-multiculturalism.

I do love America and its many diverse peoples, but above all I love what America was created to mean. We have accomplished a lot, have worked mightily to overcome the blot of slavery and of genocide against the Native Americans (my father’s people), and now we must work equally hard to overcome the more recent projection of our original failings onto the entire world.

America, Pakistan, and Israel are the only three countries deliberately created to embody and carry out the higher objectives of justice and freedom, and all three so far have failed to live up to our joint calling. All three of us have followed a rocky road and have a long way to go. The road seems to be getting rockier, but Allah tells us in the Qur’an that those who choose the upward path when all roads get rocky are the favored ones.

So then, what is the "upward path"? I wholeheartedly believe we can find the truth in the eternal words of Scripture, in the concepts expressed in the book of Amos, in 5:4-5:5, and 5:14:

5:4. For so said the L-rd to the house of Israel; Seek Me and live.

5:5. But seek not Bethel, neither come to Gilgal, nor pass Beersheba, for Gilgal shall be exiled, and Bethel shall become nought.

5:14 Seek good and not evil in order that you live, and so the L-rd G-d of Hosts shall be with you, as you said.

5:15. Hate evil and love good, and establish justice in the gate; perhaps the Lord God of Hosts will be gracious to the remnant of Joseph.

Continue reading "Choosing Unity: Choosing the Upward Path For America" »

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Aycan Demirel, a German man of Turkish origin, has decided to build bridges and to attack anti-Semitism he sees as emanating from within the Middle Eastern communities there. As Ha'aretz reports:

BERLIN - When Aycan Demirel looks out his office window onto the main street of the Kreuzberg neighborhood, center of the Turkish community in Germany's capital, he is unimpressed by the diverse human mosaic for which "Little Istanbul" is famous. Businesses along Oranienstrasse are populated by young Germans eating shwarma to the sounds of Turkish music, but Demirel pointedly recalled the darker side of the neighborhood experience. "The residents here love to treat this neighborhood as a model of multiculturalism and tolerance, but that image is fraudulent," he said.

"The Jews have no place in this multiculturalism," Demirel said. "If you wear a kippa or a Magen David, there's a big chance you'll be cursed at and even assaulted. Anti-Semitism is rearing its head in Germany, only now the anti-Semites are young Muslims."

Demirel, 38, is not Jewish; he emigrated from Turkey 16 years ago.

Continue reading "What a Surprise! Great Anti-Racist Jewish-Muslim Unity News from Germany" »

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