Hope for Jews, Muslims

As 2002 dawns, relations between Jews and Muslims worldwide and in the United States are tense at best, murderous at worst.

The past three months have seen suicide attacks by Palestinian extremists, harsh Israeli retaliation and the disintegration of the Middle East peace process. There have been widely accepted rumors in the Arab and Muslim world that Israel and Jews were behind the Sept. 11 attacks, and a torrent of anti-Semitic rhetoric in the Arab media. On Dec. 14, the FBI arrested two members of the Jewish Defense League on charges of plotting to bomb the King Fahd Mosque in Culver City and the local office of Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Vista).

In this country, the Jewish community has been resentful at the failure of Muslim organizations to condemn terrorist attacks in Israel, and these groups are angry that U.S. Jewish groups haven’t spoken out about the plight of the Palestinians.

In the midst of this grim standoff, at least a few hopeful signs exist that relations between Jews and Muslims in America might improve, and that this, in turn, might have some indirect positive effect on the dismal Middle East situation.

On Dec. 9, Temple Beth El in Aliso Viejo hosted a unique interfaith event sponsored by the National Conference for Community and Justice in conjunction with the Roman Catholic Diocese of Orange, the Orange County Islamic Foundation and the Interfaith Peace Ministry. It simultaneously marked the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, the Christian season of Advent and the first night of the Jewish festival of Hanukkah.

With more than 500 people from the three faiths in attendance, a group of Muslims carried out their Maghrib, or sunset prayer ritual. Then Sheik Yassir Mohammed spoke about Ramadan from the bimah, or pulpit, of the temple, Father Raphael Luevano explained the meaning of Advent, and Rabbi Allen Krause explained the historical background of Hanukkah and asked Jewish children in attendance to light the first candle.

At UCLA and a few other college campuses across the country, food is bringing Jewish and Muslims students together. During Ramadan at UCLA, Muslim and Jewish students held a joint iftar, or fast-breaking dinner, on Nov. 29 as part of a larger effort by students from the two faiths to build bridges of understanding. At Mount Holyoke College, according to a recent report on NPR’s “All things Considered,” a kosher-halal kitchen has been established for observant Jewish and Muslim students, one will soon be ready at Dartmouth College, and UCLA is considering the idea.

The possibility of dialogue between Jewish and Muslim religious leaders and scholars is beginning to take shape in Orange County. Both Muzammil Siddiqi of the Islamic Society of Orange County and Rabbi Shelton Donnell of Temple Beth Sholom have expressed interest in the idea, and Bill Shane, Orange County director of the National Conference for Community and Justice, has said he is willing to facilitate the meetings. Siddiqi and Donnell both stressed that discussion of Middle East politics should be kept off the agenda and that a sharing of information about the history and teachings of the two faiths should be the initial focus.

One model for dialogue--and source of inspiration--is the Interreligious Coordinating Council in Israel directed by Rabbi Ron Kronish, with an executive committee drawn from distinguished Jewish, Christian and Muslim leaders and 70 affiliated organizations representing the three faith communities. The ICCI works to promote Arab-Jewish coexistence and interreligious understanding throughout Israel by means of dialogue groups, peace education, courses for teachers and the public on the three faiths, environmental programs, and a series of publications.

The work is ongoing, for as Kronish wrote in a Nov. 10, 2000, newsletter, “We will not allow the terrible violence of this period to put an end to our efforts for peace.” He also told the author in a recent e-mail how important it is for Jews and Muslims “to learn what their respective traditions have to say about peace and peacemaking.” In so doing, he believes, they will discover deeply held common values, even though from disparate sources.

A final sign of hope for improved Jewish-Muslim relations is the renewed interest in Islam, especially, and religion in general after Sept. 11. The American public has grown eager to learn more about the history and teachings of Islam. (Visit the religion section of your local bookstore and notice the number of new books on the subject.)

Factual information about religious traditions dispels bias and fear. Even one lecture by a religion scholar on, for example, the commonalities between Judaism, Christianity and Islam (and, of course, the differences) is a tonic for tolerance. And the superb interfaith Web site beliefnet.com is a continuous source of clear facts and wise opinions about the religious world.

Hope has a power in and of itself to break deadlocks. May it prevail in the year ahead.