A look at the past and some real, and possibly painful, talk about today — it’s all on the table at an upcoming symposium on Muslim-Jewish relations.
“We’re not going to censor,” said Rabbi Peretz Wolf-Prusan, chief program organizer at Lehrhaus Judaica, which is co-hosting the event with the Osher Marin JCC in San Rafael.
The four-hour program, titled “A Golden Age in the Golden State? Muslims and Jews Creating a Culture of Understanding,” will combine academic knowledge and real-world activism for a two-pronged look at the issue.
The academic part of the day will start with a keynote talk by Fred Astren, chair of the Department of Jewish Studies at San Francisco State University, where he is also a faculty member in the Middle East and Islamic Studies department. Astren will discuss the so-called Islamic “Golden Age,” when Arab Muslims ruled over a pluralistic Iberian Peninsula in the Middle Ages.
Wolf-Prusan said many people view it as a perfect time when Jews and Muslims lived in harmony. “It’s a nostalgic delusion, because that never happened,” he said.
Also speaking will be Maha Elgenaidi, executive director of the Islamic Networks Group, a San Jose-based organization that aims to counter prejudice through education and community engagement. Elgenaidi, who has been involved with Bay Area interfaith work for 12 years, and is the founder of ING, thinks there are obvious parallels between the Muslims and Jews in today’s United States. “We are two of the largest religious minorities in the country,” she said.
The event will focus a bit on the “Faith Trio” in Oakland — a relationship among the Islamic Cultural Center of Northern California, Kehilla Community Synagogue and Montclair Presbyterian Church that been operating for more than a decade. Lea Delson of Kehilla, Ali Sheikholeslami of the ICC and pastor Ben Daniel of MPC will talk about what does and does not work in interfaith relations. There will also be a panel about ongoing interfaith efforts in Marin, moderated by Joanne Greene, director of Jewish engagement at the Osher Marin JCC.
The event also will include a break for food, music and even prayer — from both religions. “That’ll be kind of special,” Greene said.
All of this, Wolf-Prusan hopes, will take place in an environment where people will feel free to tackle difficult topics. But attendees also have to be prepared to hear hard truths from others. “We’re going to hit some areas of discomfort,” he said. “It’s just going to happen.”
Elgenaidi said that the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is the elephant in the room in most Muslim-Jewish conversations. While it’s often not discussed in such settings, so the dialogue can keep going, she says that it has to be talked about. She added that both sides have to listen to their own diverse voices, and not exclude their own members for not toeing the line.
“You can’t possibly talk to the other side if you can’t even talk to people on your own side that have a different opinion,” she said.
She added that after the travel restrictions implemented as an executive order under President Donald Trump, the instant support that Muslims received from the Jewish community made a real impact in interfaith relations. And when Muslims raised money to fix desecrated Jewish cemeteries, that helped, too.
“All of that brought Muslims and Jews together organically,” she said.
The event is a continuation of programming that the Osher Marin JCC has been doing in interfaith Muslim-Jewish relationships for some time, including an interfaith Iftar, the Ramadan fast-breaking meal, an interfaith art exhibit, and a seminar about how American Jews and Muslims can figure out how to speak to each other about the Middle East.
Wolf-Prusan hopes that these events will continue at Lehrhaus Judaica, as well, as part of the Bay Area’s push to create a dialogue between religions.
“This is not a one-time event,” he said. “We’re going to do this again.”
Hmmmm… what about this hateful imam from Davis? Will he attend? Is sitting on the floor condusive to Jewish-Muslin interface dialog? Why the Israili-Palestinian conflict IS the elephant in the room but hateful imam is not?
Even people who are close to each other avoid talking about Israel and the Arabs because it is a difficult and painful subject. People who do speak at every chance they get often are sure it is simple, that they have all the answers and that people who don’t think as they do are to be ignored and in some cases shouted down.
Agree, agree! It is time to listen and to hear those who are weary of huggin haters who preach to kill us. Our so called leaders either don’t listen, or refuse to hear
I try to listen to everyone. My ideas are my own.
“Elgenaidi said that the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is the elephant in the room in most Muslim-Jewish conversations. While it’s often not discussed in such settings, so the dialogue can keep going, she says that it has to be talked about. She added that both sides have to listen to their own diverse voices, and not exclude their own members for not toeing the line.
“You can’t possibly talk to the other side if you can’t even talk to people on your own side that have a different opinion,” she said.”
That is where we are. JVP Jews and liberal Christian activists have no interest in what I have to say because they think they know all about how I think without listening to me. I on the other hand have spent a lot of time listening to them and going to their meetings.
I view the Arab and Israel situation as a very complicated intermix of politics and social issues which is obscured by appeals to religion. It is wrong for Jews to take issue with everyone who follows a tradition where some vocal and energetic people look down on us. We have survived by trying to be kind to everyone and open to kindness and welcome wherever we find them.
Interesting thoughts, David. I hope you can come to the event. I would be happy to hear your opinions. Lea Delson
“We survived by trying to be kind”? You cannot be more wrong. We, the Jews, survived DESPITE many who tried to be kind.
Kindness to all is built into our religion and our tradition. Certainly there are and have been Jews who weren’t and aren’t kind. The prophets spoke against them. Kindness does not mean we are supine or meek in opposition to injustice. But that does not mean we should take delight in hurting people. Those who do take delight in hurting people undermine our civilization, which is built on kindness.
Oh, well… there is a huge distance between being hurtful and not being universally and indiscriminately kind As Jews we survived by being faithful to Hashem. And by having
wisdom to distinguish between those who are truly kind to us from those who pretend it is in vogue now to pretend to be blissfully happy when those who hate us are willing to sit with us on the sa.e carpet
“Among the constants of Jewish religious life, acts of kindness dominate.”
http://www.aish.com/jl/i/i/48944871.html
There are people who don’t hate us but feel superior to us in various ways. There are people who hate those of us who strongly support Israel. They are all human beings and there are a lot more of them than of us. Who knows what might be possible? I would be happy if people would simply listen to us and consider the possibility that we are in some cases smart about what we say and are motivated by concern for everyone. It is my view that the people who scream end the occupation have no plan for doing that and are encouraging the Palestinians to hold out until they can take over all of Israel. I would like to hear a lot more from the Palestinians who live in Palestine and less from white Christian power brokers who claim to speak for them.
??? What the white Chistian power has to with this discussion?
Palestinians are Christians and Muslims. The Christians are very important to many white Christians who act as their surrogates. It is my view that Palestinians are poorly served by these surrogates. This is the 21st Century with all kinds of ways of communicating. Having white people in the US be surrogates for people in Palestine is so 20th Century.
By bringing “whiteness” into this discussion you are cheapening two issues: the plight of persecuted Christians in Arab lands, and the hypocrisy of all these “mixed meetings” at which one side is not courageous enough to speak the truth, while the other is does not care the speak the truth. Both sides are avoiding the subject of Christians in Arab lands.
I am dealing with the situation as it is. White liberal Christians are at the forefront of this issue. Their denominations pass resolutions against Israel which they have pushed. They schedule meetings at their churches. They extol the Kairos Palestine document, which was written by Palestinian Christians. I can’t answer why their focus is on what Israel does and not what Arab countries do. They say it is because it is their Holy Land, ignoring the history of that idea as a justification for colonial activities.
The focus on the supposed awfulness of Israel does serve the purpose of letting people feel morally superior to most Jews while ignoring the anti-Semitic history of that way of looking at us. The organizations in the Jewish community devote a huge amount of energy trying to combat all the things these white Christians are doing out of what they view as their boundless love and devotion to justice.
In my experience people believe they are speaking the truth even when giving talking points which don’t make sense.
interesting that no mizrachi jews are involved with this