What the Peacemaker Wanted for her Birthday

by Amy Loewenthal, Reconstructionist Rabbinical College

Slifka Intern in Israel

 

For Elana Rozenman*, “there could be no better birthday gift than to feel the power of women making the world better.” So, as the director of TRUST-Emun, an Israeli NGO building mutual trust and understanding among people in conflict areas, Elana invited Muslim, Christian, and Jewish women to gather at her house.            http://trustemun.org/

 

Women came from nearby: down the street in her Abu Tor neighborhood, East Jerusalem’s Jabal Mukaber, the Old City, and West Jerusalem; and from afar: Fureidis near Haifa, and even a woman from a foundation in Finland! They spoke English, Arabic and Hebrew, with probably ten other languages amongst them.

 

As we introduced ourselves, we honored a special guest who mused that in diplomatic circles she was in, she was told that some countries didn’t have relations with other countries. She observed, nonetheless, that women from those countries would always find a way to talk with each other. A Catholic, she offered a few words of Christian prayer, saying: “‘Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those that trespass against us.’ She added:  “A group women of such as this surely understands this,” and many nodded.

 

Hallah B., the wife of a prominent local Sheikh, gave a Muslim blessing for peace and protection. I was honored to be asked to present a Jewish prayer. I chose: Taher libenu l’avdecha b’emet – purify our hearts to serve You in truth; purify our hearts that we might truly serve You. I relished hearing these words translated into Arabic.

 

Ghada, a Palestinian Muslim woman who lives in the Old City, told us a story. In 1948, a Jewish man fleeing from Arabs was sheltered by her husband’s uncle. Nineteen years later, in 1967, the Jewish man returned to express gratitude for being sheltered. Ghada sighed, “It hurts me to say that sadly, my husband’s uncle had died so he wasn’t able to thank him.”

 

Another special guest was Amoun Sleem*, director of the Domari Society of Gypsies of Jerusalem. The Domari Center, celebrating its fifth anniversary, serves the social, cultural, and educational needs of this Muslim minority community which suffers from discrimination within the Palestinian population, high rates of adult and child illiteracy and poverty. The Center teaches classes in Arabic, English, and the Domari language, as well as vocational courses. http://domarisociety.googlepages.com/

 

After introductions, we shifted into pairs to speak from the heart with each other about what are personal strengths we can bring to peace work and conflict resolution. I paired with a young woman from South Tel Aviv named Lim who told me she is currently walking the Israel National Trail with Walk About Love, a group promoting non-violence and cultural exchange.  http://www.walkaboutlove.org/

I told her of my eagerness to communicate with other American Jews about the conflict: that I believe the lives of the peoples here are tied together, and the true success of one people can come only with the success of the other people.

 

Ibtisam Mahameed*, another honored guest, twinkled as she announced in Arabic that Elana is her true sister. Before leading us in a closing meditation, she wanted to sing a song to Elana. The song turned out to be “Happy Birthday” in English and then in Arabic! Ibtisam led a beautiful meditation where we took each other’s hands, giving to one woman and receiving from another. http://jerusalempeacemakers2008.jerusalempeacemakers.org/ibtisam/index.html

 

 

 

This lovely multifaith event was a great way to celebrate a birthday!

*Elana Rozenman, Amoun Sleem, and Ibtisam Mahameed are featured in Sixty Years, Sixty Voices, a book project of PEACE x PEACE:            http://www.60voices.org/

 

 

 

 

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Creating a Virtual Interreligious Community

The co-editor of the new on line Journal of Interreligious Dialogue, Joshua Stanton,  has a post on the blog, On Faith, hosted by the Washington Post.  This is worth reading. It is a great story of what a young person can accomplish in a relatively short time with a great idea whose time has come. You can read the whole article or just the excerpts below:

“The Journal has been more than eight months in the making. …With the notion that religious leaders might gain greatly from regular interactions with colleagues of other denominations, I began sending letters to seminaries, non-profit organizations, and scholarly associations to see if there was interest in an online academic journal tailored specifically to the needs of present and future religious leaders and scholars. In the process, I met Stephanie Hughes, the student body president of Union Theological Seminary, Together we set out to build what we hoped would become not only the first peer reviewed electronic journal for religious leaders, but also a virtual inter-religious community.

After working to form an inter-religious (and inter-generational) staff of dedicated students and practicing theologians, we approached top thinkers from different religious traditions to serve as peer reviewers and advisors on our Board of Scholars and Practitioners. These leaders showed no hesitation to promote tolerance and little fear that their work to do so might undermine their personal religious practices. These leaders include Sayyid M. Syeed, Director of Interfaith and Community Alliances at the Islamic Society of North America, Nancy Fuchs-Kreimer, Director of the Religious Studies Department at the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College, Eboo Patel, Executive Director of the Interfaith Youth Core, Reginald Broadnax, Dean of Academic Affairs at Hood Theological Seminary, and Robert Hunt, Director of Global Theological Education at the Perkins School of Theology at the Southern Methodist University, among many others.

This March, we formally launched the Journal of Inter-Religious Dialogue™. Board members are currently reviewing submissions for our Spring 2009 edition. And our website is up and running, with a number of articles already available for readers. The time is now right to invite seminarians, lay leaders, and believers (and those without belief) of all denominations to join our network.”

I encourage our readers to check out the website and to become community members.

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The Binding of Isaac/Ishmael: Reflections on a MultiFaith Text Study Conference in Israel

By Amy Loewenthal, RRC Rabbinical Student, Multifaith Initiatives Intern in Israel

 

I was an honored guest on Palestinian bus #21, heading for Beit Jala. Clutched in my hand were the unneeded Arabic language directions to the conference hotel. Within minutes of my boarding, two different mothers adopted me, shifted their families around and gave me a seat, hard candies, and endlessly repeated directions of where to get off the bus and how to get to the hotel.

 

A warm prelude to a two-day multifaith text study conference co-sponsored by the Interfaith Encounter Association and the Hope Flowers School:

 http://interfaith-encounter.org/ ; www.hopeflowersschool.org/

 

“The Binding of Isaac/Ishmael in Judaism, Christianity & Islam,” held just a few days before the holiday of Eid al Adha, the commemoration of the near-sacrifice of Ishmael, was attended by 35 participants. The majority were Palestinian men from Hebron, while a few Palestinian women, a few Israelis and internationals rounded out the group.

 

 

From the Torah

 

Rabbi Yoran Dorani, chief rabbi of Nokdim, presented the Torah story of Isaac’s binding. We explored two voices that Abraham heard – an internal instinctive voice that tells a father to protect his son; and an external voice from G-d which Abraham incredulously listened to, wondering how he could be called to do the  unthinkable.

Rabbi Yoran Dorani, Chief Rabbi of Nokdim

 

 

 

What does it mean to hear G-d’s voice urging you to commit a violent act? We agreed how wrong it is to use a religious text to justify violence. I expressed my hope to see a unified Jewish response to Jews who commit violence “in the name of Torah” – to see public condemnation of such acts, and a statement that perpetrating the violence is not serving G-d, but serving only some distorted inner need. The concept of kherem (excommunication) could be brought into effect against people like Baruch Goldstein.

 

From the Koran

 

Fadeela Eswed, a clinical psychologist, standing in for an Imam unable to attend, presented the Koran’s Akedah, the binding of Ishmael, while consulting a copy of the Koran on her PDA.

 

Fadeela Eswed, Clinical Psychologist

 

 

 

 

 

The Koran story is similar to the Torah story: The knife which Abraham puts to Ishmael’s neck is suddenly stopped. G-d, through an angel, praises Abraham and rewards him with wisdom in the form of a large white sheep from heaven, a substitute for Ishmael. Eid Al Adha, the feast to begin a few days after the conference, is commemorated by sacrificing a sheep. Part of the meat is given to the poor and part is kept for a festive meal.

 

We continued our earlier discussion: discerning a moral voice from among multiple voices. Ms. Eswed sees a number of patients in her practice who feel that G-d is speaking to them. She understands this as a sign of mental illness, because the era in which G-d spoke directly to people ended long ago.

 

Connecting back to the need to discern a moral voice from among conflicting voices, we spoke about how life in community can serve as a corrective for people who might tend toward violence.

 

Several of the Muslim members of our group explained that when Abraham heard G-d’s request, he consulted with Ishmael about how to proceed. Ishmael said he was willing to be sacrificed. This illustrates three basic values: a) People should not act by force, but rather by convincing each other; b) Parents are obligated to imbue their children with good values through persuasion; c) People should consult with each other. The principle of Ijma was mentioned: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ijma

We discussed historicity of traditional texts, and how to proceed when an event described in traditional texts did not correlate with archeological evidence nor with external writings. We discussed communal and social norms. We cited support within our texts for honoring and celebrating diversity. We discussed the universal desire for peace and for a good life.

 

Peace Inside, Violence at Home

 

During the conference, some of the men who came from Hebron began receiving text messages about violence in their home town. Dozens of settlers from Kirya Arba shot at Palestinians at close range, threw stones, attacked Palestinian houses and set fire to trees in the hours after a settler house was evacuated by Israeli riot police.

A number of Palestinians were hospitalized in Hebron, and men under 45 years old from the West Bank were now not being allowed into Jerusalem. I felt horrified and ashamed, and I wondered how I now appeared in the eyes of these nice people from Hebron who I was studying and eating and singing with. Among them seemed to be a sense of casual resignation. There was gently cynical teasing among the men about who was old enough to merit entering Jerusalem. http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/dec/05/hebron-settlers-shooting-israel-palestinians

Despite concern over what was happening in Hebron, the conference continued. Besides text study and discussion, we ate together, sang and danced and drummed together, and played Shesh-Besh and cards.

 

 

How to Bring this into the “Real World?”

 

I left the conference feeling a beautiful sense of hope but also a great sadness. There was so much good will in the conference rooms. If it was up to us, we could have solved the conflict in a few days. But how does what was happening inside the hotel relate to the larger picture? How can the desire of so many people for peace translate into real change? How can this meeting of the minds grow hands and feet and become actualized? The distance between the conference and the “real world” was heart-breaking.

 

 

I returned to my house before Shabbat and decided to begin the custom of dipping the challah in Palestinian olive oil, in addition to salt, to symbolize hope for a peaceful coexistence. (This idea was inspired by At the Entrance to the Garden of Eden by Yossi Klein Halevi.) I purchased a Koran. Ms. Eswed asked me about where she might be able to obtain a Torah written in Arabic. I took her email and have begun to research this question for her.

 

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Rabbinical Student Rachel Weiss (RRC ’09) Reflects on Her Work with “Walking The Walk,” an Interfaith Service Learning Program in Philadelphia

By Rachel Weiss

 

Twenty four high school students await instructions in a circle. Some wear kippot, some wear hijab, others are dressed in three-piece suits from church that morning. Their task: to move a soda can from one side of the room to the other. The rules: everyone must be touching the can at all times, and everyone is only allowed to use one finger.

As this group initiative begins, students call out suggestions and strategies. Others sit quietly and wait for instructions. As the conversation continues, they uncover problems to solve: some students are taller than others; some move at different speeds; some must keep body parts covered; others may not touch a person of a different gender. They must work together to figure out how to accomplish the task.

Five minutes later, the group is a laughing mass of activity, cheering as they look out for one another and encouraging each other along the way. Applause erupts as they set the can down on their target. As we discuss, moving a soda can from one side of the room to the other is not going to change the world. But working together, listening to one another, taking into considerations practices and observances that are different from one’s own… this is exactly what will change the world.

Walking The Walk, an interfaith service learning program for high school students, is a program of The Interfaith Center of Greater Philadelphia. Our 24 participants are Jewish, Muslim, and Christian. They are African-American, African, Indian, Caucasian, upper middle-class, lower socioeconomic class, college bound and vocationally directed. Most had never set foot in a house of worship that was different than their own. Through community services, reflection, and dialogue about Shared Values such as Hospitality, Loving Your Neighbor, and Helping Those in Need, our Walking the Walkers have built more than a dialogue group, they have built a network of friendship and support.

Oops, Ouch, and Wow are our dialogue words. Oops – I said something offensive. Wow – that’s an amazing thing you just shared. Ouch – something you said offended me. Where in the Qur’an do Muslim Terrorists base their terrorist activities? Ouch. Why are Jews still upset about the Holocaust? Ouch. By first working together to build community, our students create a safe space for asking hard questions, risking insult to achieve understanding, and moving toward growth. They engage in questions of identity and heritage, faith and belief, asking one another to share intimately with the goal of understanding both of the Other and of the Self.

Moving a soda can across the room won’t affect global peace. But asking hard questions and listening to responses, sharing one’s self and building a group – that will most certainly move us toward that goal. And as these high school students remind us, laughter is a crucial ingredient.

 

 

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Emergence 101: A Five Minute Introduction

If you are interested in what is happening in the science and religion dialogue today, you probably know the  word “emergence” and know that the cluster of scientific ideas around that word is an important part of that conversation.

If you would like a  beginner’s exposition,  do find 5 minutes to watch this video of Professor Philip Clayton of Claremont School of Theology. Clayton is one of the best of today’s theologians working in the realm of process thought, and he is definitely one of the clearest expositors of complicated ideas. 

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Ten Commandments for Bloggers

Since so many  people are blogging religiously(in every sense of the word), it was inevitable that someone would come up with “ten commandments for bloggers.”You can learn about one recent  Christian effort here and review the ten they came up with below. Any readers have some other ideas?

1 You shall not put your blog before your integrity

2 You shall not make an idol of your blog

3 You shall not misuse your screen name by using your anonymity to sin

4 Remember the Sabbath day by taking one day off a week from your blog

5 Honour your fellow-bloggers above yourselves and do not give undue significance to their mistakes

6 You shall not murder someone else’s honour, reputation or feelings

7 You shall not use the web to commit or permit adultery in your mind

8 You shall not steal another person’s content

9 You shall not give false testimony against your fellow-blogger

10 You shall not covet your neighbour’s blog ranking. Be content with your own content

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Learning Across Communities

As I begin to learn more about the world of blogging, I am amazed by its potential, especially when it comes to interfaith relations. Many religious folks are discovering the internet as a powerful resource for connection.  As we read each others’ blogs across communities, we find  an extraordinarily efficient way to learn about one another.

When I discovered islamicate.com, altmuslimah,  and goatmilk.com I found a way to stay current with an emerging generation of smart, highly educated Muslims, serious about their faith and about living with integrity in two civilizations. Often these individuals are disperesed across the country(and the world), so the internet is indispensible for their creating community of their own. For a outsider like myself, it makes for fascinating reading.

For example, a recent post by an American Muslim woman in her thirties  bemoaned the difficulty of finding a husband when American Muslim men are marrying younger women, women from their countries of origin, or non Muslim women. It begins:

My sincere request to the Muslim American community, namely eligible men and their mothers, matrimonial sites and event organizers, and rishta aunties everywhere: Please stop ignoring me, and many others like me. I am part of a growing population of single women over 35 in our community, and we are not going away.

Or consider this newsflash, something I had not read about in the N.Y. Times but was very glad to know.

Last month when I participated in a five day international conference in Malaysia which brought together 250 women from 47 countries, many of them predominantly Muslim with strong links between religion and state. The conference launched the Musawah Movement, a loose network of Muslim women’s groups working to ensure that Muslim family law recognizes and operationalizes the equality of women within the family…. (to read more click here.)

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Journal of Inter-religious Dialogue Announces New Website

Swami Tyaganada, Hindu Chaplain at Harvard University and Sheryl Kujawa-Holbrook, Dean of the Episcopal Divinity School are two of the members of the Board of Scholars and Practitioners that has been gathered to oversee an exciting new project–an on-line inter-religious  journal and an accompanying  website.

                    This effort is not only multifaith, it is multi-generational as well. Joshua Stanton, a first year student at Hebrew Union College and Stephanie Hughes, a graduate student at Union Theological Seminary, are the founders and organizers. In a remarkably short time, they have gathered an impressive and diverse board. The  first issue of the journal will appear in May and the website carries a call for papers for the second issue .

                    As one of the members of the board, I have already had the privilege of participating in the peer review of several articles.  I am thoroughly looking  forward to watching this journal and website blossom.

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First Ever Gallup Study of Muslim American Households (with comparative data from other religious groups)

On March 2, Gallup’s Center for Muslim Studies published the first-ever nationally representative study of a randomly selected sample of Muslim Americans. With over 300,000 interviews of U.S. households, this study is the largest one to date, providing comparative data on issues from emotional well being, educational achievment, political views and body weight.

It is worth downloading the full report. In the meantime, here are some intriguing findings:

· Muslim Americans are the most racially diverse of American faith communities. The largest subgroup is African Americans at 35%.

43 percent of Muslim-American women hold a college or postgraduate degree, compared with 29 percent of US women overall. They are second only to Jewish women in level of education.

Almost one-half of Muslim Americans identify themselves as Democrats, 37% say they are Independents and 8% Republicans.

· Muslim Americans are more likely than the general public to report feeling negative emotions such as worry and anger, and less likely than other groups to classify themselves as “thriving.”

More than a third (36%) of Muslim Americans are between the ages of 18 and 29, significantly more than the general public (18%).

Interspersed among the statistics are statements from leading Muslims. For example, this comment by Hadia Mubarak, a PhD candidate at Georgetown University in Islamic Studies and the first female elected national president of the Muslim Student Association.

How do we demonstrate our commitment to Islam is integral to our American identity? How do Muslims demonstrate that acts of worship — wearing headscarves, taking off work at noon on Friday to attend congregational prayers, building mosques, etc. — do not undermine our patriotism or pride in being American? The path ahead is arduous and demanding. Through bridge-building, civic participation, and political empowerment, Muslim Americans must define their own identity within
American culture.

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