|
November 9, 2001/Cheshvan 23, 5762, Vol. 54, No. 9
Bridge to understandingMuslims and Jews foster a grassroots community
BARRY COHEN
|
 Bob Rosenberg and M. Zuhdi Jasser converse before the dialogue session begins. Photo by Barry Cohen |
Worship could not continue until the schmoozing following the 300 participant afternoon study session, which usually drew 20-30 people, had ended.
This year's study session was also different because Muslims, not Jews, led the discussion.
How Muslims came to lead a study session at a synagogue, during the holiest day of the Jewish calendar, is a story that goes back 20 years.
Bob Rosenberg, a Kol Ami congregant, had built a patient-doctor relationship with Dr. Mohamed Jasser. Because of insurance needs, he had to change primary care physicians, but in the summer of 1999, returned to Jasser, now in practice with his son, Dr. M. Zuhdi Jasser.
Rosenberg and Jasser rekindled their friendship, and the Kol Ami congregant then worked with Rabbi B. Charles Herring to invite both Mohamed and Zuhdi Jasser to speak at Shavuot Shabbat services in June 2000.
Soon afterward, Herring suggested setting up a regular Muslim-Jewish dialogue group. The first meeting was during Ramadan, the Muslim holy month, in October 2000, at the Arizona Biltmore in Phoenix.
"The goal of the group was to learn about each other's culture, religion, personal beliefs, personalities, value structure," says Zuhdi Jasser.
This list did not include politics.
"We wanted to humanize each other and to get to know each other on a personal basis," adds Jasser.
"I'm not an anxious person, but my anxiety level during that meeting was sky-high. I was waiting for something to happen," says Herring. But by the end of the session, he recalls, none of his fears had materialized.
After the first meeting at the Biltmore, the group, comprised of 12 Muslims and 12 Jews, met monthly at Temple Kol Ami. Since the High Holidays, the group has been meeting in private homes, first under the Herrings' sukkah and then at the home of Mel and Barbara Rothman.
Keeping a low profile
The group was in no hurry to inform others about its meetings. Rather than seek publicity, members focused their energies on acquiring knowledge and understanding. Herring notes that the early sessions were reminiscent of a college level religion course.
Naser Ahmad taught about the fundamental beliefs of Islam. Mohamed Jasser lectured on the Koran and medieval Arabic poetry. They discussed Islamic and Jewish holidays and life- cycle events. Herring displayed a Torah.
As they shared information, they learned the breadth of common ground between Islam and Judaism.
"I knew there were similarities, but I did not know, for example, that even the months of the lunar year, with just a little difference ... are the same in the two languages," remarks Mohamed Jasser.
Herring says he learned that "an enormous number of Midrash" and excerpts from the Koran are similar enough to be synoptic, based on the same source material.
Likewise, the group found that two of the meters for 13th-14th-century Arabic poetry are the same as familiar melodies for the Jewish prayers, Yigdal and Adon Olam.
"There is the most amazing coexistence and codevelopment. ... How can we be different when we are so alike?" asks Herring.
Despite their inherent similarities, some group members were hesitant at first to participate, and others were slow to let their family or friends know they were participants.
"When I received an e-mail from Zuhdi (asking to join), I was not really sure if I should go or not," says Ahmad. He says his main concern was about the group becoming too political. But Ahmad says he reflected, asking, "Why should I feel bad (about joining)?"
Gada Jasser, Zudhi's wife, also had reservations.
"I am always reluctant to join groups like this," she remarks. The reason, she says, is that participants' political agendas - especially concerning Israel - often overwhelm the exchange of ideas.
Aiche Jasser, wife of Mohamed Jasser, says she was afraid to tell her friends about the group. As she slowly began to inform them, "they believed what we are telling them" about the friendships they were building, "but they think maybe these are just the nice people."
During the first sessions, "we even kept it from our children about where we were going," says Barbara Herring, Charles Herring's wife. "We just said we were going to a meeting."
However, as she let her family and friends know, "they were thrilled. ... Nothing negative was said."
Mohamed Jasser says the group's strength lies in its ability "to establish a homogeneity" based on common values and understanding.
"Here, suddenly, we have a group where we're talking about what's valuable to all of us - God, our relationship with God, the religion we believe in, the similarities, the dissimilarities," he explains.
Purposely avoiding politics
Steve Weitzenkorn says political issues were avoided until just a few months ago. Even then, he remarks, the discussions were not as "divergent" as he thought they would be. He says the work the group put into understanding one another's religion, culture and values helped him "gain an understanding and appreciation of religion versus national interest."
The threat of politics is that it "forces and corners you into defending things you don't want to defend," Mohamed Jasser explains. "The only thing in my life that I am totally loyal to is my religion, not any national identity."
Mark Kaplan says the group has been successful because it has been able to prevent potentially divisive political issues from overwhelming efforts to form community. "I wanted ... to learn about a culture that I knew nothing about and celebrate our similarities, while understanding the differences, and go from there."
The result of these efforts has been the fostering of friendships.
"I do not see 'Jewish' group, 'Muslim' group," said Weitzenkorn. "We may have started out thinking we were going to build a bridge to each other's communities. (Now) I think we have become a community."
Barbara Herring says that participants got to know about each other's lives. "We talked about our daily routines. The women even shared how we met our husbands."
Ali Homsi remarks the strength of the group is its personal nature. "I learned so much from the group. I touched the (participants') humanity."
Charles Herring says another similarity that drew the groups closer is the "shared insecurities" of the "immigrant culture" that Jews and Muslims in this country possess.
"We bear a very similar cultural defense mechanism by living in a country that we think is ours, but others might not think we belong here," he explains.
Both Muslim and Jewish children, for example, go through the same experiences within the dominant American culture. "We're just a little bit ahead because we've been here for 100 more years," adds Herring.
According to the participants, the group has also been successful because no one possesses a particular agenda.
"We cannot allow people (to participate) who want to come in and impose their will and convert or make people believe in the way they believe," says Homsi. We do not need someone "with too many preconceived ideas ... who is not willing to change their mind."
But Rosenberg explains that, in a sense, the participants did possess a kind of productive agenda, in that they made a concerted effort "to establish interpersonal relationships, learn about each other from each other ... continue in this (dialogue), treating each other as human beings, with respect. That's our agenda."
Group members also have agreed to participate for the long term.
Aisha Jasser says the group's strength is its "patience and a desire to proceed, taking it one step at a time."
Azra Hussain cites a "collective interest" to make it work. "We did not look at it as one day at a time, but rather 20 years down the road," he says.
An important goal is to maintain the friendships that have been built, says Zuhdi Jasser. "We'll probably all be at each other's funerals."
The effect of Sept. 11
For all of those reasons, the group says the tragic events on Sept. 11 did not adversely affect the cohesiveness of their community.
"On Sept. 11, when all that happened, we turned around to each other after the shock and the horror, and asked, 'Oh my God, how are (our Muslim friends) doing?' " says Susan Hymson. They reached out to one another to make sure each was OK, she adds.
Group members were also quick to voice their reactions to the attacks and the reporting of the Western media.
Zuhdi Jasser explains the importance of using precise vocabulary. He says that even though the alleged perpetrators of the attacks describe themselves as Muslim, "the fact that (the term 'Muslim') is being used at all dignifies fanatical, psychopathic people by using the adjective they (chose) to use."
"Why not call them 'plain old criminals'?" he asks.
Their reward is for "other people to accept what they falsely pretend they are," adds Mohamed Jasser. "Do not grant them their wish. Do not reward them for their crime."
When people who are Christians or Jews commit acts of terrorism, people do not generally pair the deeds with their religious faiths, explains Zuhdi Jasser. For example, members of the Ku Klux Klan are not labeled as "Christian terrorists," he says. People are familiar enough with Christian and Jewish teachings to prevent "fanatics" from detracting from the religions, he says. "Their deeds do not have the sticking effect like Velcro."
However, if people are not familiar with Islam and do not have Muslim friends, then deeds perpetuated by people claiming to act in the name of Islam will take away from what the religion truly teaches, he says.
Plans for the future
At this time, the group does not want to increase its number of participants "because that would change the community we have developed," says Charles Herring. However, based upon interest from Kol Ami congregants, individuals from the current group may act as "point people" to form new Muslim-Jewish dialogue groups.
"We have also talked about somehow involving our children to understand how they become a part of the acculturation process," he says.
Other possibilities for the group include continued study, taking a trip together and a community action project "to share for the good of the community, not necessarily for ourselves and our own benefit, but to do something beyond ourselves," adds Herring.
Though they originally met at Temple Kol Ami, they do not have immediate plans to visit or meet at a mosque.
"Unfortunately, I can do that only when I have a mosque in the area that I can turn to the group and say, 'that (mosque) comes close to what I believe a mosque should be,' " explains Mohamed Jasser.
Zuhdi Jasser is concerned about the content of the sermons in the mosques. He says too many are "political," and they should instead focus on the values and religious teachings found in the Koran.
Ahmad agrees. "Sermons should stay within the teachings of Islam, not political agendas, and include lessons about improving our behaviors."
Zuhdi Jasser says he is hesitant to get the leader of a mosque - the imam - involved in the dialogue group. He explains by saying that Islam by nature should be non-hierarchical; anyone can lead worship or classes. He fears an imam would attempt to take a leadership role in the dialogue group they have fostered.
"I believe it is inappropriate for this type of group ... to get the leadership of a mosque involved and running it, when in fact that's not what this group is all about. This is a grassroots community group," says Jasser.