A conference at the local synagogue brings participants together to discuss thoughts on Israel and Palestine, and Muslim and Jewish relations.
By Sara Bakhshian / Special to The Malibu Times
“We are here this morning to open our eyes [a little more],” said Rabbi Judith HaLevy of the Malibu Jewish Center & Synagogue on Sunday during the opening invocation of a conference titled “The Muslim Mystique: Facing Fears and Stereotypes.”
More than 50 people attended the conference presented by the Raoul Wallenberg Institute of Ethics. Participants spent about five hours asking questions and discussing thoughts on Israel and Palestine, and Muslim and Jewish relations. Matters of reconciliation were discussed and religious texts and those of contemporary scholars, theologians and politicians were read. A clip from the controversial documentary “Encounter Point,” was screened as well.
While the institute, whose mission is to promote peace and its values, has had interfaith events with members of the Muslim community, this conference was targeted to synagogues. Director Stephen Sideroff, Ph.D., said he wanted to take a step back and build a foundation in the Jewish community, and added later that a similar event set for early January would invite Muslims and Christians.
Sideroff said he hoped the conference would broaden the participants’ ideas and be introspective. For example, Jews have always shown compassion for others but he questioned what was happening in their survival mode in Israel.
“One question is, can we have compassion for Palestinians?” Sideroff asked.
To consider this and various other issues, participants were led by two facilitators from Abraham’s Vision, an educational organization with Jewish and Muslim trainers that teaches high school and university students, and more recently adults.
Sajida Jalazai, who has also worked with the Muslim-Jewish Dialogue of Montreal, started by asking attendees what their hopes for the day where and what concerns they have.
One person said, “I would like to be able to find some hope there [in the Middle East].”
Some attendees wanted to learn more about Islam from a Muslim person and to dispel myths and errors from both sides. The concerns included extremism on both sides, facts or fiction, politics and corporation distrust, media, reaching out to the youth and sustaining from the progress hoped to be made that day. Later in the conference, after reading from the sacred Islamic book, the Quran, and from the Jewish Bible, participants noted the similarities with the Torah, and that the Quran is not necessarily hateful. Some didn’t realize they were reading the Quran until Allah was mentioned later in the piece.
One person was surprised at her reaction to Quran. “I did not have any judgment, and I’m a very judgmental person.”
Facilitator Aaron Hahn Tapper, whose has studied at numerous Orthodox Jewish seminaries and spent a year living in Jerusalem’s Muslim quarter while attending Bir Zeit University in the West Bank, asked attendees to line up according to whether they agreed, were in the middle or disagreed to statements about Judaism and Islam, the followers, and Israel and Palestine. Afterward, Tapper said part of the challenge was to look at one’s inner conflict and orienting with the group.
People in the group appeared to become more comfortable with each other as each learned what others around them thought. One participant said she did not feel comfortable participating because she felt she did not have enough knowledge about some of the statements made and would base her answers on hearsay. Her friends said it a good experience at learning her own biases.
For the next session, personal conflicts, such as a bad divorce, and resolutions were talked about in groups of three or four, and then ideas of reconciliation and recognition were shared with the whole room. Suggestions of recognition included talking things over, having the ability to say sorry, taking responsibility and shifting emotional orientation.
Tapper pointed out, “Not all conflicts can necessarily be resolved,” and that timing and space was an important factor in recognition.”
During lunch Jalazai was available to discuss her personal and academic beliefs about Islam. She said later that a concern for some was getting a “legitimate” voice in the Muslim community that talks about Judaism and Jews.
“The moderate Muslim voice is definitely out there, it is just not getting a lot of airtime,” and people needed to seek them, she said.
After excerpts from a theologian, rabbi, imam and politician were analyzed and discussed the participants were asked their impressions of the Muslim Mystique. HaLevy said that while she had relations with some Muslims, she would have to talk with individuals about their beliefs rather than seeking or using a general voice.
The clip from “Encounter Point,” which features those who seek a nonviolent resolution to the Middle East conflict, was shown. Sideroff said later that by seeing Palestinians against Israel and those who want peace in the film, it clarified that Jews and Muslims were also similar in that they aren’t monolithic populations.
Sherman Oaks resident Orly Pittock heard about the event through co-sponsor Salaam Shalom Educational Foundation, which supports a multicultural Jewish Israeli, Arab Israeli and Palestinian residential high school and peace academy in Northern Israel. She hoped to see more events like this.
“I’d love for this kind of [conference] to be all over … people talking, exchanging,” Pittock said.