Jewish Herald-Voice (Houston, Tex.), Vol. 103, No. 37, Ed. 1 Thursday, December 1, 2011 Page: 4 of 32
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Page 4
Jewish Herald-Voice
December 1, 2011
Up Close
Interfaith understanding:
It’s a different possibility here than in the Middle East
By AARON HOWARD
The mitzvah to “love your neighbor
as yourself’ (Leviticus 19:18) is a tough
one. When our neighbor is not like us,
most of us tend to use a different set of
perspectives. For example, when Jews
look at the religion of Islam, we often
use a different set of criteria to judge
the other than when we judge ourselves.
Some Jews hear that Islam is a violent
religion.
That perspective is reinforced when
we see verses from the
Quran that are violent.
We tend not to take
into consideration that
the Tanakh also has a
tremendous amount of
violence in it.
“But, we don’t feel
comfortable about that,”
said Rabbi Reuven
Firestone. “And, what we
expect from ‘the other’
is the opposite. We find
it. So, we say: we’re a
religion of peace, and they
are a religion of war. The truth of the
matter is there is much violent material
in the Tanakh. But, we don’t look at that
material.”
Rabbi Firestone has looked
deeply into both Jewish and Muslim
source texts. The rabbi is professor
of medieval Judaism and Islam at
Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute
of Religion in Los Angeles. He’s also
founder and co-director of the Center
for Muslim-Jewish Engagement. The
organization’s mission is to promote
dialogue, understanding and grassroots
congregational and academic
partnerships.
Rabbi Firestone will be the keynote
speaker at the Institute of Interfaith
Dialogue’s ninth annual Dialogue and
Friendship Dinner on Dec. 1. The dinner
will be held at 6:30 p.m., at the Istanbul
Conference Center, 9301 West Bellfort.
Contemporary Jews and Muslims
living in the United States have a broad
range of options to think about our
religions, Rabbi Firestone believes.
“The way humans look at their
religious texts is profoundly influenced
by their historical, political and cultural
environment. In America today, Jews
feel pretty good here. They have a
future for their children. We don’t have
a lot of chips on our shoulder. So, what
aspects of our texts resonate with us?
The texts that speak about peace and
reconciliation tend to resonate.
“But, if we were living in a world
in which we felt oppressed by others
and we felt we didn’t have a future for
ourselves, we would resonate with the
texts of our tradition that are angry and
resentful. That’s stuff we don’t want to
deal with today.
“The Muslim community in America
has a very similar attitude to the
Jewish community. And, they resonate
with the parts of the Quran that we
would resonate with.
But, Muslims who live in
Afghanistan or Iraq for
example are angry. They
tend to resonate with
other parts of the Quran.
“So, reading source
texts alone is complex.
And one of my mantras
is: Deal with complexity.
We know that the Jewish
community is complex.
But, because we don’t
know much about Islam,
we tend to oversimplify
and put people into small categories.
We’re helped by those who are
frightened; those who wish others to
stay solid in their ignorance, to remain
stuck. It takes real effort to get beyond a
simplistic narrative.”
Rabbi Firestone does a lot of
speaking in the Jewish community and
in the Muslim community - for a Jew.
The people who usually invite him to
speak are open and usually tend to be
on the liberal and tolerant side of the
spectrum.
“People who are unhappy with my
perspective don’t invite me. So, my
experience is overwhelmingly positive.
For the most part, Jews and Muslims
who live in the United States are
interested in making things work. They
want the world to be a better place.”
It’s a tougher audience in the Middle
East. In 2007, Ain Shams University in
Cairo invited Rabbi Firestone to present
a lecture on “Jewish as a Chosen People:
the Idea of ‘Election’ or ‘Choosiness’ in
Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.” The
reaction to Rabbi Firestone’s academic
speech turned into an Egyptian media
event.
First, Egyptian journalists attacked
the very idea of a rabbi speaking at an
Egyptian university. (Rabbi Firestone,
in addition to being ordained, received
a Ph.D. in Islam and Arabic Literature).
Rabbi Reuven Firestone
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Rabbi Reuven Firestone, right, unrolls a Torah scroll.
Second, he was attacked for doing harm
to Muslims. Third, during his lecture,
Rabbi Firestone pointed out text
differences in Torah and Quran over
which son of Abraham was intended
as a sacrifice: Isaac in Jewish texts,
Ishmael in Muslim texts.
Journalists attacked Rabbi Firestone
for “his provocative claims” and for
failing to be objective. Soon afterward,
20 members of the Egyptian parliament
demanded an urgent meeting to
determine who was responsible for
convening the seminar.
On the other hand, a number of
academics at Ain Shams defended the
choice of Rabbi Firestone as lecturer.
The academic who invited Rabbi
Firestone, Mohamed El-Hawwari,
issued a statement that appeared
to go to the heart of the matter. “Our
main problem is that we still cannot
accept the other. Whoever differs with
us becomes our enemy,” El-Hawwari
wrote.
Reflecting on the Ain Shams
University reaction, Rabbi Firestone
said, “The Middle East is the toughest
place for many reasons, such as the
lack of free speech and the dictatorial
regimes in the region. The Middle
East has been spoiled by parties and
interests that try to deflect criticism
by demonizing minorities. That’s
manipulation. Of course, we’re hoping
with the Arab spring, and over time,
people will heal from the sickness
imposed on them. I do believe there’s
going to be a much more open society.
“The Mubarak government, although
it kept to the letter of the agreement
with Israel, constantly was undermining
Israel in the press. What does that do
over time? The people know they are
being sold a bill of goods. But, when
readers constantly are bombarded, this
leaves a general anxiety about Israel.
And, they don’t make a full distinction
between Israel and Jews. That’s going
to take a while to resolve. People don’t
believe the government. People know
there’s no ‘hidden hand’ (a claim by the
current military rulers of Egypt as to
who is responsible for the protests).
“After the blow-up, there were a
series of counter articles until finally
one of the big columnists made a joke
about the whole incident.”
Compared with his reception in
Egypt, Rabbi Firestone expects to enjoy
a welcome from the Houston Institute
for Interfaith Dialogue audience. Above
anything else, he believes the American
Jewish community needs to understand
Islam is a complex civilization and
religion.
“As in Judaism and Christianity,
what we observe is the result of a
complex tradition. Much of the negative
we attribute to Islam, as outsiders,
are cultural issues. One classic issue
is female circumcision. That’s not an
Islamic issue. No Muslims in Indonesia
or Pakistan are involved in this. It only
occurs in certain areas, and it occurs in
non-Muslim communities in these areas.
“People must examine themselves
as they examine the other. You might
find they are not as horrible and you
are not as terrific as you think. I use
the same criteria to judge the other
as I judge myself.” □
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Samuels, Jeanne F. Jewish Herald-Voice (Houston, Tex.), Vol. 103, No. 37, Ed. 1 Thursday, December 1, 2011, newspaper, December 1, 2011; Houston, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth544329/m1/4/: accessed July 7, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; .