American Jews and Muslims Work Together...
WASHINGTON — When American Muslim religious leaders looked for Christian and Jewish counterparts to stand with them against Islamophobia at a high-profile gathering tied to the 10th anniversary of 9/11, several major Jewish spiritual leaders readily answered their call. “Ten years after 9/11 it has somehow become respectable to verbally attack Muslims and Islam in America,” said Rabbi Eric Yoffie, president of the Union for Reform Judaism, as he and Orthodox Rabbi Marc Schneier stood with other clergy in a Washington church September 8. “The good people in this room are fighting back.” There was a time when a Jewish presence with these Muslim leaders would have been controversial. But today the sight of Jewish, Christian and Muslim religious...
Quebec’s Muslims, Jews Oppose Bid to Ban Religious Symbols in Public Jobs...
MONTREAL, Canada – Quebec’s Muslims and Jews are on the same side of a heated debate over whether the regional government can ban employees in public service from wearing overt religious symbols, such as Muslim women wearing headscarves. Last week, the Quebec government lit a political firestorm by unveiling its “Charter of Values,” under which employees in public sectors or connected with it would be banned from wearing symbols that advertise any religion. Among other things it would mean that Muslim women observing the hijab, Sikh men wearing the turban, Jews sporting the kippah or Christians with larger-than-average crucifixes could no longer do so at government jobs. The Islamic Cultural Centre of Quebec has denounced the bill, which...
Boston Muslims and Jews Come Together in the Shadow of the Marathon Bombings...
BOSTON – In a country and a city where Muslims and Jews do not tend to overlap socially, the party at the American Islamic Congress Cultural Center on Boston’s tony Newbury Street, just a few blocks from the finish line of the Boston Marathon, was a rare moment for the two groups to talk and connect. The event, where guests nibbled on baklava and listened to student musicians from Brandeis University play Middle Eastern tunes on ouds and violins, had been planned months before the marathon bombings and subsequent manhunt that engulfed Boston and left behind a city forever changed. “I don’t think there is enough dialogue between the communities,” said Ron Levy, a retired Baghdad-born Jewish management...
Jewish and Muslim Students Can Work Together Against Prejudice...
There are more than 110,000 Jewish and Muslim students in Britain, but it’s not often their shared experiences are considered. Globally, Muslim-Jewish relations are a touchy topic, with the focus on political divisions (such as Palestine-Israel), and an assumption of historical enmity. I have felt this cold, polarising air from both communities, whose leaders seem unwilling to address it. But born and raised in Alwoodley, Leeds, I grew up with more Jewish than Muslim friends, and realised our startling similarities. The National Jewish Student Survey in 2011 showed the day-to-day issues facing Jewish students. In the main these concerned passing exams and finding a job, but Judaism also played a strong role in encouraging them to support and give to...
The Muslims Who Saved Jews From The Holocaust...
A new exhibition aims to celebrate the role Muslims played in saving Jewish lives during the Holocaust. The Righteous Muslim Exhibition is being launched at the Board of Deputies of British Jews in Bloomsbury, central London. Photographs of 70 Muslims who sheltered Jews during World War II will be displayed alongside stories detailing their acts of heroism. The exhibition hopes to inspire new research into instances of collaboration between the Muslim and Jewish communities. Yad Vashem, Israel’s official memorial to victims of the Holocaust, honours nearly 25,000 so-called “righteous persons” who risked their lives to protect the Jewish community during Nazi Germany’s reign of terror. Some 70 Muslims have recently been added to the list. The exhibition explores...
CNN Covered Interfaith Call to Oppose Koran Burning. Who Didn’t?...
Despite the passions stirred by the Islamic center near ground zero and a plan to burn Korans on Sept. 11, cable news outlets showed limited interest Tuesday afternoon in a press conference where church leaders from a variety of faiths called for a united religious front against perceived examples of Islamophobia. The Islamic Society of North America organized a press conference at the National Press Club in Washingtonwhere leaders from the Christian, Jewish, and Muslim faiths argued against what organizers called “an atmosphere of fear and intolerance” toward Islam. C-SPAN and CNN carried the interfaith press conference live. Fox News Channel had no live coverage, but instead had commentator Lou Dobbsholding forth on President Obama and the “sad isolated state this president has put himself in.” Meanwhile, rather than live coverage, MSNBC offered talking heads...
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