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Relationship Status for American Jews and Muslims: It’s Complicated
By mhpine / September 6, 2007
This week, Reform Grand Rebbe Eric Yoffie spoke at the convention of the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA). In his speech, Yoffie deplored the "profound ignorance" of Islam in the US, and its demonization by "opportunists." Yet at the same time, Yoffie challenged American Muslims to combat the anti-Semitism that is rampant in the Muslim world. The Reform movement determined that ISNA was a genuine partner for interfaith dialogue after it shifted its position from terrorism is bad (except when it is against Israel) to terrorism is bad (even when it kills Jews.) ISNA's efforts to allay Jewish concerns were met with skepticism elsewhere in Jewish Alphabet soup.
Yoffie's overture drew criticism from David Harris, executive director of the American Jewish Committee."Here is another discredited group eager for mainstream recognition," Harris wrote in a blog on the Web site of The Jerusalem Post. "Inadvertently, in the name of inter-religious dialogue, [Yoffie] gave it."
Fortunately for ISNA, while the URJ represents 1.5 million congregants, a plurality of affiliated American Jews, while the AJC represents…the AJC (although to be fair, it performs its role as the Jewish Brookings Institution quite ably).
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I’m a graduate student studying the Middle East and learning Arabic. I have been shocked at the visceral reactions to what I do that I get from my Jewish friends and the Jewish community. So many otherwise liberal and tolerant people think it is appropriate to make jokes about all Muslims being terrorists and despise the Arabic language of which they do not speak a single word. So many have asked, “why would you ever want to do THAT?” and told me that I am somehow betraying the proper path for nice Jewish girls. After all, intercultural understanding could never possibly be a road to peace.
It would be wrong to ignore the destructive and hateful voices of and acts of terror committed by those purporting to act in the name of Islam. But it’s all too easy to let radical voices drown out the moderate ones that are committed to democracy and peace. As Americans, we have a responsibility to use our freedoms of speech to seek truth and justice, not to spread unnecessarily hateful propaganda. As Jews, we have an even greater responsibility to avoid L’Shon Hara and not to ostracize and alienate other immigrants who are making an earnest effort to be a part of American society, like our immigrant ancestors before them. We can’t let sensationalism trump the educational value of educating ourselves about terrorism, nor nativism cloud our own perspectives as participants in a liberal democracy.
DK,
      I'm curious as to when you think history has vindicated American nativism. Was it the mid 19th century campaign against the Irish, or the efforts to limit the Chinese railroad laborers? Perhaps you think that the successful effort to slam the golden door shut on your own people in the 1920s and 1930s that was warranted? Â
        Looking to Europe as a cautionary tale ignores the clear evidence that American Muslims are significantly better adjusted and integrated into American life than they are in Europe. I don't see any reason why we can't keep the Abu Hamzas out while still providing an opportunity for those Muslims who want nothing more than to become full members of an open and free society.
Dialogue sure is swell, but instead of only finding common ground in our mutual Middle Eastern humanity, perhaps we should take a page from anti-immigration movements of the past, and recognize that a broken clock is still right twice a day.
 We can all sit in a circle and pass around a candle and say, "I am a racist and I…" etc., etc., but let's first close the doors to mass immigration from those countries whose immigrants have caused so many problems already in other Western countries, such as Holland, France, and England.
Had nothing to do with his religious background and everything to do with his statement. You may disagree with the criticism, but there is nothing to suggest Ellison’s Muslim background had anything to do with the ADL’s attack.
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