by Robert Wiener
NJJN Staff Writer

April 2, 2009

In a luncheon meeting punctuated by hugs, handshakes, and occasional laughter, a Reform rabbi from Short Hills and a Muslim cleric from Irvington urged greater dialogue between Muslims and Jews.

Rabbi Matthew Gewirtz of Temple B’nai Jeshurun and Deen Shareef, the senior imam of the Waris Cultural Research and Development Center, shared the podium March 25 before the National Council of Jewish Women’s Essex County Section.

The event took place at Temple Emanu-El of West Essex in Livingston.

In his remarks Gewirtz harked back to the biblical rivalry between Isaac and Ishmael, the traditional forefathers of Judaism and Islam, respectively.

“Sometimes exterior forces that have gone on for thousands and thousands of years break us apart, make us feel we are not supposed to be together, make us pick up a gun instead of picking up a knife and cutting bread together,” said Gewirtz. “Somehow we are supposed to plant a bomb instead of sitting across a table and having real discussions about real differences and real disagreements.”

Gewirtz recalled his own father’s advice about respecting even those with whom one disagrees. “When people sin in the name of God and break us apart, that’s not religion, folks. That’s being a jerk,” he said.

Pointing at his Muslim colleague, Gewirtz said, “When you get to know a human being and you get to know a soul and you get to know a heart, you start saying to yourself, ‘Maybe the parents are wrong. Maybe the politicians are wrong. Maybe the media is not always right. This guy doesn’t look like an enemy to me. This guy looks like someone who every day wakes up and does everything in his power to save the world.’”

Shareef began his remarks with a Muslim prayer and an invocation of the Adam and Eve story, saying all humanity is descended from a common mother and father.

“It is not enough to just say, ‘I know you.’ Acknowledgment means ‘I respect you and I respect what you represent,’” he said. “‘I value your existence. I value your life. I value what it is you contribute to the human family.’”

Shareef said there are those who misinterpret both the Koran and the Torah.

“We have people who have taken the scripture and words to the extreme,” he said. “The Koran tells us it is the way of following what is proportionate, what is balanced, and that which is beneficial to all people.”

Born a Baptist in Virginia, Shareef said he is a product of the African-American struggle as well as his Muslim faith.

“Islam is my identity, but it is not the only identity,” he said. “I respect the rights of my neighbors. I respect the rights of my community. I respect the rights of my friends. I respect the rights of those who may differ with me.

“We can differ and disagree, but we don’t have to be disagreeable,” he said.

The imam urged his audience “to understand that Islam is not what you may read in the newspaper. Islam is not what you may hear on the radio or watch on the TV. That’s not Islam. Islam means peace. Islam means submission.”

‘Innocent dream?’

Not surprisingly, given the audience, Shareef was questioned about the role of women in his religion.

“The experience of the African-American family is very different from the experience of the immigrant Muslim community,” he acknowledged. “The African-American male in many instances has a deep debt of gratitude to his African-American woman. We come from an environment where the African-American mother is a strong woman. She is the matriarch. She has demonstrated her strength. The concept of persecuting women does not go over very well in the African-American Muslim community. You can’t sell that to them.”

Asked how the moderate Muslim community should deal with terrorist acts committed in the name of Islam, the imam said, “We are in a dialogue about what is Islam and how does it relate to other faiths. Rabbi Gewirtz and I have begun the journey of making a difference. I hope and pray there will be others who follow what we have started.”

As the meeting ended, a reporter asked both clergymen to consider the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the ways it has limited Jewish-Muslim dialogue.

“As much as Israeli and Palestinian rhetoric is very tough, they actually live with each other in ways that Americans don’t understand,” said Gewirtz.

When it comes to insistence that Israel should not negotiate with terrorists, said the rabbi, “my Israeli friends on the Left and the Right say to me that the American-Jewish community tends toward the hysterical.”

Shareef cited the Koran in response.

“We have to remind people that if you are adhering to this book and if you believe in this book, there is a given social relationship that says, ‘OK, the two of you disagree. But Israel has a right to live. Hamas and Hizbullah have a right to live. They have a right to life.’”

Referring to his own continuing dialogue with Shareef, Gewirtz told NJJN, “I think there is no power struggle between the two of us. If we bring our two communities together over common issues, maybe that starts to become a paradigm for the Middle East — or maybe that is just an innocent dream.”

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