CROSS CULTURAL DIALOGUE BETWEEN MOSLEMS AND JEWS

Multicultural Australia has many faith communities which have multiculturalism inherent in them. Both our Jewish community and the Islamic community are such examples of multiculturalism within us.Ours are not monolithic communities although we may have roof-bodies representing each one. We also share such issues of concern for our next generations as e.g.racism, remaining 'in the fold', being educated in our faith systems and avoiding assimilation.

There are many groups which engage in dialogue very successfully.By sharing our common concerns locally with like-minded groups, we enrich Australia's multicultural environment for the benefit of all our future generations. The extremes in all faith-groups shun intermixing with all 'outsiders'. They avoid even TV and movies in their own homes so as not to' pollute' the minds of their young, so there is no opportunity for dialogue with them anyway .

On the other hand, as Australians, concern for our relatives in the Middle East, be it in Israel or in the Islamic world, is also a shared issue for intelligent people to discuss rationally and not necessarily to be avoided.Politics is obviously a divisive topic everywhere, but welfare issues should be able to be confronted and addressed civilly without one-sided criticisms and blame-throwing. If the parameters for the discussions are set at the beginning, the rest of the interactions could be very fruitful.

One such example of an international cross-cultural dialogue is described in the August 21 edition of the American Jewish paper, the "Forward", below . The focus was on something other than interfaith work. They talked business. Then they moved on to other topics in their workshops.(MM)

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http://www.forward.com/articles/111997/
Muslims and Jews: Fostering Respect, Bridging Cultural Differences Education

By Alison Cies

Published August 12, 2009, issue of August 21, 2009.

When a new venture at Columbia University brought together 30 Muslim and Jewish entrepreneurs from the United States, the United Kingdom and France for a cross-cultural dialogue, the focus was on something other than interfaith work. They talked business.

Then, somewhere amid the conversations about best business practices and social entrepreneurship, the difficult issues of religious and cultural identity emerged and were explored more freely. Organizers and participants in the Ariane de Rothschild Fellows Program hailed the two-week seminar in mid-July as a new model for successful Jewish-Muslim discussions.

“Successful and effective Jewish-Muslim dialogue often requires bonding over something else entirely,” said fellow Sam Adelsberg, 22, at the end of the program. “Once there, you can use different experiences as a platform to dive into the hard stuff — antisemitism, Islamophobia, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.”

The workshop, which seeks those interested in fostering a culture of mutual respect among Jewish and Muslim communities, was the brainchild of Ariane de Rothschild and sponsored by the Edmond de Rothschild Foundation.

The program sought out social entrepreneurs — individuals committed to solving urgent social problems through creative and innovative market solutions — whose organizations were in the early stages of development. In stark contrast to most programs tackling cross-cultural dialogue, many of the fellows were not involved directly with Jewish-Muslim community relations.

Adelsberg, who co-founded LendforPeace while a sophomore at the University of Pennsylvania, said he found the diverse backgrounds of the program’s participants to be one of the main highlights. The fellows “had a unique perspective to offer because they were not a self-selected bunch who normally participates in this type of dialogue,” he said.

As a joint effort of Columbia Business School and Cambridge University, the program’s interest in teaching both practical business skills and the theoretical background became evident on the first day. Participants were told that in addition to taking courses on governance, accounting and raising finances, they would be studying how Jews and Muslims have interacted throughout history — starting in the Middle Ages. Courses such as “Islamism and Its Origins in Pakistan,” “Interfaith Dialogue in Pre-modern Times,” and “Dialogue, Debate and Conflict Between Muslims and Jews in the Medieval Islamic World” rounded out the program.

Not all participants were initially thrilled about the prospect of learning the histories of these two communities. This changed, however, when the fellows took a step back and realized the relevance of history to their day-to-day lives.

“You would think that the theological [background] is irrelevant to a businessperson,” said Shawn Landres, 37, who co-founded Jumpstart, a catalyst and think tank dedicated to developing and strengthening emerging not-for-profit organizations. In addition to learning more about the business side, he noted, “the value of the program is that we’re revisiting how we construct religious identity.”

Ruth Friedman, dialogue coordinator for A Jewish Contribution to an Inclusive Europe, said she found the program’s combination of social entrepreneurship and cross-cultural dialogue to be “a fantastic mix.” Although Friedman, 45, of the United Kingdom, attended the program for its emphasis on social enterprise, she found the conversations with the American and French participants to be illuminating, both personally and professionally. “It was interesting to hear about what’s going on in the U.S., to hear about the several different projects that participants are involved with,” she said. “I’ll be going back to my organization with recommendations.”

It was the endeavor’s focus on multiculturalism that provided participants with information — and insight.

“The international students added such different perspectives to the program,” Adelsberg said. “There were instances where the French Muslims felt more in common with French Jews than with British Muslims.… It broke the uniformity of traditional Jewish-Muslim dialogue, where Jews are expected to toe one line and Muslims another.”

The light-bulb moment for Landres occurred at the start of the program, when he watched as Muslim participants freely expressed differences of opinion in front of him, an American Jew. “It’s astonishing to hear counterarguments, to have Muslims challenging each other on day one.”

“The most interesting discussion for me,” Adelsberg said, “was of the hijab [headscarf], and how in France you can’t wear it in public schools. It was interesting to see how some of the Muslim-French women didn’t find the law to be necessarily inhibiting; some even found the law to be liberating. But some of the British-Muslim women held an entirely different perspective, that the law was oppressive.”

Bruce Kogut, a professor of leadership and ethics in the business school who conducted the workshop, echoed their sentiments. He said the program’s benefit was its combination of various religions and nationalities. “The participants found so many differences across countries,” he said. “In France, dialogue between groups is not advancing quickly enough. So the French got to see from the U.S. and U.K. participants how they’re making progress.”

As Ariane de Rothschild explained at the program’s outset, participants were there to “address the challenging questions of identity, how society recognizes you, and how to reach out to others who are different.” Her aims were shaped, in part, by her belief that despite the abundance of references to globalization, people actually have become more polarized in their nationalities and religions.

“Dialogue is essential,” she told the participants. “It serves as the essential subtext to change.”
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Contact Alison Cies at cies@forward.com

TWO TV PROGRAMS ABOUT CULTURAL DIVERSITY.

Culture test -- Insight Program (SBS -- 18 September 2007)

I didn't watch this program,- usually I do watch Insight,- but quite frankly, I didn't miss anything, from reading the transcript. It's everything I and my New-Australian friends all went through when we arrived to this country and started growing up here, then going out and going to Uni. etc.The older, "new-aAustralian" generation is trying to hang on to their kids and to their culture. It's a worry,- big worry!

I often found my mother pacing up and down the street outside our home at 1 or 2 am, in her dressing gown, talking to herself - "please God, let my child be OK"!!! I must have been already driving and at Uni., going out with my future husband even! She worried in case I'll ‘marry out’ (of my faith), in case I have an accident,- when our kids came along, she worried about them,- driving us all mad with her "Jewish mama's" worries!!! So what's new,- if the Moslems feel the same?

My generation was far more relaxed and the next is even more so!

Those first generation Muslim kids will be OK if they break loose from their parents a little,- the ones to worry about are the ones who think that their parents have strayed too far away from their religion, e.g.Islam,- unhappy perhaps with their own lives, these kids often revert back, sometimes to a much stricter form of their religion and who knows what else they might do! It happens among us Jews,- but at least our Jews are not dangerous. Fundamentalist Islam, may be very dangerous indeed!

RE "Australian values",- is an idea which I have been promoting for ages,- but should be more designed and targeted to the prospective immigrants to this country. That is,- they need to know more about what to expect when they get here. They think that they can just come to Australia, make money and live the same way forever as they did in Bangladesh, say. By the time they get here and find out that their children adopt a different lifestyle, -it's a bit late to complain.

But coping with growing kids is a problem for everyone,- we have all had to go through this phase with them. I also had to advise my Greek cleaning lady about her teenage son who was rebelling (now a well-to-do professional father of two) and some African Moslem women who came to our community, wanting to know how we keep our children from assimilating instead of integrating! We told them that like everyone else, we have failures and successes! We have to try to do our best for them, help them to remain in the fold.

But being an Australian or any other nationality as well as a Jew does not pose any problems or conflicts. Intermarriage with other faiths, does. One or the other may have to lose his or her previous faith-identity. There are no particular problems for us as women, except in the areas of religious divorce, should this occur. The strictly religious Jews, like all strictly religious people of other faiths, do have more rigid moral codes to which girls and women have to conform if they want to remain within their family and community circles. Of course, they may also encounter intergenerational conflicts as a result. For that reason, a minority of ultra-orthodox communities even forbid interactions for their kids with the outside world,- no TV, internet, socializing, etc.

But when immigrants from countries such as Afghanistan and similar come to a free and democratic society such as ours,- how can they adjust? From totally covered-up wives whom no other male is allowed to see,- to our freedom-loving flesh-showing females in Australia or USA,- then they have to try to keep their youngsters in check? Or will they try to convert all of us to their level?
(See below).

WOMEN IN AFGHANISTAN: 4CORNERS PROGRAM, ABC TV.(Monday, 24/9)

I gave up watching the shocking documentary on 4Corners in disgust! The lives of the women and girls count for naught still today after supposedly being "liberated" from the Taliban. Their PARTICULAR culture and fundamentalist Islamic religion are the absolute 'pits' where women and children are concerned!

Anyone trying to tell us that Islam is a religion of peace and tolerance;-as though it's a universal truth can fool themselves, not most of us women! If any of their men come to Australia thinking that they'll control their daughters or wives in the same manner, they should stay where they are! Let the women come here on their own and live in freedom and let those "testosterone hyped males" (as the brave interviewer said,- "it must be something in the water here!"),- leave them to rot over there. They don't deserve to live here,- their poor women are emolating themselves at an incredible rate. We should be trying to save them and leave their bastard menfolk behind to become Taliban on their own!

You should read all the comments on the 4Corners Guestbook.
For further information on how to offer support to the women and children of Afghanistan, go to the following websites:

Support Association for the Women of Afghanistan Aus
Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan

The interesting issue however is that all the Australian peak Women's groups refuse to help whenever we asked them to assist overseas Islamic women from being stoned to death, for example.. They are intimidated by the local Islamic women's organizations who claim that it is all a Zionist plot to denigrate Islam!

It is time for true feminist Islamic NGOs to work hand in hand with all other women’s groups and stop being in-denial about Islamic teachings and life-styles all over the world and the non-status of their women!


(MM)