Islamic world has sheltered Jewish people throughout history: rabbi

Date: May 19, 2008 at 10:41:27
From: VFP, []
Subject: Islamic world has sheltered Jewish people throughout history: rabbi

http://www.tehrantimes.com/index_View.asp?code=168816

Islamic world has sheltered Jewish people throughout history: rabbi
Tehran Times Political Desk

TEHRAN -- Israel must end its military occupation of Palestine because
that is the only way that there can be peaceful negotiations that will
resolve the longstanding dispute, Rabbi Lynn Gottlieb said here last
week.

Rabbi Gottlieb, one of the first ten women rabbis in the history of
Judaism, on May 10 visited the offices of the Tehran Times and the Mehr
News Agency, heading a delegation of 21 peace activists from the United
States.

The interfaith delegation included people of Jewish, Muslim, Buddhist,
Christian, and Indigenous religious confessions from 11 different U.S.
states.

"It is important to remember that the Islamic world has sheltered the
Jewish people throughout our long history," Rabbi Gottlieb said in an
interview with MNA.

Following are some excerpts of the interview:

Q: You have visited many Iranian Jews during your trip. Do they like
living in Iran? What is your view of them?

A: I am the first woman rabbi to visit Iran. I had the opportunity to
visit and attend religious services at Tehran's synagogue, with the rest
of the members of this delegation as well, to visit the Jewish hospital,
and to hear from (outgoing Jewish MP) Morris Motamed and Siamak
Mursadeq, who is the future parliamentarian. Several of us also visited
the Jewish community in Shiraz and we also met a Jewish shop owner and
his son in Isfahan, and we also shared a meal with Mr. Mursadeq in his
home and had a lengthy conversation. And as well, we have visited the
Armenian (Orthodox Christian) religious community. For me personally,
that was very moving and very exciting.

It's important for us to know about this ancient Jewish community (in
Iran), which is the oldest community outside of Israel that exists in
the world, and has preserved the traditional ways of Jewish people, and
everyone that we have spoken to, whether they have visited Israel or
not, has affirmed that they have in Iran only some minor challenges,
such as the inheritance law. But we know that there is openness in the
parliament and with the Supreme Leader, and among the population, to
resolve those challenges... They are of Middle Eastern origin and have a
unique perspective to offer us in maintaining a good relationship with
their Christian and Muslim brothers and sisters and have been living in
peace with their neighbors for 30 centuries.

For much of the world Jewish community, whose history often reflects the
difficult times they have had in Europe, it is important to remember
that the Islamic world has sheltered the Jewish people throughout our
long history.

We are so saddened, not just as Jews but as Americans, and in this I
know I reflect the feeling of the whole delegation, at how tragic and
unnecessary the war and the American invasion of Iraq has been, and we
are deeply distressed at the destruction of the Iraqi culture and people
and we are praying for a speedy withdrawal of American forces from Iraq.

(Here) we have eaten well, we have been graciously hosted, we have loved
the people of Iran, and we have had wonderful conversations... This is a
community that expresses many different views within the context of a
tremendous spirit of hospitality, which we have so appreciated. And that
is the tradition we share. Abraham was known for his great hospitality,
and in Jewish tradition this is the reason that he is known as a prophet
among us not only for his revelation of tawhid (monotheism), but also
because his revelation of tawhid and unity came with his extensive
hospitality to strangers. We also learned that it was Cyrus who returned
the Jews first to the land of Israel after they were first exiled and
helped us rebuild our temple there. He also wrote the first declaration
of human rights in human history. We honor the people of Iran for this
advanced understanding that human rights must be the heart of any
religious expression.

Q: The 60th anniversary of the establishment of Israel is approaching.
Is it justifiable that, based on its past problems, one nation should
treat another nation in the same way as it was treated before and create
the same problems for that nation?

A: When I was 17 years old, I had the opportunity to go to high school
in Israel, in Haifa. And I also attended university there. And since
that time I have returned to Israel almost every year. Most recently, in
the past 12 years, I have led seven delegations from this organization,
Fellowship of Reconciliation, to Israel and to Palestine. The first year
that I was in Israel, I remember being very excited, of course, and
driving up the hill to Jerusalem, and seeing lights on the side of the
road and I asked Zev Vilnay, who was the grandfather of tourism in
Israel, "Who lives there?" And he told me those are Arab villagers.

And in my innocence and youth, I didn't know the history of the Middle
East. At that time I was anxious to learn, because from my own history,
both the Holocaust and knowing the loss of human lives there, and the
civil rights movement in Israel, and the struggle of African Americans
to attain human rights, and the genocide of Native American people in
the United States, which is an ongoing issue... Anyway, I went to see
Mansour, the Palestinian journalist... I went to his house, by myself,
with my Israeli host, who was my age. We knocked on his door, we were
invited in, he served tea, and I said, "I am here to interview Mansour."
I had no appointment. He was very shocked, but he granted me the
interview. He said, "Why do you want to interview me?" And I said, "Mr.
Mansour, can you tell me what it's like to be an Israeli Arab?" That was
the term I used. And he looked at me and he said to me, "Young woman, if
you want to know my story, I will tell you, but if I tell you my story,
then you will have responsibility for that knowledge." I said, "I want
to know your story." And he told me the story of the Nakba, of the
expulsion of 750,000 Palestinians from their homes, the destruction of
over 400 villages at that time in 1948. I was 17.

Since that time, 41 years ago, I have been working constantly on raising
up, in my own community and in the Christian community in the United
States, the desire of Palestinians for national sovereignty in their own
land. And in this period of time, earlier it was calling for
negotiations between the PLO and Israel, just as this delegation is
calling... and in this current time, calling for an end to Israel's
military occupation of Palestine as the only way that will allow
peaceful negotiations and a settlement between our peoples.

Q: How do you evaluate the role of interfaith dialogue in achieving
world peace?

A: This delegation represents the possibility of world peace in the very
nature of our coming together. We as a delegation travel together in an
interfaith context to promote the role of interfaith dialogue as an
invaluable resource in promoting peace. If we can travel together, sit
together, eat together, talk together, get to know each other, maintain
our unity, and learn from each other, this can be an example of the
peace that is possible, and we found this very much reflected in Iran.
There is freedom of religion here; we have discovered it in our travels.
And perhaps our work together can be an example and model of interfaith
dialogue on both the level of clergy or religious leaders and among the
community itself. We advocate both dialogue among people as well as
leaders.

Q: Is there any way to stop disrespect toward religions?

A: The media in the United States, for instance, could work a lot harder
to promote religious understanding, especially of Shiism... Personally,
I don't think it's as much a problem of religions as it is politics.
Some people use religion to separate. Those of us who care about world
peace must lift up those things in our tradition that help us find
common ground. We are all cut from the same jewel.

After the events of 9/11, when planes were flown into the World Trade
Center Towers and the Pentagon, and there was a third plane that did not
reach its destination, the religious community in the United States, all
across the United States, reached out to the Muslim community.

In my own situation, my Sunni partner in dialogue and I cofounded the
Muslim-Jewish peace walk. Our idea was very simple. Pilgrimage is common
to the Christian, Jewish, and Muslim faiths. Our idea was that we should
all dress in white, which is the pilgrimage garment, and carry no signs
except for peace, and walk in a peaceful pilgrimage from a synagogue, to
a church, to a mosque and to go inside as a religious community.
Everyone was invited.

We had the first peace walk in Mexico five years ago. We had
participation from the Jewish, Muslim, Protestant, Catholic, Hindu,
Native American, and Buddhist communities. Everyone came inside the
synagogue and offered prayers for peace in their own religious
tradition, and then we went to the masjid (mosque) and people went
inside. So you can imagine what it's like to be inside a masjid and have
a Jewish rabbi and a Christian priest and a Buddhist monk and a Native
American spiritual elder and so forth offering prayers in the mosque, in
the name of peace. That also occurred in a synagogue and a church, and
in this way we truly enacted the idea that all of us are one religion.
While we respect the differences in each religion, of course, is it not
good to offer prayers for peace for each other in our holy places?

This walk is in its fifth year, and it has spread to 16 different cities
throughout the United States and Canada.

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