Jewish, Muslim students compare beliefs
By Michele Alperin
March 14, 2008

Reaching back to the Golden Age of Spain when Muslims and Jews lived together in peace, if not in perfect equality, a group of 24 Jewish and Muslim students from Princeton University traveled together last spring to Spain to initiate a series of weekly dialogue sessions. Accompanying them were the Muslim chaplain, Khalid Latif, and the executive director of the Center for Jewish Life, Rabbi Julie Roth.

"We went to Spain to learn about our shared history and be inspired by a time when Jews and Muslims got along better than today," explained Roth. The goal of the trip was to develop the strong friendships that would allow the group to tackle tough questions like the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Roth, along with Aaron Strauss and Mariam Rahmani, shared their impressions of the trip with an audience of about 100 teens and adults at the Jewish Center in Princeton on March 5.

Even though the Jews were considered dhimmis, or "protected people" -- followers of a tolerated religion under Islam -- they thrived economically, culturally, and religiously under Muslim rule. The Arabic culture influenced Jewish approaches to textual analysis, poetry, and philosophy, and Jews pursued careers in medicine, commerce, agriculture, and politics, in some cases achieving high positions of power.

On the trip, Roth and Latif were there both to facilitate dialogue and support the students within their own cultural and religious groups. "There was obviously a lot of bonding, but that bonding comes with friction," said Roth. "The leaders helped bridge the gap and ask hard questions of the two groups."

Students of course have minds of their own, and they were ready to jump into the challenging questions almost immediately. Latif had passport problems and was late arriving, leaving Roth to fend for herself when the students pressed her to start talking early about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Roth and Latif had planned to start with the similarities between Judaism and Islam and save the Mideast until their return to Princeton, but that didn't happen.

On the first five-hour bus ride they did begin with some easier questions, discussing in rotating pairs things like the difference between kashrut and hallal and how their parents felt about them dating people outside their own religions.

After their return from Spain, the group met weekly, first eating dinner together and then discussing a preset topic for another hour or so. Although they did spend one session comparing Jewish and Muslim scriptures, the focus was more on understanding how the students practice their faiths today.

"We focused on people in the group rather than abstract concepts and your political stances on this or that thing," said Rahmani. "That contextualized everything and made it a one-on-one encounter, something about real people. When you deal with world conflicts, you start looking at entire groups, and that, I think, is pretty harmful."

Rahmani believed that the bonding on the trip made deeper conversations possible. "I think it really did make a difference, for everyone. A fundamental part of their world views and their vision of themselves and other groups changed through this program."

Roth explained that the students had been asked to write two or three questions they would love to ask the other group if political correctness and concerns about controversy were thrown out the window. Then she turned to the audience and asked, "If you had that chance, what would those questions be?"

Helaine Isaacs asked, "How do you feel and react when you hear about suicide bombers who have killed Israelis?" Roth explained that members of the group had asked a similar, more pointed question: "Do Muslims feel their holy texts justify suicide bombings?"

One of the high school students in the audience posed the question: "Did you ever think the Muslim religion was better in certain aspects than the Jewish religion?" Roth said that this question had not come up but a similar one was asked of the Jewish college students by the Muslims: "What is the deal with Jews and 'chosenness'? Why do you think you're so special?"

Roth explained that the Muslim students did not understand why Jews who keep kosher wouldn't eat hallal meat, whereas Muslims will eat kosher meat. Similarly, Muslim men are allowed to marry non-Muslims but in Judaism there is no tradition for marrying out of the community -- why then are Jews so exclusive?

The Jewish college students, continued Roth, had asked the question: "Where are the moderate voices in Islam?" Roth then noted that one thing she learned from the trip was that all the Muslim students at Princeton are moderates who are pained that voices like theirs are not heard in the media. In fact, two students from the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs have, since the trip, made a career shift and committed to creating a nonprofit organization to get more moderate Muslim voices in the media.

A big question asked by the Muslim students had to do with Israel: "Why is it so difficult for Muslims or anyone to be critical of Israel, and why is anti-Zionism always equated to anti-Semitism?"

Rahmani, who wore the only hijab on the trip, was asked by Jewish students who felt that women had it better in the progressive Jewish community to which they belonged: "What does the hijab mean in terms of gender relations?"

She explained that the concept of hijab refers not only to modest dress but also to a person's actions and mannerisms, and it applies to men as well as women. "Both men and women are expected to be respectful toward the opposite sex and not to view people based on superficial judgments."

Many women wear the hijab, she said, to identify as Muslims in both a social and a spiritual sense.

"They feel more comfortable interacting with other men and women when dressed in a way that is calling less attention to their physical appearance," she said, emphasizing that Muslims are not supposed to make judgments about another person based on physical attractiveness. She said the hijab is also reminds Muslims that there is a God and a higher power, "so that when we make daily decisions of how to treat other people and make personal choices, it will keep us on a path that take us closer to God."

Strauss and Rahmani shared their own key insights from the trip and the ensuing dialogue.

Strauss learned that Muslims come from a diversity of cultures, and many have no interest in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. He came to understand that this was only one of many stereotypes we have about Islam, and that for Muslims, religion and culture are distinct in ways they are not for Jews. He realized that whereas he could consider himself as both atheist and Jewish, this would not happen in Islam.

Also, because Muslims separate religion and culture, they draw a distinction between anti-Zionism and anti-Semitism, one that makes most Jews very uncomfortable, he said. Many of the Muslim students, he said, had many Jewish friends and respected Judaism as a religion, but expressed problems with the actions of the state of Israel. Strauss felt he had been taught, coming up through religious school, that there was no difference between anti-Zionism and anti-Semitism, and now he sees it a little differently: "The dialogue made me think about how people not brought up in the Jewish people look at this struggle."

Rahmani learned about the concept of being culturally Jewish. "As Muslims, we draw a distinct line between culture and religion," she said. "A lot of students in our group identified with Judaism as a culture and a people, not a faith."

She was interested in the fact that Jews generally made no distinction between anti-Semitism and anti-Zionism. "This was interesting to me," she said, "because I think that a lot of Muslims tend to think of Zionism as a movement that isn't necessarily integral to Jewish identity. It was a red flag for me when this conversation came up and a lot of Jewish students said this was not true."

Roth herself had never before spent so much time with Muslims. She was very interested to observe Muslims praying on the first Friday night. The group had held a Kabbalat Shabbat service followed by traditional Muslim Friday prayers. "The Muslims were surprised how long our prayer services were," she said. "I was struck by how physical and synchronized Muslim prayer was and how much devotion I saw from people praying." She felt inspired by their kavannah, or intentionality.

All three presenters felt strongly about the importance of what they achieved and the need for more culture sharing and dialogue. "The Muslims who went on the trip comprised the leadership of our Muslim community on campus," said Rahmani, "and I think that is very telling. It shows a need for programs like this to exist -- the students most practicing and most insistent on maintaining their Muslim identities while at Princeton self-selectively chose to be part of this program."

Strauss ended his presentation with what he thought was a hopeful insight: "When we went through Spain and saw how Jews and Muslims lived in harmony for centuries in Spain, I realized that any problem caused by people can be solved by people. If more of us participate in programs like these and reach out to each other, maybe we can have centuries of harmony between the cultures."