t a
time when many have despaired of hope for Jewish-Muslim understanding due
to the ongoing impasse in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, nearly 200
Muslims and Jews gathered in Paris recently to say: “Now is the time to
build ties of friendship and understanding between our faiths for the sake
of our children and children’s children.”
A mixed audience of rabbis, imams and Muslim and Jewish
activists from around Europe and the United States gathered on the evening
of December 8 at the glittering City Hall of the 16th arrondissement
to hear this inspiring message of hope at the first annual dinner gala of
the Jewish-Muslim Friendship Society of France (AJMF).
The keynote speaker at the event was Rabbi Marc Schneier,
president of the New York-based Foundation for Ethnic Understanding (FFEU),
which is working to create a worldwide movement of Muslims and Jews
committed to communication, reconciliation and cooperation. He praised the
pioneering work of Rabbi Michel Serfaty of the AJMF, which last month
brought together 30 mosques and 30 synagogues in France to take part in
the FFEU-sponsored 2nd Annual Weekend of Twinning of Mosques and
Synagogues across North America and Europe.
The programme, which began on November 13, 2009 and
continued through the end of December, involved 120 one-on-one “twinning”
events between mosques and synagogues in the United States, Canada and
eight European countries.
Rabbi Schneier spoke of the efforts of Rabbi Serfaty and
AJMF, which for the past five years have sent a coterie of activists on a
“Tour de France” bus trip to communities across France and nearby
countries where Muslims and Jews live in uneasy proximity and where many
attacks against Jews have taken place, in order to open lines of
communication and combat fear.
He said, “At a time when the conventional wisdom says that
our two peoples must live in perpetual conflict Rabbi Serfaty and the AJMF
are showing that there is another, much better way. We are gratified that
this is happening not only in France, where conflict between Muslims and
Jews has been especially intense, but across North America and Europe as
well. In the spirit of Chanukah [better known as Hanukkah], let us keep
aglow the light of caring and understanding and allow that light to guide
the reconciliation and cooperation of Muslims and Jews worldwide,
including [in] the Middle East.”
The gala was co-sponsored by the Representative Council of
French Jewish Institutions (CRIF, an umbrella body of French Jewish
organisations), the Great Mosque of Paris and the Rabbinate of Greater
Paris. Attending the gathering were top leaders of the European Jewish
Congress and European imams and rabbis from France, the United Kingdom,
Italy, Switzerland, Germany, Holland and Belgium, who previously held
successful Weekend of Twinning events in their respective countries.
The event was both a celebration of what FFEU and its
European partners have accomplished together during the past year and an
opportunity to chart future FFEU work with Jewish and Muslim leaders in
the years ahead.
Rabbi Schneier sees Europe as a vital region in the global
initiative by Muslims and Jews dedicated to communication, reconciliation
and cooperation: “We have begun a process that defies some common
stereotypes yet represents a rising tide of grass roots sentiments in both
the Muslim and Jewish communities worldwide.”
Noting that FFEU’s outreach has helped to trigger a
significant warming of Jewish-Muslim relations in France, which had
deteriorated to a dangerous degree in the wake of the 2009 Gaza war, Rabbi
Schneier said, “We hope to be able to achieve similar results in other
important European countries like Britain, Germany and Italy in 2010.”