Meet The Jews And Christians Behind The Planned Mosque At Ground Zero

From Phyllis Chesler at PJM:

The Jews and Christians Behind the “Cordoba Initiative”

The concept of an “interfaith dialogue” is an alluring one. It assumes that people of faith are, by definition, virtuous, honest, tolerant, soft-spoken–and, hopefully,  more committed to peace, reason, and morality than non-religious people are.

But is this true?

What if some religious people who are involved in such seductive dialogues are also crafty, evil, double-dealing hypocrites, more interested in money, power, sex, and war than in embracing lives of poverty, powerlessness, chastity, or even self-restraint? What if they are liars? Or addicts? Or, like so many others, merely addicted to the “high life”?

I myself believe in talking to and working with Muslim and ex-Muslim dissidents and feminists—some of whom are religious Muslims, many of whom are secularists or apostates, but none of whom are powerful imams or sheikhs. I also believe in talking to and working with Christians, Jews, Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, and atheists who are anti-Islamist—not necessarily anti-Islam or anti-Muslim—and who support universal human rights. By definition, we are all opposed to Islamic gender and religious apartheid, misogyny in general, and the demonization of Israel, America, and the West. These are my kind of “interfaith” allies.

Jews are especially tempted by the idea of an “interfaith dialogue.” Why? Because it means that as long as one is still talking, the pogrom has not yet started. Also, despite a long and terrible history of being persecuted and murdered, Jews still continue to believe that reason, ideas, charm,  even cleverness still have the power to triumph over genocidal hatred. Jews also believe that listening to the “other,” trying to understand his pain, will lead the lion to lie down with the lamb.

Thus, any number of prominent (and non-prominent) religious Jews are involved in “interfaith dialogues.” They fly around the world (they are often in constant motion) as they meet with their counterparts. Some stay at five star hotels or in palaces; others reside in more modest lodgings. Some are pillars of their communities; others seek to overthrow those very pillars. Some are clean-shaven, others fully bearded. Some sport ponytails and long, flowing hair. Some are seen as radically progressive, others as radically conservative. Mainly, all are men. Rabbis Arthur Waskow and Michael Lerner immediately come to mind. I bear a residual sentimentality towards them, (we go way back), but I certainly do not agree with their views about Israel, America, jihad, global warming, or the “Palestinian” question.

But there are other prominent, religious Jews who are more directly involved with the Cordoba Initiative, otherwise known as the mosque at Ground Zero, and with Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf, its chairman. (Abdul is part of his last name, which means “servant of The Kind One.”)

The Great Mosque of Cordoba, originally a Christian Visigothic Church

Rabbi Bradley Hirschfield, the director of the National Jewish Center for Learning and Leadership (CLAL), has been working with Imam Abdul Rauf  for awhile. In fact, Rabbi Hirschfield is on the Advisory Board of the Cordoba Initiative. In 2007, Rabbi Hirschfield spoke on a panel together with Abdul Rauf for the Cordoba Initiative. The panel was also sponsored by CLAL and the American Society for Muslim Advancement—and took place at UC Irvine (the very university where Israeli Ambassador Michael Oren’s speech was disrupted).  Their subject? “Why Should/Would Israel & Palestine exist? …How Cultural Narratives Compete.”  For all I know, it was a principled and moving moment. I have no sure way of knowing. All I can say is that these two men — Hirschfield and Abdul Rauf — are in each other’s orbit, talking, presenting and working together publicly.

Rabbi Hirschfield was also involved with Buffalo-based Muzzammil Hassan, the founder of Bridges TV, who turned out to be a serious and serial wife batterer and wife killer. He is the man who beheaded his wife Aasiya when she dared to leave him. Bridges advertised itself as committed to interfaith dialogue and to the presentation of a positive image of Muslim-Americans. Amazingly, Hirschfield, an author and radio personality, (whom I have met  twice, but briefly), has not dropped his association with Bridges, at least as shown on Wikipedia.

Go read the whole thing.