05/29/2021
Sabeeha Rehman and I had a wonderful 'north of the border' zoom webinar about our book "We Refuse To Be Enemies" sponsored by JSpace Canada, in cooperation with the Canadian Association of Jews and Muslims, Project Rozana Canada , Holy Blossom Temple, Intercultural Dialogue Institute, Solel Congregation, Heart to Heart, Faith of Life and others. There were well over 100 participants at the webinar and after our presentation, we had deeply enriching question and answer session.
The moderators of the event were two of my oldest friends in Muslim-Jewish work, Karen Mock, President of JSpace Canada and Shahid Akhtar, co-founder and co-chair of the Toronto-based Canadian Association of Jews and Muslims (CAJM), founded in 1996 and perhaps the oldest continually operating Muslim-Jewish friendship and cooperation organization in the world. I had the privilege to work closely with Karen, Shahid and CAJM co-chair Barbara Landau during my years at The Foundation For Ethnic Understanding-FFEU; setting up scores of twinning events in Toronto, bringing together mosques, synagogues and Muslim and Jewish organizations, with the support of CAJM, JSpace, the University of Toronto and other bodies. I was deeply moved by Shahid's sharing last night of warm memories of our work together through the years--sometimes in highly challenging circumstances, to strengthen Muslim-Jewish communication and cooperation in Toronto and across Canada.
Indeed, Karen worked closely with me to facilitate memorable twinning events in Montreal, and I had the opportunity to work also with Muslim-Jewish solidarity efforts in other Canadian cities including Hamilton, Ottawa, Winnipeg and Calgary. I have learned so much from Karen, Barb and Shahid about principles of mediation and reconciliation that have been incredibly helpful to me in my work in Muslim-Jewish relations.
Last night, all of us expressed similar sentiments; that Jews and Muslims in North America must now operate on two overlapping tracks. On one hand, we must do everything possible to help our Palestinian and Israeli brothers end the violence, reach a just settlement guaranteeing security, justice and self-determination for both peoples; and to support the work of humanitarian NGO's operating on the ground in Israel-Palestine like Project Rozana, which brings together Israelis and Palestinians through health care; running programs like Wheels of Hope which saves the lives of Palestinian children with cancer and in need of kidney dialysis by arranging their transportation to hospitals in Israel. At the same time, we must work hard to prevent the upsurge in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict from splintering our Muslim-Jewish alliance here in North America that we have worked so hard to build over the past 15 years. What is needed now, as never before, is a willingness by people on both sides to reach across the psychic barricades, look each other in the eye, acknowledge each other’s pain, and declare, ‘We Refuse to be Enemies.’
Karen, Shahid and Barbara and all of my other wonderful Canadian friends, thanks so much for so memorably hosting Sabeeha and I,and thanks for your huge contribution to Muslim-Jewish friendship and trust in Canada and far beyond.
Sincerely,
Walter Ruby
