Jewish Scene
He has a dream
Yitzhak Benhorin
Published: 14.04.09, 10:52
Comment Comment
Print comment Print comment
Back to article
23 Talkbacks for this article
1. This is useless because Islamophobia is justified
Genuine Tosefta ,   Tveria   (04.14.09)
This is useless, an exercise in futility to make its non-Muslim participants feel better about themselves while achieving nothing. True Muslims are bound by the filthy Quran and Sharia to lie, cheat and deceive non-Muslims. Any understandings agreed with nominal Muslims in such meetings will be meaningless because it will not be recognized by the local communities and the Muslim world at large. Antisemitism is wrong because Jews as a group have not done anything wrong to the world, when discounting unproven rumors. Islamophobia on the other hand is fully justified as evidenced by the tens of thousands of Muslim terrorism acts in modern times and the centuries long quest of Islam to establish a worldwide Caliphate where Muslims reign supreme/supremacists and non-Muslims are second class citizens with restricted rights and more duties than Muslims have.
2. Why Is There No Equivalent On The Other Side?
emanon ,   USA   (04.14.09)
Is there any organization on the Muslim side of this divide willing to truly seek peace with Jews and other non-Muslims? If there is, I've not heard of it.
3. Prominent? Never heard of him. Sorry...
Arthur ,   SF, CA   (04.14.09)
4. There's a Jewish ethnicity, but no Muslim ethnicity
Doron ,   Israel   (04.14.09)
When did Islam become a race or ethnicity? If you're an Arab Muslim, then your ethnicity is Arab. If you're a Christian Armenian, then your ethnicity is Armenian. If you're a Jewish (observant) Jew, then your ethnicity is Jewish. When you convert to Judaism you lose your previous ethnicity and become Jewish also by ethnicity. That's not the case with Islam and Christianity, which do not replace your ethnicity when you convert. It is never racism to criticize Judaism, Christianity or Islam. Those are religions, not ethnicity. They are subject to review and criticism as any political ideology.
5. Still, in spite of our doubts, if the rabbi
Robert Haymond ,   Ashdod, Israel   (04.14.09)
can convince moderate Moslems to speak out against terrorists and to educate their young in such a way that terrorism does not become a lifestyle choice, then he's done something useful. I would certainly support him. Education is one of the key factors.
6. Prominent?
Ellen ,   Israel/USA   (04.14.09)
Unlike # 3 I have heard of him. I have seen his name in places, but I am not exactly sure who he is. The Israeli/European reader has to understand there is no chief Rabbi in the US. People like Schneier become "prominent" according to the press because they seek out press.(loads of press releases) Their opinions aren't necessarily supported by anyone but the small group of people who support them. 50 twinnings. Big Deal. My Orthodox neighborhood when I am in Queens has more than50 synagouges in what amounts to 4 square miles.
7. Schneier should be careful to avoid being a fig leaf.
Matt C ,   Canada   (04.14.09)
Twinning synagogues and mosques and holding dinners will not necessarily prevent extremism when extremists can simply use such meetings to make themselves seem more legitimate. After all, the Muslims are not exactly being asked to make any real commitments for good relations and even Iran's President likes to meet with Jews on occasion to make himself look better. French Jewish groups recently had to cancel a similar program (rather than be a fig leaf for anti-Semitism) because the mainstream Muslim groups they worked with started marching with signs calling for "Death to the Jews" (among other things) during the recent Gaza op and refused to apologise for doing so. I hope Schneier is paying attention to his new friends and is willing to take action if any of them engage in similar behaviour. In addition, Schneier shouldn't use the term "Islamophobia". Criticism of religious practice (which is what Islamophobia usually refers to) is not the same as ethnic hatred and the term "Islamophobia" is itself a charged term because it was invented by Iran's mullahs in order to advance their agenda and silence criticism. If Islamophobia becomes equated with anti-Semitism then it becomes very difficult to oppose things like Sharia law or Islamic conquest or traditional Islamic anti-Semitism without seeming "Islamophobic", which is exactly the intention of the Iranian mullahs.
8. Islamaphobia does not exist
dmgold ,   pardes channa Israel   (04.14.09)
Rabbi Scneeeeeeeeeeer is another of those US leftist J Street types that is trying to create some kind of moral equivalence between anti semitism and anti Muslim/Islam/Phobia and by doing so replacing the real agrieved the Jews by Muslims ( Bat Ye'or would call it the Palestinianisation of anti Semitism. One is real in both past and present and the other is a con. A phobia is an irrational fear of something in this case Islam. As 99.9 % of terrorist attacks on non muslims is carried out by those of the muslim faith on innocent civilians of all faiths I would say that the fear of ISlam is not a phobia at all, but rather a justified fear of an agressive and violent religion/ideolgy. Judaism and Islam have nothing in common except for the parts Mohamed stole from the Jews before he slaughtered the Jewish males and took their wives and daughters as concubines 1400 years ago in Medina and Mecca.
9. #6 AND IN BROOKLYN 100 SHULS.LOL YOURE100% CORRRECT
..............DACON9   (04.14.09)
THESE PEOPLE SHOULD SIT IN GAZA OR LEBANON WITH ABBA AND ASSRALLAH NOT TAKE PICTURES FOR OUR CONSUMPTION.. 'THIS AMOUNTS TO EGO, THATS ALL.NOTHING BUT EGO. I HAVE HEARD RUSSEL SIMMONS ON TV REDICULE THE INTERVEIWER WITH THIS LINE ''OK SO NOW YOU HAVE YOUR STORY OF THE BLACK MAN MADE GOOD FOR YOUR WHITE SHOW. TIME IS UP'' HE DID LEARN FINALLY THAT HE HAS TO PLAY DOUBLE SPEAK IN ORDER TO MAINTAIN HIS MANSION IN LONG ISLAND... OH WELL MASHIACH IS COMING SOON.....'HE' WILL LEAD US'' GET READY PEOPLE.... IMPROVEYOURSELF ..NOT THE WORLD..YOU ARE PART OF THE WORLD SO IT NATURALLY FOLLOWS DOESNT IT ! lets test ynet. Ynet hates me .. they post only 1 of 10 i submit.. .I should get married again and vent on my wife not ynet.. thats what wifes are for....
10. Anyone ready to bow to Islam is considered a "well known..."
m   (04.14.09)
11. The fiction called the Koran completely dehumanizes the Jew
JMK ,   NYC   (04.14.09)
The fictional Koran seeks Jews complete subjugation. How will the Rabbi deal with this, maybe he should start and read the fictional Koran.
12. he can do this
ed   (04.14.09)
but only cux he lives in the U.S. and not in these people's neighborhoods. It's an idea but has no validity because the leaders of the muslim world can not be swayed by a bunch of liberals.
13. A real rabbi would have a beard and a kipa...
Texas ,   US   (04.14.09)
14. #3
Eli ,   Brooklyn   (04.14.09)
He's some reform or conservative idiot who thinks that being friends with blacks and Muslims is whats going to bring Meshiach. this "rabbi" is totally irrelevant.
15. How do you resolve this short of taking out from the Koran
Jae ,   Lynn USA   (04.14.09)
Mohameds deeds of anti smeitism burtality and rape? Witness the story of the Jewish tribes of Kebar, Korach, etc. witness the beheadings of all the males and the enslavement of the children and woman of these Jewish desert tribes in what is now Mecca and Medina. Its in the Koran itself. and so is the famous line in Ham,as' charter that announces how the trees and the rocks will tell the "faithful" that a Jew is behind them and to come and kill him, etc.. Maybe the suffies can be talked to. But the devout muslims seem to have engrained in their minds a lot of anti-semtism which predates the RE-emergence of the Jewish national country.
16. Kumbaya
Lawrence ,   Safed Israel   (04.14.09)
17. "Someone's Singing My Lord, Kumbayah..."
David H ,   Marietta USA   (04.14.09)
Liberal horse squeeze! Why is it that we Jews love this fictitious stuff? Oh, and #13, have you ever seen a bearded woman Rabbi? No, I guess not.
18. No, Texas, a real rabbi does NOT need a beard
Raymond in DC ,   Washington, USA   (04.14.09)
Texas (#13) claims "A real rabbi would have a beard and a kipa..." Schneier may indeed be wearing a kipa not visible in the picture (he's a graduate of Yeshiva U). But established halacha is that the beard can be removed if not using a blade. The Orthodox head of the Georgetown Synagogue wears only a goatee, while many other Orthodox rabbis in DC go clean-shaven. What one should require of any rabbi is common sense, and the modesty not to promote an issue without fully understanding it. Schneier seems to lack both. FBI reports show anti-Semitic attacks in the US roughly ten times those against Muslims. So "Islamophobia" - a concept introduced by Iran's mullahs - is a made up grievance. And many of the imams and Muslim groups Schneier makes nice with are linked, directly or indirectly, to Islamists. His outreach appeals only to delusional "kumbaya" Jews.
19. My dream...Muslim tolerance for others
Noam ,   Boca Raton   (04.14.09)
I lived for over half a year in Jordan and had to hide my Jewish identity to the vast majority of people I met. I was frequently asked to convert (when I told the Arabs I was Christian) and would often get special discounts if I lied and said I was an American Muslim. An visiting Muslim would never have to live such a life of denial if he/she spent time in Israel. Rabbi Schneider is noble in ideal but naive in reality. The Muslim world, its collective conscious, needs radical reform. It must stop preaching its supremacist ideology of the right to dominate over others, unlimited right to use violence and intimidation against people who challenge their beliefs, and the respect for religions that believe Muhammad was not the final prophet- namely Bahai but also Sikhs. My dream is that Muslims can accept non Muslim citizens of Saudi Arabia, can accept building churches in "Muslim lands", can critically examine Qur'anic passages that seem to incite for hatred and violence against non Muslims. Unlike the situation with American blacks, Muslims feel bound by faith and solidarity worldwide to all Muslims, particularly "causes" where Musims are struggling against non-Muslims: Chechnya, Palestine, Kashmir (not Muslim vs. Muslim violence such as Sudan, Pakistan, or Turkey). They believe that God is sanctioning their positions, therefore changing heart requires going against the supposed divine order of nature. Theologically-entrenched Jew hatred is much harder to remove than communal prejudice or lack of education. As long as Israel exists, they can not acknowledge Jews as a partner. And even at that, too many Muslims just insist we are only a religion and not an ethnicity or nation.
20. This so-called "Orthodox Rabbi" does quickie conversions...
Not a real Rabbi   (04.15.09)
So that very rich New York Jewish men can marry their young nubile shiksas. It's rumoured that this "Rabbi" is doing Ivanka's Trump quickie "conversion" so she that she can marry her "Modern Orthodox" billionare boyfriend next month. The Rabbi gets alot of bribe money doing these type of "conversions." He knows that the "conversions" are not kosher but he does them anyway. The "Rabbi" "converted" the pregnant shiksa lover of the president of Revlon several years ago after a real Rabbi turned them down. This guy is an insult to Judaism!
21. what is wrong with you all
pilpelet ,   israel   (04.15.09)
if the coran teaches all muslems to hate whats your excuise comment after comment full of ridicule and narrow mindedness what in the hell is going on i think if i had to take most of you lot as a cosenses the only thing the jews know to do for peace is to sing a about it we have more songs about peace than any country in the world,get real i live in israel im jewish i work with jews christains and muslems ,open your minds this hate is killing all of us . i wish the rabbie the best of luck if you lot are anything to go by he really needs it hag samach to all
22. this is a real RABBI, the orthodox are the worst to jews(end
Jaime ,   Concepcion ; Chile   (04.16.09)
23. WHAT KIND OF BLIND SPIRITUAL IDIOT IS THIS ???.
ORAO STRANKA. ,   TSARIGRAD u SRBIA.   (04.16.09)
JEHOVAH THE GOD OF ISRAEL IS NOT ALLAH. ALLAH IS THE OTHER ONE !!!. Orao.
Back to article