“The history of Islam has built into it antisemitism. It’s a fact… Built into the Quran there are some negative statements about the Jews. It’s a fact.”
A panel discussion about confronting hate and prejudice in Jewish-Muslim relations took place on April 25 promoted by Intercultural Dialogue Institute GTA and Canadian Jewish News. Speakers included Dr. ingrid Mattson, Chair in Islamic Studies, Huron University College, Rabbi Daniel Korobkin, Senior Rabbi, Beth Avraham Yoseph of Toronto, Imam Abdullah Antepli, Chief Representative of Muslim Affairs, Duke University, and Yoni Goldstein, Editor, Canadian Jewish News.
The discussion was based on these statements by the organizers.
“We live in an era of rising bigotry against both Muslims and Jews. As such, there’s hardly been a time when the need for more solidarity, good faith, and bridge-building has been more immediately felt. While it is crucial to build trust, respect, and understanding in ways that honor the ideals of both communities, it is important not to be blind to the difficulties and tensions that have often divided these communities. The panel discussion aims to shed light on historical and contemporary issues, and articulate a broad vision for the future of Muslim-Jewish relations in Canada–one based on mutual respect and good faith.”
Bernie Farber, past CEO of Mosaic and now member of JSpace, a Progressive Jewish organization, shared his views on the panel discussion:
BernieFarber @BernieFarber Apr 25 Looking forward tonight to hearing Rabbi Daniel Korobkin, Rabbi Debra Landsberg, Imam Abdullah Antepli, and Dr. Ingrid Mattson of ISNA engaging in dialogue 2night at Hart House. So important and a historic gathering. https://twitter.com/BernieFarber/status/989249930052096000
BernieFarber @BernieFarber Apr 25 Big crowd listening 2 Rabbi Daniel Korobkin, Rabbi Debra Landsberg, Imam Abdullah Antepli, & Dr. Ingrid Mattson of ISNA moderated by Yoni Goldstein editor of the @TheCJN Historic and epic. https://twitter.com/BernieFarber/status/989287675579396096
The crowd listened as Rabbi Korobkin shared his views.
This is a transcription of his speech. There are some words that are difficult to decipher. Please feel free to help with the transcription. Here is the link.
The feeling in this room is so positive. I don’t want to ruin it, but I want to ask you if it is OK if we just painfully honest, and do I have everyone’s permission? OK, I gonna give you a mea culpa.
I am politically very Conservative, I’m an orthodox Rabbi and it’s uncharacteristic for some like me to be here. So I want to give you my narrative, OK? It may be difficult to hear.
The history of Islam has built into it antisemitism. It’s a fact. Mohamed in the Arabian Peninsula tried to convince the Jews to convert, to accept him as their prophet and the Jews turned him down. This story is one of the reasons for the massacre of Medinah and the entire Jewish community. Built into the Quran there are some negative statements about the Jews. It’s a fact.
Now we’ll talk about Christianity for a second, Islam’s older, older cousin. Built into the New Testament, a lot of antisemitism is rife. Look at Matthew, the book of John. It’s a fact. Jews were stoned to death. It’s a fact. For half a millennium, Jews were persecuted, massacred and heavy laws issued against them by the Catholic Church. Lot of Jews were murdered at the stake, lot of Jews were murdered by Christians for religious reasons. Islam does not have as bloody of history with the Jews but its hands are not clean. But here’s what happened over the course of history between Judaism and Christianity.
Sometime in the Renaissance period the Christian world started to clean itself up. By the 20th century that (inaudible) and it was a proclamation by officials of the Catholic Church who all blamed Jews for crucifying the Lord. Get along with Jews. Jews are OK and we expect you to live in peace and harmony with them and not persecute them anymore.
Islam is still struggling with that There hasn’t been (inaudible) But I don’t know if it is even possible because there is no unified body in the Islamic world. But I see that happen but it hasn’t happened yet. And that is part of the reason why we have a tremendous amount of tension. Religion…(Inaudible ) in the religion of Islam there is a very serious problem with the Jewish people and it is something that needs to be looked at very carefully, acknowledged, accepted, digested (inaudible)
Because there are so many different ways that Christians have been able to re-interpret the scriptures of the New Testament and there are so many ways that Muslims have been able to re-interpret the scriptures of the Quran. And now more has to be done. When we as religious leaders are able to tell our religious communities that there is nothing in our scriptures that makes us natural enemies because this is how we interpret it that’s how religious leaders can be most effective.”
Recently Canadian, Sandra Solomon, an ex-Muslim, has started a controversial campaign to designate the Quran as hate literature because of its antisemitic content.
From the Ethics of the Fathers: “Rabbi Tarfon used to say, it is not incumbent upon you to complete the task, but you are not exempt from undertaking it.”
