Mideast conflict affects all Muslims and Jews: Marmur

Interesting column by Dow Marmur, rabbi emeritus at Toronto’s Holy Blossom Temple, and the need to focus on relations between Jewish and Muslim communities at home, as some of the recent tensions at demonstrations attest:

Christians act as catalysts here. Thus the proposed centre is to be built on a site where churches had stood since the Middle Ages; the last was damaged in the Second World War and subsequently demolished. Berlin is now to have a home promoting religious tolerance erected on Christian ground.

Christians in post-war Germany have a history of trying to bring Jews and Muslims together without meddling in the politics of the Middle East. Already more than 40 years ago, Christian institutions in what was then West Germany helped to create an organization called Jews, Christians and Muslims in Europe. To this day JCM promotes fruitful interfaith encounters, particularly between theology students. The Berlin House of Prayer and Learning would be a logical and more far-reaching extension of this work.

Toronto has a sizeable Jewish community and an even larger Muslim minority. Canada is known for its commitment to multiculturalism and peace. This city may, therefore, be the right place to imitate and fine-tune what’s being done in Berlin, not by seeking to import the Palestinian-Israeli conflict but by bringing together committed Christians, Jews and Muslims who would help to enrich our lives here despite the tensions there.

The Canadian Association of Jews and Muslims is already engaged in this kind of non-political work. What I know of it suggests that it could benefit from active Christian involvement and resourcefulness reflecting Canada’s commitment to peace and coexistence. Where Chicago and Los Angeles failed, Toronto taking its cue from Berlin might succeed.

Mideast conflict affects all Muslims and Jews: Marmur | Toronto Star.