Meet Saleha Jabeen: A Muslim Student at a Catholic Seminary, Building Relationships Between Jews and Muslims in Chicago

Meet Saleha Jabeen – an Indian-born Muslim student at the Catholic Theological Union, who is part of the leadership team organizing the annual “Iftar in the Synagogue” event, as part of JCUA’s Jewish-Muslim Community Building Initiative.

by Jessica Cohen
JCUA Intern, Communications

Saleha Jabeen

In an event encouraging the Jewish and Muslim communities to come together, JCUA is partnering with other Jewish and Muslim organizations to hold its ninth annual “Iftar in the Synagogue.”

During the month of Ramadan, Muslims fast from sunrise to sunset, and break their fast each evening with an “Iftar” meal. In celebration of this, Iftar in the Synagogue includes prayers, speakers and a kosher/halal dinner. One of the major events of the JCUA summer, it will take place Thursday, July 25 at Anshe Emet Synagogue.

27-year-old Saleha Jabeen, a student pursuing an MA at the Catholic Theological Union in Hyde Park, is volunteering as a leader on the event planning committee (find out how you can volunteer as well).

“I always try to volunteer with different organizations, so I was excited to hear about JCUA. I love finding organizations that hold onto the core beliefs of a religion, rather than the traditional religious aspects,” Saleha said.

Introducing Or Tzedek’s Summer 2013 Staff

Spring is (kinda sorta) in the air  and summer is just around the corner. And with summer comes…Or Tzedek’s Summer 2013 sessions! We would like to introduce you to our experienced, passionate, and simply amazing summer staff who will  building and guiding our Or Tzedek community.

Danny Obeler and Miriam Grossman, activists and Jewish leaders who have previously staffed Or Tzedek’s winter retreat and summer programs, will be joining us for all three sessions. Rachel Aaronson and Eliana Fischer, Or Tzedek summer alums and Chicagoland Jewish High School graduates, will be our program interns this summer.

Welcome to all of our wonderful staff and to our 2013 Or Tzedekers. We can’t wait to get the summer started.

Guest Op-Ed: Say “No!” to Bullying

The following op-ed is by Dan Lapidus, a junior at Jones College Prep High School in Chicago. Dan participated in Or Tzedek’s  Activism and Community Organizing program in summer ’11, Advanced Activism in summer ’12, and the Winter Leadership Retreat in ’11 and ’12. Dan is a member of the Mikva Challenge Youth Commission. The following was originally posted on Dan’s Facebook page.

Dan at the Winter Retreat

I was bullied for years, and it sucked. Kids would call me names. They would say things like, “Hey Dan, you’re a fag” or “Hey lapenis, go Jew around somewhere else, we don’t want you here.”

Most people thought they were so creative when they called me lapenis. But that wasn’t the worst part. The worst part was all the kids who were so scared of what might happen to them, they didn’t do anything.

They watched a classmate suffer; they stood on that damned Jones College Prep courtyard and watched people throw oranges at me and try to steal my house keys. There is nothing more confining than thinking that you are alone and no one has your back.

MLK Day of Action: A Declaration of “the Most Evident of Truths”

Roy, Stacy, Hana, Joel, Sam at Bright Star

By Rebecca Katz, JCUA Manager of Teen Programs

On Monday, January 21^st, around 100 people came together for an MLK Day of Action, an interfaith and intergenerational event organized by Anshe Emet Synagogue, Bright Star Church, and JCUA’s Or Tzedek.

Moved by the legacy of Dr. Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. on his federal holiday and President Barack Obama’s historic second inauguration, children, teens and adults from Chicago’s Jewish and African American communities committed their considerable energy, time, and passion to renew their shared commitment to create social justice in their city.

While the temperatures outside were freezing, people inside Bright Star Church talked of the warmth they felt, generated by the openness of all participants to share their own experiences and listen to the assets and challenges of another community.

Rabbi David Russo, Pastor Chris Harris and Rebecca Katz emphasized throughout the day that this was only the beginning of a relationship between both communities; “Lehitraot,” or “see you soon,” were Rabbi Russo’s parting words.

Igniting Activism: Or Tzedek’s 2012 Winter Leadership Retreat

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Last month, Or Tzedek held its second annual Winter Leadership Retreat. Fourteen teens from diverse Jewish backgrounds attended these four powerful days of learning, building relationships and creating change.

Through their actions and workshops, Or Tzedek’s youth leaders demonstrated the power of youth working together to address root causes of injustice and build relationships between teen leaders in Chicago’s diverse communities.

By advocating for immigration reform with the Illinois Coalition of Immigrant and Refugee Rights to phone banking for Southsiders United for Unity and Liberation (SOUL), sharing experiences with a community of Chicago’s young activists at the Faith in Youth Power Story Slam to working on alternatives to our current unjust detention system with the Interfaith Committee on Detained Immigrants, Or Tzedek was, at its core, combating racism, anti-semitism and poverty in Chicago.

3 Minutes, 1 Mic, and a Roomful of Youth Activists = Story Slam

You’ve got three minutes, a microphone and an audience. Your assignment: to tell a funny/sad/absurd/joyous/empowering/dis-empowering/irony-laden experience about the intersection of faith and power in your life.

On December 27th, 2012, Or Tzedek is co-sponsoring a “Faith in Youth Power Story Slam”, along with AVODAH: the Jewish Service Corp, Jewish Student Connection, Mishkan, and Moishe House Chicago. This open mic storytelling event brings together Chicago’s youth activists, organizers and leaders to share their faith in youth power or the power they find from faith.

These stories will make you laugh, and some may even make you cry, but one thing is certain: this is not an event to be missed!

While the focus of this story slam is on youth power, we encourage you all to attend! You can come to listen, you can come to share, or you can come just to be a part of this unforgettable experience.

The Faith in Youth in Power Story Slam will take place on December 27, 2012 from 7:00PM-9:00PM at 722 West Aldine Avenue. TELL YOUR STORY! Click here to RSVP

JCUA joins media campaign contra Muslim and anti-Muslim extremists alike

JCUA takes action in solidarity with the Muslim community in the face of hate speech and ignorance, and participates in media campaign to reclaim the meaning of the Islamic concept of “Jihad” from Muslim and anti-Muslim extremists alike.
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In late September, 2012 the anti-Muslim extremist Pamela Geller put up inflammatory ads in the New York City subway stations, which read: “In any war between the civilized man and the savage, support the civilized man. Support Israel. Defeat jihad” (see here). New York’s Metropolitan Transit Authority at first refused to put up such hateful signs, but was forced by a court order to oblige Geller.

Many in the New York Jewish community have responded strongly, including a counter-campaign by Rabbis for Human Rights – North America, who put up subway signs reading “Choose love.”

Here in Chicago, the Muslim community has decided that a significant point has been overlooked on both sides. At the heart of the problem is the blatant misuse of the word “Jihad” as if it were an acceptable synonym of say “terrorism.”

Indeed, many Americans remain confused about the meaning of the concept of Jihad in Islamic tradition. Led by the Chicago chapter of the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR-Chicago), the Muslim community has decided to reclaim the meaning of Jihad from Muslim and anti-Muslim extremists alike.

JCUA Co-Sponsoring Unique Jewish-Muslim Concert

Phillip Simmons conducting the Lincolnwood Chamber Orchestra

The Jewish Council on Urban Affairs is partnering with the American Islamic Center of Bosniaks  and American Music Festivals to present a unique Jewish-Muslim concert.

When: Sunday, September 2nd, 7PM
Where: American Islamic College (640 W. Irving Park, Chicago)
This event on Facebook

Concert Highlights:

• The Lincolnwood Chamber Orchestra, managed by American Music Festivals, will be joined by vocal soloist Imam Senad Agic, for the U.S. premiere of Josip Slavenski’s “Muslimani.”.
• Additional highlights include guest speaker Rabbi Neil Brief, Ilya Levinson’s poignant “Shtetl Scenes,” works by John Williams from the movie “Munich,” new arrangements of traditional Sevdah and Bosnian popular music, and a performance by the Chicago Syntagma Musicum Chorus.

Imam Senad Agic, who will be doing vocals at the concert

Tickets:

General admission tickets are available for $25 at http://www.americanmusicfestivals.com. Call 773-469-5895 for more information.

Background:

The Jewish community and Bosnian Muslims share a common historical bond, being displaced at the hands of 15th Century Inquisitors and finding refuge in Bosnia-Herzegovina and neighboring areas under Ottoman rule. They suffered together at the hands of Nazi collaborators in World War II and fifty years later Bosniaks (Bosnian Muslims) suffered the first genocide in Europe since the Holocaust. Audience members will be invited to view the debut of the photo exhibit “Remembering the Genocide in Bosnia,” by Samir Hadzalic, Outreach Director for American Music Festivals.

In the National Museum in Sarajevo a Haggadah is proudly displayed. Written in Hebrew, it is one of the most beautiful books of its kind, dating back to around the 15th century when it was brought from Spain. Near the Museum, a Synagogue and Mosque stand next to each other, reminding us of the peaceful coexistence that Jews and Muslims enjoyed for centuries in Bosnia and Herzegovina. This friendship led to the development of Sevdah music, which combines folk elements of the Sephardic, Balkan, and Arabic traditions. It is through the music and text of these melancholy songs that their friendship can best be understood.

When We Truly Know One Another

Imam Abdul-Malik Ryan is a  founding member and past president of the Inner-City Muslim Action Network. He holds a bachelor’s in African-American Studies from DePaul University and is a graduate of Georgetown University Law Center. Imam Ryan has been working as an attorney for children in Chicago’s  foster care system for more than 10 years, and serves as Muslim chaplain at DePaul University. He has also been actively involved in Iftar in the Synagogue, an annual event of JCUA’s Jewish-Muslim Community Building Initiative.

Imam Abdul-Malik Ryan

By Imam Abdul-Malik Ryan

Are human beings basically all the same? Are we different? Are our differences merely superficial and unimportant or are they real and significant? If they are significant, what do they mean? What is their origin and what are we supposed to do when faced with difference, should we ignore it? Should we celebrate it? Should we fight about it?

The Qur’an’s answer to this question is pretty clear. In the 49th Surah (chapter) of the Qur’an, God says “O Humanity!  We have created you from a male and female and made you into peoples and tribes so that you may know one another.” The ayah (verse) starts by telling us that all humans do indeed share the same origin and are literally part of the same human family.

Healing the Rift

Reflecting on 10 Years of Jewish-Muslim Community Building
By Samuel Fleischacker

Samuel Fleischacker

Sam Fleischacker is a professor of philosophy and the director of Jewish studies at the University of Illinois at Chicago. He is also the director of UIC’s Jewish-Muslim Initiative and serves on the advisory committee of the Jewish-Muslim Community Building Initiative at the Jewish Council on Urban Affairs.

The rift between Jews and Muslims is among the most fraught of all religious divides today, yet the Jewish Council of Urban Affairs (JCUA) is still one of the few organizations to address it.

JCUA established its Jewish-Muslim Community Building Initiative (JMCBI) immediately after 9/11. In a low-key, admirably pragmatic way, it has worked ever since then to help Jews and Muslims reach across the divide between their communities. Its premise is that Jews and Muslims in America share a similar history and have similar needs and interests.

They are both minority religions trying to ensure their integrity in a Christian country; they both consist of fairly recent immigrants, and know the difficulties of all immigrants; and they share many general human values. These similarities make it possible and useful for them to work together on local policy issues, regardless of their differences elsewhere, and that joint work can in turn help members of both communities recognize their similarities more fully.