Haaretz
Tevet 28, 5765
BRUSSELS - A few minutes
before Europe observed three minutes of silence last Wednesday in memory
of the tsunami victims, Jewish and Muslim clergy who had convened at
Egmont Palace decided to join them. Two days earlier, the clergy had come
together to seek means of greater involvement for religion in quietening
the bloody Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
At exactly noon, all the
participants got to their feet around the tables in the magnificent
conference hall. Rabbis and imams, along with several Christian clerics,
stood side by side and bowed their heads in utter
silence.
Suddenly, Rabbi Shlomo Chelouche, the chief rabbi of
Haifa, recited a short prayer for the victims. When he finished, all those
present said "amen."
Then Zimer Omar Farouk Turan, the former mufti
of Istanbul, recited verses from the Koran. No sooner did he finish than
Rabbi Yosef Azran, chief rabbi of Rishon Letzion, chanted a psalm, his
voice choked with tears. When the moments of silence were over, the
hundreds of clergy in the room remained standing. Some wiped away a
tear.
"This proves that rabbis and imams can work together for a
common goal," said Rabbi Rene Sirat, the former chief rabbi of France. "In
all my years as a rabbi, I never experienced a moment like this," Sirat
added, invoking the traditional Jewish blessing for reaching a special
milestone.
Hojat al-Islam Muhammad Mehatali, a senior Iranian
cleric, looked at his colleagues in amazement. "These moments were the
cream of the whole conference," he said. "Where have you ever seen Muslims
and Jews praying as if they were one family?"
There was no shortage
of moving moments during the unprecedented "Rabbis and Imams for Peace"
conference, which was sponsored by the organization Hommes de Parole. The
confrence hosted more than 200 rabbis and imams as well as Christian
clergy from all over the world to convey the message that religion does
not send people out to kill and that anyone who takes a life in the name
of religion transgresses a commandment of God.
The conference
concluded on Friday with a pledge that the Jewish and Muslim clerics would
work to put an end to bloodshed between Israelis and Palestinians and
would struggle with all their might against hatred, ignorance and
extremism on both sides. When the declaration was read, the participants
got to their feet and applauded.
The delegates grew close during
the conference. Rabbis who had never met an imam spoke freely with them
during the meetings. At first, they ate at separate tables - Jews here,
Muslims there, eyeing each other suspiciously. A day later they had moved
closer; a day after that, they were sitting together and even taking
pictures arm in arm.
By Wednesday, they were praising each other's
faith. "We are all the children of one father - Abraham the Patriarch,"
said Rabbi Eliyahu Bakshi Doron.
Sheikh Talal Sidr of Hebron moved
the audience when he called on them to visit every mosque and synagogue to
preach peace and dignity. "This is the divine commandment; we must educate
a generation to peace and love," he said.
"How is it that every
Jewish prayer ends with the word peace and every Muslim prayer ends with
the word peace and we are killing each other?" asked Sheikh Abdul Jalil
Sajid, the imam of Brighton, England.
Rabbi Yaakov Ariel, chief
rabbi of Ramat Gan and a leading opponent of disengagement, surprised the
audience with his conciliatory tone. "Judaism and Islam have a common
task," he said, "to bring a message to the whole world. Don't we all have
one father? So why should we hurt each other?"
The imams
represented most of the countries of Africa and Asia, dressed in
traditional robes and head coverings in a rainbow of colors. The former
president of Indonesia, Abdul Rahman Wahid, canceled his participation
because of the tsunami damage to his country.
"The extremists have
taken God hostage," said Andre Azoulay, adviser to the king of Morocco.
"Unfortunately they are stronger than the Jewish and Muslim people of
peace." Participants made great efforts to distance themselves from the
horrors perpetrated by fanatics in the name of God.
Paramount
during the conference was the clergy's desire to participate in the
political process. Several noted that without religious legitimization, no
political agreement will last and realizing that if they do not rein in
the extremists, the latter might touch off a powder keg of religious
hatred that will ignite the whole region.
At the end of the
conference, participants held hands and sang Haveinu Shalom Aleichem, a
Hebrew song of peace. "We made history," said Alain Michel, a French
Christian and president of Hommes de
Parole.