Associated Press
New York – The Simon Wiesenthal Center has launched a multilingual Web site whose main purpose is to inform Muslims about Judaism through a forum that allows visitors to post live questions in Arabic, Farsi, Urdu, Bahasa and English.
The Web site, http://www.AskMusa.org, which means Ask Moses in Arabic, also will offer essays about Judaism by Jewish scholars and authors.
The concept for the Web site was developed by Rabbi Abraham Cooper, associate dean of the Simon Wiesenthal Center, a Los Angeles-based organization that focuses on Holocaust remembrance and human rights.
The center said Cooper came up with the idea after meetings with imams and other Muslims in Egypt, Sudan, Jordan, Indonesia and India showed him that many Muslims – even highly educated ones – knew very little about the most basic tenets of Judaism.
“In an environment where the current perception of Jews is largely shaped by the most extreme elements,” Cooper said in a statement Monday, “we have to reach out so that the truth about Jews and Judaism is readily available to Arab and Muslim societies.”
The Wiesenthal Center said in a release that the Web site was “a new front in the digital era in the fight to combat anti-Semitism and erase the myths about Judaism and the Holocaust currently being propagated on the Internet by Muslim extremists and anti-Semitic regimes.”
Copyright 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Beliefnet
Advertisement
posted September 10, 2007 at 7:25 pm
Best of luck to this effort; it’s through outreach efforts like this, I think, that are ultimately going to do some good.
God bless.
posted September 10, 2007 at 7:31 pm
EXCELLENT idea. Any progress in understanding between religions is a plus. Certainly hope the Muslims will be open to the information.
posted September 10, 2007 at 7:41 pm
I also applaude this effort. It will not do any harm, and just may do some good.
posted September 10, 2007 at 8:00 pm
Sorry. As a former English teacher, I should know how to spell applaud.
posted September 10, 2007 at 9:43 pm
I clap my hands for this idea.
posted September 10, 2007 at 11:06 pm
Seems like a good idea. And a similar website about Islam would be just as good.
But you always have to wonder what gets left out of the answers. It would be more trustworthy if people have a chance to post comments about the answers in case relevant information is left out or misconstrued.
posted September 10, 2007 at 11:28 pm
I can’t believe this hasn’t been tried before. It is one of the most obviously brilliant ideas – especially if someone follows nnmns advice and does the same about Islam. They might even call it – wait, I’ll think of a good name. I know – Beliefnet. No, that’s taken.
Anyway, this is in fact an excellent idea. I clap and applaud, stomp my feet and whistle. Even more, I’ll try to find it and direct some of my church members to it.
posted September 11, 2007 at 10:30 am
Understanding each other is everything. Great idea.
posted September 11, 2007 at 11:37 am
wow, i really cant believe this is a new idea! i would have thought that something like this already existed! good thing they are finally making this happen.
posted September 12, 2007 at 10:23 am
In Maryland in the past few days, there has been vandalism directed against two groups – Jews and Muslims. The yahoos who vandalize Synagogues and Mosques aren’t aware of problems between Jews and Muslims — they just hate both groups.
posted September 12, 2007 at 11:32 am
Alicia,
There is one internet corportation/community that will not appreciate your use of “yahoo”!
And yet, are there not always some idiots and knuckledraggers who always seem to work out their frustrations by targetting groups they do not understand? It is that time of year when both Moslems and jews are in the news – Ramadan and Rosh Hoshanah & Yom Kippur. I think the greatest and most appropriate gesture would be for Christian communities to publicly and obviously help guard and protect some of the mosques and synagogues. Maybe the knuckledraggers would get the message. Sadly, they will only vent in another direction.
posted September 12, 2007 at 12:13 pm
jestrfyl,
Yahoo is too good a word to limit to only its current usage. Jonathan Swift would appreciate the current state of things, I’m sure. To the best of my knowledge, the vandalism was the work of teenagers, and I think it will take a few years before they grow up and get the message, if they ever do…
posted September 12, 2007 at 1:14 pm
Alicia,
If I recall, the folks at the afformentioned corporation had Swift’s characters in mind when they named their company.
Bored teenagers are the most dangerous energy source in the world. Great and horrible mischief has been done by just this age group throughout history. That is one of the reasons I have devoted much of my career to working with them and trying to find ways to harness their energy and inventiveness in creative channels. It is a wondrous challenge. They are easily misguided and quick to find explosive, wet, or colorful ways to expend their energy. Sports does not reach everyone, and neither does scouting. I find the Church can be an interesting place for them to gather and find more beneficial ways to meet their needs. But then, I prefer the “square wheels” and the “flying platypae” in life more interesting than the folks who act as they ought.