2004-12-03 Rabbi David Rosen |
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Rabbi
David Rosen, at AJC meeting, outlines inter-religious
efforts on four continents
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Helpful in dealing with such heavy topics is a lively sense
of humor, which Rosen displayed frequently during a talk on Thursday, Dec. 2, at
the La Jolla home of Avra and Barry Kassar. Although born and raised in England, Rosen had served from 1975 to 1979 in Cape Town as senior rabbi of the Seapoint Hebrew Congregation, which was South Africa’s largest Orthodox congregation with 10,000 members and 1,500 regular attendees. So Rosen was relaxed and at home with an audience who, like his hosts, were mostly South African expatriates. In South Africa, Rosen formed an Inter-Faith Forum to which
he attracted the leadership of English, Indian, and Dutch religious groups. One of the participants was a minister of the Dutch Reformed
Church who initially told Rosen he would “burn in hell” because he rejected
Jesus. Rosen said he nevertheless
invited the pastor to participate in the forum—even if his only reason for
being there would be to attempt to convert the others. Meeting clerics of other faiths was an eye opening
experience for that minister, recalled Rosen.
The process was equally a “theophany—a religious revelation” for
Rosen himself, who had grown up in a modern Orthodox home. Rosen added, with a smile, “I got such a kick out of these encounters, I wanted more of it.” He went from South Africa to Ireland, where from 1979 to 1985 he was designated as the “chief rabbi.” “You know being in Ireland, as Rabbi (Lord Immanuel) Jakobovits said before me, ’95 percent of the country is Catholic, 5 percent is Protestant, and I am chief rabbi of the rest.’ You can’t do your job very well unless you are involved in interfaith relations.” The experience served Rosen well after he moved to Israel and was selected by Israel’s Chief Rabbinate to dialogue with the Vatican, despite his maverick political views. “I am very openly critical of the Israeli religious establishment,” he said. “I also believe that separation of religion from politics and the disestablishment of the rabbinic structure within Israeli society is not only right for democracy, not only good for Israeli citizens, not only good for Israeli-Diaspora relations, but it is good for Orthodoxy. “Only when Orthodoxy really functions in an open market
situation can it purify itself and adjust appropriately for the age in which it
lives,” he said. “Not all my colleagues like to hear this sort of
thing,” he added, his eyes twinkling. Rosen had served as the director of the Anti-Defamation
League’s Israel office before being hired away in 2001 by the American Jewish
Committee—“an organization by which I am much better suited by temperament,
nuance and responsibilities,” he said. Asked about his work with Muslims, he commented that Indonesia’s
former president, Abdurrahman Wahid, jointly holds the presidency with him of
the World Conference of Religion and Peace. Rosen suggested that if the Muslim leader, who “has been
to Israel a number of times” had been able to remain in power a little longer,
there would have been diplomatic relations between Indonesia and Israel. In the United States, WD Muhammad—son of Black Muslim founder Elijah Muhammad—similarly has “visited Israel twice, once as a guest of the government of Israel,” Rosen said. “He is very positive with regards to Jews and is very interested in dialogue.” The rabbi said it’s a shame that few Jews have heard of WD Muhammad, yet many have heard of Louis Farrakhan, leader of the smaller, breakaway Nation of Islam. “Why don’t people know about him?” Rosen asked rhetorically. It is because WD Muhammad “isn’t tall and handsome and doesn’t play the violin and doesn’t spew filth. He is moderate and conciliatory, and he is not charismatic. “I have spoken at four of his mosques—Houston
and Dallas among them—and I
was received with incredible warmth. In
questions and answers afterwards, they didn’t pull any punches. They asked
serious questions, and I gave serious answers.” “In the final analysis this is the most important issue,” he said. “If Islam does not adjust to modernity, we (the western world) are going to sink. We need to reach out to moderate Muslims.” |