tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6141014.post1945783952969994303..comments2023-06-21T10:52:34.013-04:00Comments on Jeremy Rosen's Blog: Ground Zero MosqueAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17043970242427877089noreply@blogger.comBlogger9125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6141014.post-38737903137479948722010-09-28T23:48:07.690-04:002010-09-28T23:48:07.690-04:00Yuri:
Please don't apologize for being persis...Yuri:<br /><br />Please don't apologize for being persistent its a good quality. But surely theres a difference between opposing a mosque/synagogue because of financial, amenity, traffic or other considerations that are not ideological and opposing it simply because you do not like Orthodox Jews, Muslims etc. Charedi Jews regularly encounter this latter case. <br />So theres a difference between opposing all mosques and opposing this specific one on grounds not based on prejudice. As in this case specific sensitivity to a unique event that will forever be associate with Muslim perpetrators like it or not.<br /><br />Many of the people who oppose Ground Zero Mosque do it on grounds simply of sensitivity and would in no way want to be associated with hatred.<br /><br />I would personally oppose such attitudes. In my own case knowing some of those involved I was initially very supportive of the Cordoba Center, but having seen how heels are dug in, pride and other primitive attitudes are creeping in, I have withdrawn my involvement.<br /><br />JRabbi Jeremy Rosenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12723608669485173271noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6141014.post-66532192644590837542010-09-22T00:08:10.208-04:002010-09-22T00:08:10.208-04:00Rabbi Rosen,
I am certainly not one to dig in my h...Rabbi Rosen,<br />I am certainly not one to dig in my heels - although it may seem so with my persistent comments regarding this topic :-) - and I suppose that if the resistance to the mosque was a debate that centered solely around the sensitivity to 911 victims, I would agree that the community which is building this center would have probably won more points if they sounded a retreat. I just can't help but be nervous about the fact that a fair amount of mainstream political figures and media are saying things that would be considered faux pax if directed at any other religion in the US today. Certainly there is a disturbing amount of virulent anti-Semitism online, but I am at least comforted by the thought (maybe the illusion) that these websites are run and visited mainly by nuts who do not have any meaningful authority over the direction of this country's mood.<br />Also, I still disagree with calling the mosque a "Ground Zero Mosque" since it really is not being built any closer to ground zero than St. Peter's Catholic Church, for example<br />Finally I go back to my initial issue of the fact that many of the same people that oppose the Nashville mosque are the ones that are voicing their opposition to the building in NYC and vice-versa. If the NYC mosque takes the high road and moves to a different location, what should the Nashville mosque do?<br /><br />Chag Sameach Again!<br />YYurihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17509003198740661581noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6141014.post-29600440103543297252010-09-21T10:46:25.008-04:002010-09-21T10:46:25.008-04:00Yuri:
The more I think and hear about this issue,...Yuri:<br /><br />The more I think and hear about this issue, the more I sense another dimension. Jews have lived under alien regimes for so long that we have acquired an extra sensitivity, some might even call it an inferiority complex (I wouldn't, of course). <br /><br />Islam is in a different position for two reasons. It is a proud defiant expansionist religion and sees compromise as weakness. That's its weakness in the West and in this case because instead of beating a tactical retreat to further understanding, the Mosque principals are digging their heels in (encouraged of course by the liberals). <br /><br />The second is the sad and undeniable (tho many refuse to accept it) challenge of violent radical Islam even within the USA Muslim community. There is concern as well there should be of any violent sector even if one concedes it is a minority within a minority. One cannot open a newspaper on any day of the year without reading tht somewhere a Muslim has blown up other mainly Muslims. This naturally breeds anxiety.<br /><br />Nevertheless, free Western countries rightly stand by their laws of free expression and free worship. But taking of advantage of this too requires responsibility.<br /><br />Fear is an ingredient more than hatred but yes just as with anti-Semitism fear breeds hatred. There are as you know far more and more virulent anti Semitic web sites based in the USA than anti Muslim ones, by far, by far.<br />I was amazed to read an article recently in the WJS by a Muslim saying that in the Sunni Middle East most Arabs think the Ground Zero Mosque is an insensitive bad idea that will not help understanding. How come they get it?<br /><br />JeremyRabbi Jeremy Rosenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12723608669485173271noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6141014.post-13918900463710589162010-09-21T00:08:01.637-04:002010-09-21T00:08:01.637-04:00Sorry I did not see your response until just now -...Sorry I did not see your response until just now - I thought that my gmail account would tell me when you had posted your reply, but it seems to have slept through it! <br />You do bring up a good point with the hostility people encounter when moving into areas that are outside the traditional territory of their community. Maybe I'm being overly-sensitive and myopic, and the situation is different in New York, but the rhetoric I've been hearing from a disturbingly large number of people does not center around property values as much as it does around ideas that denounce Islam as a religion. I do not think that the outcry in Nashville would be at all similar in proportion if any other religion planned to put its center in Murfreesboro (a rather new and growing town).<br />Chag Someach!Yurihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17509003198740661581noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6141014.post-4324649947176334782010-09-07T12:19:32.006-04:002010-09-07T12:19:32.006-04:00Yuri:
That's an interesting point. My guess i...Yuri:<br /><br />That's an interesting point. My guess is that the mosque in Nashville is NOT in a predominantly Muslim area. I have heard no such objections to mosques in Dearborn. Very often when Charedi communities in the USA seek to expand out of their territory, they encounter opposition too. There often is objection to houses of worship of all sorts for all kinds of reasons including property values. But there are literally hundreds of mosques in New York State and no one has objected to them up to now. Sadly, I think the insensitivity over Ground Zero is indeed rebounding. And precisely because it is being pushed as a matter of principle, it is causing reaction.<br /><br />But as for Islamophobia, it is true one deranged maniac stabbed a taxi driver in NY but on every street corner, practically, in Manhattan there is a Hallal food cart manned by a Muslim and not one has been vandalized. There are thousands of Muslim cab drivers and only one has been assaulted. This does not strike me as an Islamophobic society.<br /><br />But sure, in America if you push, you are likely to get pushed back.Rabbi Jeremy Rosenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12723608669485173271noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6141014.post-77093919808715140642010-08-31T10:54:01.586-04:002010-08-31T10:54:01.586-04:00Dear Rabbi Rosen,
I liked your article on Haaretz....Dear Rabbi Rosen,<br />I liked your article on Haaretz. However, I am reluctant to agree that the main issue is sensitivity in this case. There is a mosque that is being built in a suburb of Nashville, that has encountered a great deal of hostility and resistance - although in this case the xenophobic oponents were unable to use the memory of 9/11 victims to support their cause.<br />Best,<br />YYurihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17509003198740661581noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6141014.post-41361304723308242962010-08-23T01:38:57.097-04:002010-08-23T01:38:57.097-04:00Thanks for the recommendation. It was well-written...Thanks for the recommendation. It was well-written and worth reading.<br /><br />In return, may I recommend BBC's Panorama on the Gaza flotilla which was a fair portrayal of both sides and for once not hostile to Israel. However, it has caused great trauma in the Muslim and Left Wing communities who have been organising marches in protest!Leilanoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6141014.post-15598943195186176342010-08-22T14:03:03.504-04:002010-08-22T14:03:03.504-04:00Leila:
Excellent essay in New York Times today by ...Leila:<br />Excellent essay in New York Times today by Thomas Friedman arguing that Muslims should think about getting on better with Muslims first!<br />JRabbi Jeremy Rosenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12723608669485173271noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6141014.post-70862639740071328832010-08-20T14:46:23.176-04:002010-08-20T14:46:23.176-04:00It is a matter of great importance, I think, that ...It is a matter of great importance, I think, that Muslims of a moderate disposition be heard both by non-Muslims and Muslims alike. I think they have a hard battle on their hands but commend them for trying. The matter of Ground Zero and its locale is troublesome for obvious reasons. Surely the developer has no business (sic) trying to control where the mosque and foundation are sited and a little sensitivity and saychel should prevail and a location at a greater distance be found.<br /><br />You're lucky, Jeremy, to have such an enlightened Muslim scholar in your midst. I'm still waiting to hear one such in the UK.<br /><br />Shabbat shalom.leilanoreply@blogger.com