ISNA PRESIDENT ADDRESSES THE URJ BIENNIAL CONVENTION

SAN DIEGO, Dec. 15, 2007

ISNA President, Dr. Ingrid Mattson addressed the assembly at the Union of Reform Judaism’s (URJ) Biennial convention, the largest gathering of Jews in North America, which brought close to 6,000 Reform Jews to San Diego. Dr. Mattson touched on the history of Islam in America, the challenges faced by Muslims and Jews as religious minorities in the U.S. and then described her support of the newly launched interfaith dialogue project, The Children of Abraham: Jews and Muslims in Conversation.   ISNA and the URJ have developed the project to help conquer mutual ignorance that exists among Jewish and Muslim adherents alike.  Dr. Mattson expressed her “delight that ISNA and the URJ are embarking on this dialogue project, so our communities can learn about each other, rid ourselves of the ignorance we have of the other, and move on, God willing, to work together for the greater good.” For the full text of Dr. Mattson’s speech, click here.

At the convention, Rabbi Yoffie announced the creation of The Children of Abraham and its curriculum on Islam and Judaism. "There exists in our community a profound ignorance about Islam, along with a real desire to learn about what moves and motivates Muslims today”, the Rabbi said. “We must respond to this desire with serious programs of education." The manual and video are built around five sessions that touch on topics ranging from the basic tenets of each religion to the place Jerusalem holds in both Jewish and Muslim tradition and history.  To learn more about this project or to view sample curriculum, click here.

Both ISNA and URJ already have dialogue programs with various other faith groups, but on a much smaller scale. So far, eleven synagogue-mosque pairs have been set up as pilot programs, including two in the Washington, D.C. area: the Islamic Society of Southern Prince George's County of Temple Hills, MD paired with Temple Solel in Bowie, MD and the All Dulles Area Muslim Society (ADAMS Center) in Sterling, VA with the Northern Virginia Hebrew Congregation in Reston, VA.