Vayishlach 5770 Swiss Minarets and the Harrow Mosque Rabbi Hillel Athias-Robles 5 December 2009 See letter to press below

Over the next coming weeks we will start reading in synagogue about the descent of Joseph, Jacob, and his family down to Egypt. They were very well-received, and arrived full of hopes and dreams of a promising future. A few generations down the line, illusions faded when they faced the harsh reality of what Egypt had become – cruel, biased, intolerant. Thus, decree after decree was issued to encroach upon their physical well-being and to eradicate their culture, identity, and religion. According to the Midrash – the Israelites were able to preserve only a few of their cultural traits – their language, names, and dress.

This attempt at stomping Jewish culture and identity did not stop throughout history. Next week well we will begin celebrating Chanukah, from where a similar story emerges. The Greeks, in an attempt of imposing their cultural homogeny upon their subjects, “integration”, also imposed regulations upon the Jews: no more Sabbaths, festivals, circumcision, or Jewish learning. They took over the main Jewish place of worship – the Temple, and sought to rid it of its special spiritual significance.

In the Middle Ages we witness further attacks on the synagogue, a building epitomising the Jews’ legitimacy and right to exist. Thus, in Muslim countries, the Dhimmitude was imposed – a legal system that ensured the physical well-being of the Jews, i.e. they wouldn’t be killed, but they had to comply with humiliating regulations. A tax had to be collected, Jews had to dress differently, couldn’t ride a horse or camel, and especially, as stated in the Pact of Ummar, “Jews couldn’t restore, by night or by day, any [places of worship] that have fallen into ruin.” A cap was placed on how tall synagogues could be. Thankfully, through Muslim history, many rulers were too sensible to impose all the bans, and we therefore find that Jews were able to flourish in places like Muslim Spain and Turkey. Nonetheless, not all settlements benefited from such a degree of tolerance.

In Medieval Europe, we see similar restrictions emerging. In 1222 the Oxford Council forbade the building of new synagogues, and shortly thereafter, in 1250, Pope Innocent the IV issued a papal bull forbidding the building of new synagogues or their enlargement. Building regulations were enforced in several places, forbidding synagogues from being taller than churches. Till this day we find in several cathedrals, like Lincoln and Strasburg, statues representing the Victorious Church, a radiant woman, and the Defeated Synagogue, a blindfolded and defeated woman.

The persecutions and restrictions that I have described seem like stories from a past which is no longer, from a time when humanity was blinded by Dark Ages, far away from our “enlightened” modernity. Or are they? Last November 29 Switzerland went to a referendum, Switzerland, a land known as a haven of peace and a place of refuge. What was being debated? The building of minarets. The far-right SVP, the Swiss People’s Party, began an incendiary campaign to ban the building of minarets, a campaign which, according to their general secretary, was against minarets as symbols of Islamic power. Yup, power couldn’t be held by minorities, by the Other. No problem with church spires or financial sky-scrapers – just with the minarets. Posters were created depicting minarets as missiles, as symbols of militant Islam.

Many voices in Switzerland raised their outcry, human rights groups, churches, and even the Federal Council. The head of the Swiss Amnesty International claimed that the campaign “discredits Muslims and defames them, pure and simple”, and the Federal Council issued a statement claiming that it “infringes guaranteed international human rights and contradicts the core values of the Swiss Federal Constitution” and “would endanger peace between religions and would not help to prevent the spread of fundamentalist Islamic beliefs.” Nonetheless, the Swiss system allows for issues for which 100,000 signatures have been collected to go to referendum. Thus, the Swiss People’s Party triumphed, and 57% of voters, including 22 out of 26 cantons – voted to have the ban placed into the constitution. Talk about democracy gone wrong – like the many referendums in American states seeking to outlaw the equality represented by gay marriage. After the vote, the Federal Council reissued a statement saying that it respected the people’s decision and no more minarets would be built. As absurd as this may sound, the Federal Council finished its statement by saying that “Muslims in Switzerland are able to practise their religion alone or in community with others, and live according to their beliefs just as before.” We have begun seeing the outcomes of such a campaign of hate – last Thursday the Geneva mosque was vandalised for a third time since the row began.

And these putrid attitudes are present not just in the Continent, but here, in our very own community. The group Stop the Islamisation of Europe, whose motto is “Racism is the lowest form of human stupidity, but Islamophobia is the height of common sense”, is organising a march on Sunday the 13th of December in front of the new Harrow Mosque, as a protest against the building of mosques here in the UK. This organisation absurdly calls itself the “most anti-fascist” group in Europe. Sure! To add chutzpah – they have asked the Jewish community to join their march, claiming that if we don’t come, we’re prepared to see Jews removed from the world. They even call for demonstrators to bring 1000 Israeli flags. The Board of Deputies was quick to respond and said that “the Jewish community has consistently rejected the cynical attempts of these far-right groups to draw us into campaigns of hate against the peaceful majority of British Muslims”.

From what I told you before about the situation of Jews in the past, we see how sadly history is repeating itself. Our collective experience of oppression must become an imperative for us to fight against the oppression of other people. We don’t have the luxury of being silent bystanders. We must oppose all hate and vilification, and seek to establish harmony, diversity and acceptance in our society. I therefore ask of all of you to come this Sunday at 1:30pm and peacefully show your support to our Muslim brothers and sisters. In spite of official communications by the mosque stating that they don’t want people to attend the counter-demonstration, an e-mail from them to one of our members mentions that this caution is only against those who want to protest violently. They encourage members of other faith groups to come and show their support through peaceful means. The hateful organisation is meeting outside Harrow Mosque in Station Road. Because of safety concerns, it is probably not wise to get that close to the action, but do allow yourself to be seen, to let the world know that we as Jews won’t allow this to happen, we won’t let others suffer the same suffering we suffered. I am reminded in such a case of the words of Rabbi Heschel who, during the US Civil Rights March together with Martin Luther King claimed, “in Selma, my feet were praying”.

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Text of a letter sent to press by local Rabbis

Dear Editor

As leaders of the Jewish community in Harrow, we are writing to express our support for our Muslim friends and neighbours, especially those at Harrow Central Mosque, who are under attack from those whose only purpose is to spread hatred and fear.  We condemn outright the outrageous lies of the English Defence League and SIOE which are entirely without foundation.  We share the desire of the Muslim community of Harrow to respect our mutual traditions, to learn from each other's cultures and ways of life, and to live together in peace.

The Jewish community knows all too well what happens when such poison is allowed to go unchallenged: once hatred and intolerance are allowed to spread we all become its victims.  The whole community must stand together against those that seek to divide us.

Yours,

Rabbi Aaron Goldstein (Northwood and Pinner Liberal Synagogue) Rabbi Hillel Athias-Robles (Northwood and Pinner Liberal Synagogue) Rabbi Kathleen Middleton (Middlesex New Synagogue) Rabbi Frank Dabba Smith (Harrow and Wembley Progressive Synagogue and Chairperson of the Brent Multifaith Forum) Rabbi Michael Hilton (Kol Chai Hatch End Jewish Community)