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Understanding Arab Culture Understanding Ourselves – Featuring Dr. David Mendelsohn

Tuesday, January 3, 2023 @ 12:30 pm - 1:30 pm

Free

There is a public perception that the Muslims and the Jews have an eternal animosity and have been in conflict through out their histories. However, Islam recognizes Judaism and Christianity as legitimate monotheistic faiths, and the Jews and the Christians as People of the Book who have received divine guidance. Moreover, in contrast to the Christians, Muslims did not consider the Jews as killers of God or God’s son. Thus, there was no inherent theological conflict between the Muslims and the Jews. The early conflicts between the Muslims and the Jews in Medina were political in nature, between the new rising power of the Islamic community (Ummah) and the older established power centers by the Jewish tribes. During the Golden Age of Islamic Civilization, 9th-12th centuries CE, both the Muslim and the Jewish civilizations flourished in the Islamic centers of higher learning in Baghdad and al-Andalusia-Spain, and the Muslim territories was safe heaven for the Jewry of the world. Also, when Spain fell under the Spanish Catholic rule in 1492 and the Jews where being persecuted, it was the Ottoman Empire that sent ships to rescue the Jews from Spain into the Muslim territories. The current conflicts between some of the Muslim countries and Israel is also of political and not ideological in nature.

OPENING EVENT
Tuesday January 3rd, 2023

Understanding Arab Culture – Understanding Ourselves
12:30-1:30 PM PST/3:30-4:30 PM EST/22:30-23:30 Israel TimeWithin a century of the death of Muhammad, in 632 CE, Muslim armies had conquered almost the whole of the world where Jews lived, from Spain eastward across North Africa and the Middle East as far as the eastern frontier of Iran and beyond. Almost all the Jews in the world were now ruled by Islam. This new situation transformed Jewish existence. Fortunes changed in legal, demographic, social, religious, political, geographical, economic, linguistic and cultural terms. Along with legal near-equality came social and economic equality. Jews were not confined to ghettos, either literally or in terms of economic activity. The societies of Islam were, in effect, open societies. In religious terms, as well, Jews enjoyed virtually full freedom. Jews adopted the language of the Muslim Arabs such that by the early 10th century, only 300 years after the conquests, Sa’adya Gaon was translating the Bible into Arabic. By the year 900 CE, the Jews had largely abandoned other languages and taken on Arabic. The change of language in its turn brought Jews into direct contact with broader cultural developments. The result from the 10th century on was a striking pairing of two cultures. The Jews of the Islamic world developed an entirely new culture, which differed from Jewish culture before Islam in terms of language, theology, philosophy and worldview. In order to truly understand Judaism as we know it today, therefore, we need to understand Arab culture.

CSP Partners: Beth Israel (San Diego, CA), Brotherhood Synagogue (Gramercy Park, NYC), Congregation Adath Jeshurun (Elkins Park, PA), Congregation Beth Shalom (Seattle, WA), Congregation B’nai Tzedek (Fountain Valley, CA), Congregation B’nai Israel (Tustin, CA), Jewish Collaborative of Orange County, Shomrei Torah Synagogue (San Fernando Valley, CA), Temple Bat Yahm (Newport Beach, CA), Temple Beth David (Westminster, CA),Temple Beth El of South Orange County (Aliso Viejo, CA), Temple Beth Emet (Anaheim, CA), Temple Beth Ohr (La Mirada, CA), Temple Beth Tikvah (Fullerton, CA), Temple Beth Shalom (Needham, MA), Temple Beth Sholom (Santa Ana, CA), Temple Emanuel (Newton, MA), Temple Judea of Laguna Woods, CA, The Boston Synagogue (Boston, MA), Town & Village Synagogue (NYC, NY), University Synagogue (Irvine, CA), Valley Beth Shalom (Encino, CA) & Walnut Street Synagogue (Chelsea, MA)

Details

Date:
Tuesday, January 3, 2023
Time:
12:30 pm - 1:30 pm
Cost:
Free
Event Categories:
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Venue

Zoom
San Diego, CA United States

Organizer

Adult Education