He's got one foot in his shul, the other in a hip-hop club - Haaretz

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Fri., October 19, 2007 ,

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He's got one foot in his shul, the other in a hip-hop club

By Daphna Berman

When Marc Schneier first ventured into the African-American community, 20 years ago, colleagues warned that he was being used and detractors called him the "white Al Sharpton."

Now, the rabbi - who has since risen to prominence for his work with prominent black Americans and has numerous ties with the hip-hop world - is trying to replicate the same model with Jewish-Muslim relations. This newest endeavor, which will include a summit of 20 Jewish and Muslim clerics next month in New York, will also use the entertainment world to forge ties between the two communities. Schneier has located prominent Jewish celebrities who are willing to speak out against "Islamophobia" for a public service announcement that will be broadcast throughout the United States. He is waiting for final confirmation from the Beastie Boys rap trio, who are of Jewish heritage.

It is a role well suited to the 48-year old rabbi, a spiritual leader to New York's wealthy who is far from publicity-shy. He has synagogues in the posh getaway of West Hampton, as well as on Manhattan's Upper East Side, and his Shabbat services include attractions such as Dudu Fisher as cantor. But now Schneier says he intends to widen the focus of his work to create much-needed warmer ties with Muslims.

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"This is virgin territory, but we don't have a choice," Schneier said in an interview here this month about his work with U.S Muslims. "We can't, as Jews, continue to fight our battles alone."

Newsweek's rabbis

Schneier, who made Newsweek's list of the 50 most influential rabbis in America, is not new to interfaith and intercultural dialogue. As founder and president of The Foundation for Ethnic Understanding, a nonprofit that endeavors to strengthen ties between various ethnic groups, he has worked for decades to forge ties with blacks in the U.S. Schneier considers hip-hop icon Russell Simmons a close personal friend. Last year, the foundation initiated a public service announcement against anti-Semitism starring Simmons, who serves as the organization's chairman, together with rapper Jay-Z. Schneier's strategy for forging ties with the Muslim community is simple: "We're using the same formula we used successfully in black-Jewish relations," he said, "and along the way, I realize that there will be bumps and challenges."

A year ago, Schneier invited Imam Abu Namous, the Palestinian-born spiritual leader of the Islamic Cultural Center of New York, the city's largest mosque, to his Manhattan synagogue. It was the Muslim cleric's first visit to a synagogue and the event received wide media coverage. But when discussion turned to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, "all hell broke loose," he recalled. "It was a very rocky start."

The imam advocated a one-state solution to the conflict and denied that Arabs had rejected Israel's independence and sovereignty in 1948. Schneier later told the New York Jewish Week that Abu Namous "is more extreme in his views than I had understood." The rabbi, who says he did not want to give up, accepted a reciprocal invitation a few months later. It was his first visit to a mosque. This time, the two had agreed in advance not to discuss Israel. "It was very authentic and very frank. It was a brutally honest and open exchange," Schneier said. "It hasn't been a love fest but we're not afraid to disagree both publicly and privately."

Overlooking touchy subjects

Schneier and Abu Namous are planning a summit next month of Jewish and Muslim clergy and may launch the twinning of synagogues and mosques in U.S. cities. Also on the agenda is cooperation against Islamophobia and anti-Semitism. Schneier lauds the "wonderful exchange" and the "commonality" of the two communities. But he insists that he isn't naive in keeping politics in the Middle East off the agenda. "The first step is exchanging information and getting to know each other. Once we've established relationships, we can address more sensitive issues. The conflict is not off-limits, it's just off-limits for now. It's somewhat premature. Once we establish bonds of trust, we can move on to more sensitive subjects."

It's a model he first used in black-Jewish relations, when both sides chose to temporarily ignore sensitive sticking points including Israel's warm relations with apartheid South Africa and anti-Semitic rants by Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan. "In the current state, I would say cooperation and not conflict is the defining element in black-Jewish relations," he said. "But there were very touchy issues we chose to overlook in the process."

For Schneier, this newest foray is largely about recognizing demographic change in the U.S., which has led him to reach out to Latino communities as well. "There needs to be an acknowledgement in the U.S. of the growing Muslim community," he said. "The American Jewish community cannot ignore the changing demographic in the U.S. We speak of Congress' support for Israel, but let's not forget that Congress is changing."

Estimates of the number of Muslims in America range from 2.3 million to 7 million, "but what's clear is that it's an emerging population," he said. The U.S. Congress, he says, is growing increasingly ethnically diverse and the first Muslim Congressman, Keith Ellison of Minnesota, is seeking reelection. Schneier believes that the U.S. Muslim community, which is more moderate in its views than its European counterparts, is a good place to start. And he says the Jewish community has much to offer its Muslim counterparts in terms of a model for community structure and development for ethnic minorities. "It is incumbent on the Jewish community to reach out and identify moderate, centrist elements and strengthen those voices," Schneier said. "We don't have to impose this voice, but we can expose it."

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