From Philadelphia Inquirer
Jan. 18, 2004

Continuing a son's legacy

By Judea Pearl, father of slain journalist Daniel Pearl.

My son, Daniel, was a dialogue-maker. Talking to strangers was his hobby, vocation, mission and ideology. As a journalist, he talked to peasants and rulers, rabbis and mullahs, carpet weavers and pearl divers - he talked to strangers the world over and turned them into friends.

The last strangers he met knew no talking. Next month will cross the second anniversary of his murder at the hands of people who loathed all he represented: truth, humanity, humor, dialogue, respect for others and, of course, Jewishness.

Daniel's magic as a dialogue-maker continues to connect people today. The current series of public dialogues between my friend Akbar Ahmed and me is one manifestation of that magic.

In Philadelphia and other cities, I would like to address some hard questions Muslims ask about Jews. One such question is this: Why do American Jews, the foremost champions of the separation of religion and state, identify so strongly with one political entity, the state of Israel?

The obvious answer is that Jews are concerned about the safety of their relatives, Jewish refugees currently living in Israel. The deepest answer to that question, however, is essential for resolving many misunderstandings between Jews and Muslims.

Jewishness, because of its singular and turbulent history, is more than just a religion. For a Jew, ancestry, religion, history, country, culture, nationhood, and ethnicity are inseparably interrelated. Historical narratives and the ancient landscape in which they unfolded are as much part of the Jewish experience as are beliefs in a supervisory deity or speculations about the hereafter. A revealing account of the complex ways modern Jews define themselves is presented in the anthology I Am Jewish: Personal Reflections Inspired by the Last Words of Daniel Pearl, published this month.

Judaism entails an unparalleled connection to the Holy Land, the birthplace of Jewish history. The connection bears some resemblance to that which Muslims feel toward Mecca, but it is further intensified by national ties because, unlike Islam, the Jewish religion was not written with the intention of being transported to other nations or other lands. (Proselytizing is discouraged in Judaism). It was written specifically for the Jewish nation, and meant to be practiced specifically in the land where this nation was born and shaped.

As a result, the collective memories and aspirations of the Jewish people today are expressed in language and imagery that utterly depend on this one land. To take away that land from the consciousness of a Jew would be like taking away hadith , or the traditions of the prophet Muhammad, from the teachings of Islam.

Muslims who study the history of the Jewish love affair with the land of Abraham may well find it reassuring. It would refute, for example, the theory that Jews' affinity to Israel, as well as the reestablishment of Israel itself, are motivated by anti-Islamic sentiments. Quite the contrary. Early Zionists, as well as most Israelis today, were and are secular, and thus totally neutral regarding the religions practiced by their neighbors. That is why many Jews today look with bewilderment at how differences in religion are exploited to poison the vast common ground we share with our Abrahamic cousins.

An honest dialogue breeds courage to communicate sensitivities. The besiegement and estrangement Muslims feel in a post-9/11 world is one such sensitivity. The attachment Jews feel toward Israel is another.

May our meeting in Philadelphia be an example of how such sensitivities can be accommodated within the mindsets of our respective communities.

Judea Pearl is president of the Daniel Pearl Foundation (http://www.danielpearl.org/ ) and editor of "I Am Jewish."