Jewish, Muslim Interfaith Group Dying Out

Online, November 11, 2010 (Newswire.com) - AMHERST, N.Y., (UPI) -- A New York Jewish-Islamic interfaith group has become all but derailed due to Jewish suspicions of the intentions of the Muslim group, members said.

The national effort on the part of rabbis and the Foundation for Ethnic Understanding, which operates in cooperation with the Islamic Society of North America, to forge better relations between the two religions' clergy is going by the wayside because Jewish community members view the interfaith "twinnings" as a deception on the part of radical Muslims, the Buffalo News reported Thursday.

In western New York, two rabbis who participated in a local twinning weekend in 2009 have detached themselves from the effort.

The Muslim group is a controversial national organization that federal prosecutors have linked to an international group accused of fostering Islamic fundamentalism.

Organizers said they have planned more events for 2010, including a scripture study session on Tuesday and a visit next Friday to the Sufi World Foundation mosque in Orleans County.

"Good will and positive things will win out, and people will see what we're doing and become more comfortable with it," said Rabbi Drorah Setel of Temple Beth El in Niagara Falls, the only local rabbi still going through with this year's twinning effort.

"I'm only saddened that it's become impossible to be involved," said Rabbi Irwin A. Tanenbaum of Temple Beth Am, who, along with Rabbi Alex Lazaurs-Klein of Temple Sinai, both in Amherst, are former participants.

Lazarus-Klein said he and other Jews struggle over how much they can discuss interfaith values with people who "are on one side promoting peace and on the other side participating in virulently anti-Israel rallies."

"The conflict in the Middle East ends up affecting passions here. The issues are very close to people's hearts, and it's difficult to separate the world politics from local politics, and that's unfortunate," Lazarus- Klein said.

"The entities behind the Buffalo interfaith effort are anything but moderate," said Ilya Feoktistov, research director of Americans for Peace and Tolerance, a Boston-based organization that monitors radical Islamic groups and supports moderate Muslims.