Salaam Aleikum/Shalom:
JIDS’ October dialogue will take
place one week from today at 2:30 p.m. on Sunday, October 19th.
We will be hosted by Congregation Har-Tzeon Agudath Achim at 1840 University
Blvd W, Silver Spring, MD 20902. The topic of the dialogue will be
“Obstacles to Peace (mistrust, fear, trauma, ignorance, etc.) and What We Can
Do to Break the Logjam in the Israeli/Palestinian Peace Process.” I’m
sure you agree that this is a great topic, especially as it follows so soon on
our efforts this past summer to confront the Israeli/Palestinian
Conflict. Now let me introduce what I know you will agree is an
outstanding four-person panel: Imam Mohamad Bashar Arafat, Dr. Sahar Khamis,
Rabbi Uri Topolosky, and Dr. Ira Weiss.
Imam Mohamad Bashar Arafat was
born and raised in Damascus, Syria. He attended Damascus University and
graduated with a degree in Islamic Studies and Arabic Language in 1987 and a
degree in Islamic Law in 1988. He served as Imam in Damascus from 1981 to
1989 and was then invited to the United States to lecture in various Islamic
Centers. Among his many appointments, he was Imam of the Islamic Society of
Baltimore, Maryland from 1989 to 1993, founded An-Nur Institute for Islamic
Studies and Arabic Language in Baltimore in 1993, co-founded An-Nur Mosque in
Carney, Maryland and was the Imam from 1995 to 1997, and served as Campus Imam
at John Hopkins University from 1993 to October 2003,. Currently he is
President of the Islamic Affairs Council of Maryland, based in
Baltimore. Imam Arafat is also the Founder and President
of Civilizations Exchange and Cooperation Foundation, a
non-profit organization that functions as an umbrella to bring
people together for exchanges aimed at creating a better world that promotes
peace and cooperation.
Dr. Khamis is a tenured
Associate Professor in the Department of Communications at the University of
Maryland (go Terps!). An expert on the Arab and Middle Eastern
media, Dr. Khamis is the former Head of the Mass Communication and Information
Science Department in Qatar University and holds a Ph.D. in Mass Media and
Cultural Studies from the University of Manchester in England. She is the
co-author of the book Islam Dot Com: Contemporary Islamic Discourses in
Cyberspace (which I have read, enjoyed, and would definitely recommend to the
entire JIDS community). She has authored chapters in a number of
additional books, and has published articles in international and regional
academic journals. Dr. Khamis is also a member of the editorial boards of
the journals Media, War & Conflict, Journal of Middle East Media, Journal
of Arab and Muslim Media Research, and Advances in the History of Rhetoric.
Rabbi Uri Topolosky, is the
rabbi and spiritual leader Rabbi of Beth Joshua Congregation in Rockville,
Maryland and the Rav HaKehillah of the Melvin J. Berman Hebrew Academy.
Before returning to his native Maryland, Rabbi Topolosky served as the Rabbi of
Congregation Beth Israel in New Orleans for six years where he helped revitalize
a community shattered by Hurricane Katrina. He served previously as the
Associate Rabbi of the Hebrew Institute of Riverdale in Bronx, NY. Rabbi
Topolosky received his rabbinic ordination from Yeshivat Chovevei Torah
Rabbinical School. Prior to his rabbinic studies, Rabbi Topolosky
spent two years studying in Israel at Yeshivat Sha’alvim before attending the
University of Maryland at College Park (I’ll say it again, go Terps!). He is
also a Senior Rabbinic Fellow of the Shalom Hartman Institute.
Dr. Ira Weiss, a
neurophysiologist at Children's Hospital for 33 years, attended Orthodox
yeshiva on the Lower East Side of New York City and has been involved in
Arab-Jewish dialogue for 15 years. He was a co-founder of Projects Encounter,
which brought Palestinian and Israeli high school students to Spain for summer
human rights seminars and coexistence workshops. Ira teaches various
workshops and classes for adults in the Washington, D.C. area. Many
of us in the JIDS community have been privileged to take his workshop,
“Parallel Narratives Never Meet: A History of the Israeli-Arab Conflict.”
Ira is truly a font of information regarding numerous topics relevant to JIDS,
including the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict.
I look forward to moderating
this discussion and to seeing as many of you as possible there. Please
spread the word about this exciting event. And if you have any questions
about our November Social Action event, please go to our website, www.jids.org, and click
on the Calendar entry for November 16th.
Take care.
Dan
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