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Arab, Jewish Friends
Sponsor Essay Contest
Reva Nelson of Southfield
High School and _Rebecca
Criss of Imlay City High
School have won $500
scholarships to the colleges or
universities of their choice in
an essay contest sponsored by
the American Arabic and
Jewish Friends.
Theme of the essay contest
was "American Arabs and
Jews — Our Shared Values
and Culture in an American
Context." The contest was
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94
FRIDAY, MAY 12, 1989
open to all graduating high
school seniors in the
metropolitan Detroit area of
Jewish or Arabic background.
Other winners were:
Michael Weiss, West Bloom-
field High School; Aaron
Rochlen, North Farmington
High School; Marci Klain,
North Farmington High
School; Lisa Sanford,
Clarkston Senior High
School; Ramzi Faraj, West
Bloomfield High School;
Fatima Cheikh, Fordson High
School; Christopher Morin,
Riverview Community High
School; and Amal Khamis,
Oak Park High School.
The students will be
honored at a future meeting
of the American Arabic and
Jewish Friends. Judges were
both Arabic and Jewish.
Essay contest chairmen were
Jeannie Weiner and Tallal
Turfe.
Following are the winning
essays:
A Jewish Viewpoint
REVA NELSON
Southfield High School
T
he Ajlouni family lives
in Southfield not too
far from my home.
They personify the kind of
success that every immigrant
family hopes to achieve. Hav-
ing a comfortable degree of
financial success, they're
respected in their own Arabic
community as articulate
leaders, loyal to their past
and committed to the values
of America, their adopted
country. But, to me, John and
Holla Ajlouni and their fami-
ly are symbolic of a great deal
more.
A year ago, Garrick Utley of
Channel 4's "Sunday Today
Show" came to Detroit to film
a segment showing the rela-
tionship between the Arab
and Jewish communities here
at home in light of the in-
tifada which had just begun
in Israel. They chose two
families to discuss the West
Bank and Israel's control of.
that area from a Jewish and
a Palestinian perspective.
My family was chosen to
speak for the Jewish view
because of my parents' in-
volvement in community ac-
tivities; the Ajlounis spoke for
the Palestinians because of
their leadership on Arab
issues and because they are
from the area now called the
West Bank. The TV crew film-
ed Friday evening services at
Temple Beth El and Sunday
services at St. Mary's Or-
thodox Church. They also did
a video of my family as we
gathered at a traditional din-
ner with some friends and the
Ajlounis as they shared
laughter and serious discus-
sion at a Sunday afternoon
family gathering.
Yet, there was never a
meeting of the two sides,
never the recognition that
regardless of how Middle East
tensions are resolved we here
in the U.S. must learn to live
together, must learn to
recognize our shared culture
and to understand and ap-
preciate our differences. For
that is the great sadness. As
many times as I've heard my
parents talk of inviting the
Ajlouni family to our home, I
know they probably never
will. And I don't even know if
the Ajlounis ever considered
inviting us, but it is clear to
me that there is a great gulf
between our two com-
munities, a rift that should be
healed but will only occur if
we learn to listen to each
other.
There is a story told about
Oliver Goldsmith who was
walking with Samual
Johnson. As they passed a
man, Johnson quipped, "I
hate that man."
"But you hardly know
him," Goldsmith responded.
"I don't know him,"
Johnson emphasized,
"because if I did, I wouldn't
hate him."
This epigram containing so
much truth is the honest
reality: If you know someone,
you understand what pains
him. If you talk with some-
one, you sympathize with his
problem. If you share with so-
meone, you trust his friend-
ship and become linked to
each other.
That's the great need in the
Arab and Jewish community
to recognize our shared
origins and heritage. In the
Bible it tells us that Abraham
was given a name which sym-
bolizes the uniting of the two
cultures: "Av" which is
Hebrew for father and
"Raham" which is Arabic for
multitude. And from this
great leader who taught im-
portant truths to the world
there were two sons, Isaac
and Ishmael, each a father to
a great nation and a great
world religion.
Tracing our lineage back to
a shared beginning, history
records the close relationship
between the descendants of
Mohammed and the Jewish
communities which existed in
their midst. They were two
groups freely exchanging
ideas, values and customs.
Even the dictionary
recognizes the likeness of the
two groups for it defines a
"Semite" as "one of a people
of southwest Asia, now
represented by the Jews and
Arabs . ."
Sadly, however, even though
the historical ties linking the
two communities were great,
they chose to fear and distrust
each other rather than
recognize their similarities.
That's the challenge that
faces my generation. We must
learn to appreciate one
The great need
is to recognize our
shared origins and
heritage.
another's differences and
respect our mutual heritage.
We must realize that we are
both Semites, and when we
talk of "anti-Semitism," it
has, according to the true
definition, hurt both our corn-
munties. We must learn to
listen to each other, to trust
each other, and to open our
homes to each other for you
cannot hate someone whom
you've come to understand.
America is not a melting
pot but a. multiethnic sym-
phony. Each of our com-
munities plays a distinctive
melody which blends the con-
tributions that each group
brings to the whole and
creates a harmony that
represents the greatness of
our land. That should be our
goal: to enhance that har-
mony by adding new themes
of sharing and learning and
trusting in the years
ahead. El