standing and trust.
In his opening comments, Lieber-
man set the tone for the meeting by
recalling how he fought for Arab
Americans to gain access to the Clin-
ton campaign in 1992, and how he
had worked in the Senate to ensure
recognition and respect for Arab
Americans and American Muslims. He
committed to the assembled group
that he would work to see that his
breakthrough nomination would help
to create breakthroughs for Arab
Americans in a future Gore-Lieberman
administration.
Differences emerged in the discus-
sion of several domestic and foreign
policy issues. The senator, while not
pandering, displayed some movement
in his positions and an impressive
openness to learn more from Arab
Americans.
I came away from the encounter
struck by the possibility that the
nomination of Joe Lieberman may, if
it continues to be handled construc-
tively by all sides, present a historic
opportunity for American Jews and
Arab Americans. This might appear
to be ironic, given our two commu-
nities' troubled past. But then again,
it might not be so ironic, for as Joe
Lieberman would say, "Only in
America."
FOR ELLEN TRACY
❑
IN PERSON
Thursday, September 28
From 1 to 2
SPECIAL COMMENTARY
Making Peace With Each Other
New York
A
s Samuel G. Freedman's
critically acclaimed new
book Jew vs. Jew shoots to
the best-seller list, more
attention than
ever is focused on
what the book
describes as "the
civil war tearing
apart the commu-
nity."
This Rosh
Hashanah (begin-
ning at sundown
RABBI DANIEL Friday, Sept. 29),
as Jews of all
S. BRENNER
stripes
flock to
Special to
synagogues,
and
the Jewish News
recite prayers
such as "Spread
over us your shelter of peace," we
might stop to ask if there is still an
"us" to pray for. It is ironic that at a
time when Jews have the blessings of
safety and prosperity, a simple prayer
for peace becomes so complicated.
Imagine if you jumped back 100
years. You'd find very few Jews then
who envisioned that their grandchil-
dren and great-grandchildren today
would be enjoying not only security
and power in many places around the
world, but would also have their own
homeland. Certainly they wouldn't
have thought that an Orthodox Jew
Rabbi Daniel S. Brenner is director
of CLAL, the National Jewish Center
for Learning and Leadership, and a
Senior Teaching Fellow.
could be a contender for vice president.
But here's the question — would
they have imagined, even at a time
when we had restored Jewish life to an
unprecedented height, that our inter-
nal conflicts would escalate to levels of
slander and violence?
When you think globally, this
becomes a frightening question. From
Sarajevo to Istanbul to Kigali, religious
and ethnic identities have led to suffer-
ing and division among people who
once felt unified. Sadly, the Jewish peo-
ple have been affected by this trend.
Internal Strife
This year, there were countless stories
on the nightly news and in the news-
papers of personal attacks and vandal-
ism by Jews reacting to the spiritual,
political or ideological views of other
Jews. In Israel, this has been the most
extreme, but here, too, we have felt
the shock waves.
There is a deeper irony here — for
4,000 years, a people who have dealt
with persecution from outsiders are
now feeling hostility from within.
But while extremists may shout
accusations, there are those who have
always affirmed that there is another
way to see conflict.
At CLAL [The National Jewish
Center for Learning and Leadership],
our vision is that Jewish people can
only thrive when we see diversity as an
asset — that living in a world of mul-
tiple voices gives us an opportunity
for intellectual and spiritual growth
never before imagined. But that diver-
sir}, is only sustained when we remem-
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