4 | JANUARY 27 • 2022 

PURELY COMMENTARY

opinion
Jews And Muslims Can Walk a 
Common Path. Martin Luther 
King Jr. Showed Us How.

I

n 1957, at Dexter Avenue 
Baptist Church, the Rev. 
Dr. Martin Luther King, 
Jr. delivered words whose 
wisdom continue to resound 
today: “For the person who 
hates, the true becomes false 
and the false becomes true. 
That’s what hate does. You 
can’t see right. The symbol 
of objectivity is lost. Hate 
destroys the very structure of 
the personality of the hater.” 
When a weekend meant 
to commemorate Dr. King 
was shattered by the hostage-
taking at Congregation 
Beth Israel in Colleyville, 
Texas, we called upon each 
other as longtime friends 
and colleagues to find a 
better path forward for our 
respective communities. We 
feared that hate could disrupt 
the relationship that we had 
long shared and held dear. 
Because the hostage-
taker was a Muslim man 
apparently intent on freeing 
a Muslim women convicted 
on terrorism charges, 
opportunists are already 
hard at work exploiting 
our trauma in order to pit 
Muslims and Jews against 
each other. 
In the spirit of Dr. King, 
equally embodied in the 
tireless bridge-building of 
Rabbi Charles Cytron-Walker 
of Congregation Beth Israel, 

we feel called to explore a 
new blueprint for how we can 
resist the temptation to allow 
hate to beget hate. This is but 
an initial sketch, no doubt 
with much input needed 
from lay leaders and clergy 
from across the Muslim and 
Jewish communities. 
First, we need to change 
the story. Extremists are 
of no faith tradition but 
their own: extremism. We 
need to stop framing the 
conversation as community 
against community, so much 
as Muslims and Jews together 
against a common enemy. 
We need to call out and 
sideline extremists, leaving 
them isolated in their own 
camp. To that end, we suggest 
reflecting on the hostage-
taker at Beth Israel as an 
extremist from the United 
Kingdom with heinous goals 
unbefitting any faith. 
Second, we need to 
tirelessly build bridges 
among the rest of us. We 

are all feeling isolated after 
two years of pandemic. We 
need to go out of our way 
to call friends, neighbors 
and relatives across lines 
of faith just to reaffirm the 
significance of relationship. 
Today, in the wake of the Jan. 
15 trauma, Muslims should 
call their Jewish friends. 
Tomorrow, unfortunately, in 
a world brimming with hate, 
it may need to be the other 
way around. The rest of the 
time, both should call — and 
call upon — each other. 
Third, we need to develop 
a knowledge and appreciation 
of each other’s traditions. 
It is easy to fear an “other” 
that you do not understand. 
We need to visit each other’s 
houses of worship, read 
each other’s sacred texts, 
learn how people live out 
the tenets of their faith and 
culture, understand how 
each tradition inspires Jews 
and Muslims to serve others, 
and how we all struggle with 

challenging concepts and 
ideas in our respective faiths. 
 
 
 
Fourth, we need to expand 
our existing infrastructure of 
collaboration. The American 
Jewish Committee’s Muslim-
Jewish Advisory Council 
holds the potential to expand 
its regional reach and engage 
hundreds more leaders across 
the country. 
Local collaborations, such 
as that which exists between 
New York’s Cordoba House 
and East End Temple, should 
welcome new partners and 
look into opportunities for 
larger-scale programing. 
College campuses are 
ideal spaces for interfaith 
cooperation, especially 
through projects that 
combine service, learning 
and dialogue. 
Fifth, we need to build 
entirely new paths to 
connection. We are working 
with Rabbi Benjamin Spratt 
of Congregation Rodeph 
Sholom in Manhattan to 

A quotation at the Martin Luther King 
Jr. memorial in Washington, D.C., reads 
“Darkness cannot drive out darkness, only 
light can do that. Hate cannot drive out 
hate, only love can do that.” 

ROBERT LYLE BOLTON/FLICKR COMMONS

EBOO PATEL AND 
JOSHUA STANTON 
JTA.ORG

