Iceland cometh and goeth

Meeting with the group from Rekjavik was fascinating. Half of them said that I was the first Jew they had ever spoken to. After my presentation one student wanted to know "How America, which is such a religiously diverse nation, could elect such an 'extreme Christian' to the White House?" That led to a wider discussion about religious tolerance (and intolerance) in America. They were not aware of the campaign by Bush post 9-11 to get across the message that Islam is a 'religion of peace' - they had only heard of Lt. Gen Boykin's demonization of Muslims. Tommorow night they are going to Bnai Jeshurun for Purim. I wish I could go to see their reaction.

Amina Wadud

A nice Jewish boy arranging security for a radical Muslim? Only in New York.

I spent a good part of the day addressing the security concerns for the speaker at Auburn this evening, the Muslim woman activist Amina Wadud. See www.muslimwakeup.com for more on the event. The woman is breaking the barriers like my Women of the Wall sisters did in Jerusalem. Tommorow she will lead the first egalitarian muslim prayer service. Al -Jazeera is all over this.

Iceland Cometh

I just got word that I'll be hosting a delegation from the Univeristy of Iceland on March 23rd at Auburn. The students are coming to NY to study religious diversity and I've been helping them organize their tour. Apparently there aren't many Gurdwaras in Rekjavik. A big plus is that they will get to go to shul on Purim. I've got to alert the Jewish press on this one.