FIVE COUNTRIES, MANY QUESTIONS

From The Birmingham Jewish Federation

FIVE COUNTRIES, MANY QUESTIONS

INTERNATIONAL GROUP VISITS JEWISH COMMUNITY CAMPUS

It was a fascinating discussion:  Questions about Israel, grassroots democracy, Jewish power, our Montclair Road Jewish community campus, relations between Jews and Moslems and other topics were being asked by representatives of five foreign countries who had come to our Levite Jewish Community Center to learn more about the Birmingham Jewish community.

Visiting Birmingham as part of a multi-city tour last week were government officials from Cameroon, Indonesia, Philippines, Tanzania and Uganda.   The group came through a program developed by the Huntsville-based International Services Council in partnership with the US State Department.   The purpose was to allow the international visitors to explore how American democracy continues to answer the needs of citizens who increasingly have diverse racial, ethnic and cultural backgrounds. Visitors had the chance to see how citizens on the grassroots level can affect real change and how people are involved with their respective communities. 

The meetings with representatives of the Birmingham Jewish community were arranged by the BJF’s Jewish Community Relations Committee.  At the conclusion, the visitors gathered in the LJCC board room to ask questions. 

JEWISH-MOSLEM RELATIONS

Shofwan Bin Abdul Karim, of heavily-Moslem Indonesia, who is Chairman of the West Sumatra Provincial Office of Muhammadiyah, asked if the relationship here between the Jewish and Moslem communities is good.  The relationship between the two communities is not bad per se, nor is it good, he was told.  It’s essentially non existent.   Discussion followed about how both Birminghamians and Americans perceive Moslems. The group had been told by representatives of the Islamic community they met during their US travels that Islam’s image in the US, in the wake of 9/11, is not good.  

How can the LJCC fulfill its mission of being a Jewish institution and still be open to people of other faiths? That was asked by Abdulatiif Ssebaggala, a Member of Uganda’s Parliament.  It was explained that America has a tradition of medical and social service institutions, even those affiliated with a particular faith, being open to people of all religions.  Two local hospitals – St. Vincent’s and Baptist Montclair – were mentioned as examples.

The representative from Cameroon, Theophile Nzeki, Senior Civil Administrator, Secretary General of the East Province, said he had recently seen a national Jewish gathering on television at which former President Clinton and other leaders spoke and he remarked about how powerful the American Jewish community seemed to be.  Jews are influential because America has been a great country for Jews; America provides religious freedom, a free enterprise system in which ingenuity and hard work are highly valued and opportunities for people to get an education -- three things which have benefited Jews enormously, he was told.

He also asked if national Jewish institutions fund local Jewish communities, such as Birmingham’s.  No, it is actually the opposite; that much of the money that funds these national and international Jewish organizations is raised locally, often through Jewish Federations.

MIDDLE EAST PEACE PROCESS

The Ugandan representative asked how Jews have contributed to the Middle East peace process and if that contribution has been, in his words, negative or positive.  Very positively, was the answer.  A commitment to Israel and belief that it is in America’s interests to have a strong, democratic Israel in the Middle East has motivated Jews to advocate for Israel, which has resulted in even stronger support for Israel from the US government.  This American support has made Israel feel more secure and comfortable with taking risks for peace.

The group had an awareness of how small the American Jewish community is (about 2 percent of the overall population) and how small the Birmingham Jewish community is in particular (about one half of one percent of the overall metro population).   The Cameroon representative wanted to know if there were Jews involved here in local government and also at the national level.  These positions are not closed to Jews, he was told, and Birmingham in fact at one point had a Jewish congressman (Ben Erdreich.)    There are also are a significant number of Jews serving in both the US House and Senate.

The Cameroon delegate also said there is a perception in his country that a candidate cannot be elected President in the US without Jewish support.  Others said there was a similar perception in their countries.   Jews are influential politically in disproportion to their numbers, it was explained.  This is due mainly to Jews being educated, informed and willing to participate as Jews in the American political process.  They were surprised however, to learn that President Bush got only 25 percent of the Jewish vote and John Kerry received about 75 percent.  “That’s what we came for – the facts,” the Cameroon representative said, as he scribbled down notes to take home.

The Ugandan wanted to know what role Jews played during the civil rights era in Birmingham.  Jews essentially fell into two groups – those who actively and visibly tried to help the black community and those who took no role.   At the same time, it was pointed out, the general white population fell into three groups – those who helped,  those who took no role and those who actively worked against the black community and participated in or encouraged the violence.  Jews were not part of that third group.

The Tanzanian, Halifa Hassan Hida, District Executive Director, Mufindi District Council, wanted to know if our Jewish community campus gets contributions from the government in view of the services we are providing.  A little bit, though the bulk of our support comes mainly from private donations was the answer.  With that said, this process is helped by the government because such donations are tax deductible, a concept the foreign delegation found intriguing.

As they left the briefing, several of the visitors stopped and said how much they appreciated their visit to our community and two said “Shalom.”

SERIES OF MEETINGS HELD

Their visit to our Jewish community included meetings with Sherrie Grunfeld, Senior Services Coordinator, who introduced them to the Levite Jewish Community Center Senior Center.  That was followed with lunch with senior citizens who are participants in this program and recipients of LJCC senior services.

A meeting was then held with BJF Director of Programs Joyce Spielberger to discuss the role of the BJF and the makeup of the Jewish community campus overall, which, they learned, includes the NE Miles Jewish Day School, Collat Jewish Family Services, Birmingham Jewish Foundation, Jewish Community Relations Committee and other programs. They then had a tour with Ruth Nomberg, Membership Services Director of the Levite Jewish Community Center.  A summary meeting offering the opportunity for questions was held with BJF Executive Director Richard Friedman.  BJF staff assistant Lauren Pyle also participated.

We thank Margaret Anne Goldsmith, of Huntsville, for suggesting this international delegation visit our Jewish community and Luba Cehelska, Executive Director, of the International Services Council in Huntsville, for making this visit possible. Everyday in so many ways the BJF strives to build greater understanding and greater sensitivity among others to the issues important to us as a Jewish community. 

Partcipants of IVLP US Gov on Grassroots Democracy o  April, May, June 2005. They are 

SINGAPORE: Abdul Mutalif BIN HASHIM, Mosque Executive Chairman, Islamic Religious council of Singapore

INDONESIA: Shofwan BIN ABDUL KARIM, Chairperson of Muhammadiyah of West Sumatera Province

SOUTH AFRICA: Katerina KATOPODIS, News Manager, Primedia (Radio 702)

SRI LANKA: Mahindananda ALUTHGAMAGE, Deputy Minister of Power and Energy

TANZANIA: Halifa Hassan HIDA, District Executive Director, Mufindi District Council

THAILAND: Kanokrat LERTCHOOSAKUL, Lecturer

TUNISIA: Riadh Ben M"hamed FERJANI, Associate Professor at Press Institute of Tunis

UGANDA: Abdulatiif SSEBAGGALA, Member of Parliament, Parliament of Uganda

WEST BANK: Khalid A.S. SHTAYEH, Moderator and Coordinator, Civic Forum Institute in Salfeet, West Bank

ZIMBABWE, Dennis MURIRA, Personal Assistant/ National Chairman, Movement for Democratic Change (MDC)

2. PROJECT GOALS:

-- To explain the democratic form of government in the U.S., and the significance of citizens' participation in the democratic process;

-- To observe the activities of citizen action groups that interact with U.S. elected officials at all levels to influence political, social and economic change;

-- To explore the diversity of views held by Americans and how this diversity contributes to a dynamic and resilient political system.