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Jun

20

Orthodox Jewish H.S. students ask for, study Arabic


I love these stories that totally debunk the propoganda about the path of hate we’re supposedly on.  Once you see the peace, humanitarian and civic efforts taking place in Israel that work to build bridges between the Arab and Jewish populations, it’s impossible to imagine that the desire for more isn’t there.

This New York Times article highlights what that kind of generational craving looks like in the U.S. An excerpt:

None of the students said their parents opposed the decision [to study Arabic in school]. Some parents liked the idea of bridge-building and the intellectual challenge of an uncommon language. Others emphasized the practical advantages in a world of increasingly global commerce and in a country with a growing Arabic population.

That is not to say that the course is shifting students’ political views. “I never thought all Muslims or Arabs do terrorist acts,” said Tuvia Lerea, an 11th grader. “But this class has solidified my idea. A tremendous majority of the Arab population live their daily lives and do their own things just like in our society.”

Another thing I really like about articles like this is the absence of the word “Muslim.”  This is an article that talks about Arabic, and though it’s not emphasized much, it mentions how one of the teacher’s grandparents were Syrian Jews.  There are many Persian Jews who grew up with Arabic Farsi.

I also thought of the NPR Jerusalem Bureau reporter, Linda Gradstein.  We started in the same year at Georgetown but she went on to get a masters in Arabic and has been in the NPR bureau since 1990.  And for those who know about my choice of Georgetown over other schools and my time there, you will really appreciate Gradstein’s experience too as described in the link above:

Born in Brooklyn and raised on Long Island, Linda came from a secular Jewish family but was always drawn to faith. Curiously enough, it was her freshman year at Georgetown, a university run by Jesuits, that set her on the path to Orthodox Judaism. She met a small group of religious Jews at a Simchat Torah service there that fall. By the end of the year, she was on her way to becoming a ba’al t’shuva—a born-again religious Jew.

Okay – so it was a small group of Catholics on a trip to do volunteer work in Appalachia that got me a tiny bit more interested in my faith.  But you know, the power of the Jesuits – kinda freaky. A very different kind of evangelism.

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By Jill Miller Zimon at 9:44 am June 20th, 2009 in Education, Foreign Affairs, Israel, Jewish, Youth, peace 

Comments

3 Responses to “Orthodox Jewish H.S. students ask for, study Arabic”

  1. 1 Jack on June 20th, 2009 2:28 pm

    There are many Persian Jews who grew up with Arabic.

    FYI,

    Persians are not Arabs. You will find that they call themselves Persian or Iranian, but they are not Arabs.

    They speak Farsi, not Arabic. Los Angeles has a huge population of Persian Jews and they despise the regime. There is little to no love for Mousavi either.

  2. 2 Dean of Health Insurance on June 22nd, 2009 2:47 pm

    Interesting way to bridge ethnic divides. I wonder if the reverse is true?

  3. 3 Jill Miller Zimon on July 10th, 2009 12:28 am

    Jack – again, thank you for the correction – so noted above. :)

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