Goldman Essay Contest 2012
admin | July 11th, 2012 | No Comments »Winning essay by Allie Schechter
I initially enrolled in Kulanu for the very typical reason of continuing my Jewish
education. It was my intent to expand my knowledge of Judaism through classes on
Jewish thought, traditions, and history and to stay abreast of current events in the Jewish
world through classes on Israel and Jewish culture. Therefore, you can imagine my slight
uncertainty when I signed up for a course dedicated to learning about a different religion
altogether. Going into Kulanu, I never thought I would take an Islam class. However this
class, which was during my sophomore year and was taught my Nahum Daniels, turned
out to be one of the most enlightening and eye-opening of all the courses I have had the
opportunity to take.
Since most of us in the class knew next to nothing about Islam, Mr. Daniels
started with the basics. We discussed Muhammad and the origins of the religion, we
talked about the history of the Muslim people, and we learned about the five pillars of
Islam-acceptance of Muhammad as a prophet, praying 5 times a day, giving charity,
fasting during Ramadan, and making a pilgrimage to Mecca. Once we had established a
solid foundation, we began to delve a bit deeper by looking at selected passages from the
Koran and analyzing their content. By the end of the semester, I truly felt that much of
the confusion and ignorance that I previously felt regarding Islam had been replaced by a
greater understanding of the religion.
While that was very nice, increased knowledge of Islam was also exactly what I
had expected to gain from an Islam class. On the other hand, what I did not anticipate at
all was the effect this class had on my Jewish knowledge. First, I learned just how much
Judaism and Islam have in common. Not only are many of the broader themes shared—
charity, faith, prayer—but some of the fine details have an uncanny resemblance to each
other as well. For instance, many words in Hebrew are remarkably similar to their Arabic
counterparts. I remember clearly my astonishment when I learned that the word for
charity in Arabic is ‘Zakat’, which is very close to the Hebrew ‘Tzedakah.’ Furthermore,
going over the parallels between the two religions helped me make better sense of some
of the current conflicts that exist between Muslims and Jews. Take the issue of
Jerusalem, for example. Now I know that the conflict over Jerusalem is not simply
because both groups want to be stubborn and fight each other, but rather because we both
acknowledge the holiness of the city—Jews because it housed the Beit Hamikdash and
Muslims because it is the site where Muhammad ascended to heaven. New knowledge
such as this has made me feel more comfortable discussing Judaism and Israel with
others who are not Jewish, as in this class I was able to take a step back and see Judaism
from an outside perspective.
Most importantly though, I believe that from this class I learned Jewish values. I
absorbed the importance of learning about people unlike ourselves, and how essential it
is to respect everyone’s beliefs. In all the discussion of Islamic ideas that occurred in our
class, never was there any word spoken with a condescending or dismissive attitude, even
though none of us subscribe to Islamic beliefs. Furthermore, just the fact that Kulanu
even offered a class about Islam taught me a lesson—that we should be open-minded and
accepting of others, not isolated and exclusive.
So now, as I prepare to graduate after four years at Kulanu, I can look back on my
time here and see that I did indeed manage to accomplish the goal of continuing my
Jewish education—by taking a class about Islam. Who would have guessed?
Congratulations to our other winners:
2nd Place- Ross Alter
3rd Place- Emile Pollack
