A complicated history

A sadly appropriate topic is on the agenda at the final lecture in this year’s Chicken Soup for the Mind series. Dr. Aron Rodrigue, a professor of history and Jewish studies at Stanford University in California, will address the topic Jews and Muslims in Modern Times.

Rodrigue has written or co-authored several books on Sephardi Jewry and specializes in the relations between Jews in primarily Muslim lands over the past 200 years. During that time, particularly since the creation of the state of Israel, Jewish populations have dwindled in Muslim countries to the point where, in some nations, there are no Jews at all.

Rodrigue was in town last month for a lecture on anti-Semitism in modern times and his visit here this Sunday, April 21, represents the end of the successful fourth year of the lecture series.

Though the lecture is not explicitly about the current situation in the Middle East, participants will no doubt consider Rodrigue’s observations in the context of what is occurring in the news. The inability of Jews and Muslims to coexist is an essentially modern phenomenon, he will argue.

“There was a long coexistence between Jews and Arabs over the centuries,” Rodrigue said in an interview with the Bulletin. “The Jews were a tolerated minority under Muslim rule and, though inferior in juridical and social status, had a place in Muslim society. This began to change in modern times, with the arrival on the scene of European interests and colonialism, which disrupted old patterns and led to new aspirations among Jews, as well as new resentments among Arabs.”

Theodor Herzl believed that the arrival of a Jewish state in the Middle East would be welcomed by Arab neighbors because of the academic and cultural advancements it would carry with it. This eurocentric view has proved sadly mistaken, Rodrigue said, because of the perception of Israel as a foreign incursion.

“They have not [welcomed Israel to the area] because they interpreted the new state as the outpost of European colonialism, one that would exploit them,” said Rodrigue. “And since they believed that their land was taken by this state, they did not want to accept it.”

Sunday’s lecture takes place at Har-El Synagogue, 7 to 9 p.m. Tickets are $10 and available at the door, in person at the Jewish Federation of Greater Vancouver or by calling 604-257-5100.

Chicken Soup for the Mind is sponsored by the Diamond Foundation, Yosef Wosk, congregations Beth Israel, Beth Tikvah, Har-El, Shaarey Tefilah, Schara Tzedeck, Temple Sholom and the Jewish Education Council of Federation.