Dancing our way to multifaith peace

Philip Rosenberg

There are not a lot of Jews in Indonesia.

So few, in fact, that when I attended the 7th World Peace Forum on behalf of the World Jewish Congress alongside Rabbi David Rosen from the American Jewish Committee, the two of us represented an immediate 1% increase in the Jewish population.

Estimates are that Indonesia’s Jewish community numbers around 200, or less than 0.000001% of the total 261 million majority-Muslim population of the country.

Indonesia’s constitution envisages a secular country, but its law requires the identity card of every citizen to list them as being a member of one of six religions: Islam, Protestant Christianity, Catholic Christianity, Hinduism, Buddhism or Confucianism. Judaism is not an option. The country’s Jews must either proclaim themselves to be part of another faith or, after a court ruling in 2017, enter, ‘believers of the faith’.

Hope for the future

Regrettably, the small, Jewish population is required to operate discreetly out of fear of hostility. What was for a long time the only purpose-built synagogue in the country often attracted protests and was forced closed by extremists. There are different views about wearing a kippah – Jewish religious headwear – in public. Some have experienced overt hostility whereas others have had no problem. The basis for this tension is often the unfair projection on to all Jews of political frustrations with Israel’s government, which is as unjust as blaming all Muslims or Arabs for the actions of specific governments or movements within the Islamic world.

Imagine a world in which people actively seek out friendships with people who are different from them

Philip Rosenberg

But all this notwithstanding, the World Peace Forum’s decision to invite Jewish representatives was an encouraging sign that can give us all hope for the future. The conference’s theme of the ‘Middle Path’ – Al-Wasatiyyah – of moderate Islamic thinking, combined with Indonesia’s national philosophy of Pancasila (‘five principles’) which includes unity and social justice, is a good basis for constructive conversations. Furthermore, I have long been impressed by the fact that alongside being the world’s largest Muslim country, Indonesia is also the world’s third largest democracy (after India and the USA).

I was very glad I took part in the conference. First-hand contact is an important starting point for relationship and peace-building. Attending the Jakarta event enabled ample opportunity to engage in wider conversations or challenge assumptions. On a more basic level, there is something powerful to being the ‘first’ Jew that many people had ever met. My home city of London is a very global place, where relationships and friendships between people of very different backgrounds are normal rather than novel. However, this is not true everywhere in the world. Many societies are mono-cultural in fact, or at least in practice. I felt like I had temporarily become a minor celebrity, with dozens of people from across Islamic world wanting to take photos and selfies with me in my Kippa.

It caused a positive stir when a Hijab-wearing female leader from one of Indonesia’s biggest Muslim organisations took my hand and we launched in to a spontaneous dance in front of all the delegates. Whilst conservative traditions in Islam and Judaism do not encourage mixed dancing between the genders, this harmless act made a point better than thousands of words or workshops could have done.

Imagine a world in which people actively seek out friendships with people who are different from them, hear their side of the stories in conflict, learn empathy and practice moderation instead of extremism. All these things are easier said than they are done, but that does not take away from us all obligation to try.

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Philip Rosenberg is a member of the flagship diplomacy programme of the World Jewish Congress (WJC), the WJC Jewish Diplomatic Corps. He is also Director of Public Affairs at the Board of Deputies of British Jews, the national representative body of the UK Jewish community. He is a longstanding activist in interfaith relations, focusing particularly on Muslim-Jewish relations. His previous role was as Executive Director of the Faiths Forum for London. From May 2014-May 2018, Philip served as an elected Labour Party councillor in the London Borough of Camden, where he is still the Co-Chair of the Camden Faith Leaders Forum.