this letter might be printed in havurah news for all to read.
norton is not an anti-zionist, anti semite as some might guess.

harlan


----- Original Message -----
From: "Mezvinsky, Norton (History)" <MezvinskyN@mail.ccsu.edu>
To: <hdubansky@comcast.net>
Sent: Monday, December 01, 2008 12:54 PM
Subject: my news


Dear Harlan,

I have volunteered to go to Mumbai in India later this coming spring for a
few weeks to help the new Lubavitch Chabad rabbi, who will soon be there,
rebuild the Jewish Center and congregation. The Chabad Center has been and
will continue to be the only Jewish religious and gathering center in
Mumbai. I told Chabad leaders that I would pay my own airplane fare and only
require a cot to sleep in and two meals a day (which I assume will be
kosher).

 Yesterday, in addition, one of the Chabad rabbis, who is a leader and one
of the top Chabad intellectuals-as well as a friend of mine, asked me to act
as  a go-between for Chabad with moderate and "not- so- moderate" Muslim
leaders I know. My multi-faceted job would be: 1) to try to convince the
Muslim leaders with whom I speak to issue additional statements that Islam
opposes attacks upon peaceful religious groups of other faiths regardless of
some differences in religious beliefs and positions in regard to the "Holy
Land" 2) to ask these leaders, whenever possible, to issue directives to
their immediate followers to this effect, 3) to ask these leaders to mention
Chabad houses and centers around the world specifically in this regard and
4) to attempt to arrange some meetings (perhaps confidential at the
beginning) between Chabad leaders and Muslim leaders. My Chabad friend asked
me to do this work, as he told me, because of my contacts and because he
knew I commanded respect from many Muslims. (My friend, by the way, was not
saying that he necessarily believed the attack in Mumbai was solely or even
partially based upon religious motivation.) I told my Chabad friend that I,
of course, would  attempt to do what he asked.

 Almost certainly, some surface statements can be acquired. There are
complexities and complications involved in the deeper interplay here, but
the possibility of developing serious, in-depth, interfaith goodwill and
discussion is worth the difficulties involved in dealing with those
complexities and complications. (You can easily imagine some of the
potential inherent problems involved when people of different faiths and
some opposite beliefs about certain issues, e.g.to whom God promised the
"Holy Land," get together for discussion. This is especially the case when
people from each  different party believe that they know and have the word
of God. The principle of toleration of other beliefs has to prevail if
anything constructive is to develop. At least, I know all of this pretty
well and have tried to deal with it for about half a century.)

More later.

Norton