Jewish-Muslim Cooperation in Holocaust Education

Muslims and Jews are often pitted against each other as a tool to divide and conquer, yet we share so many commonalities in religion, culture, and faith that even we forget how similar we truly are. With the rise of Antisemitism and Islamophobia, we need both Muslims and Jews to know that the time has come to unify, partner, and work with one another both personally and professionally because we are both victims of discrimination, prejudice, racism, and hate in the world.

One example of Jewish-Muslim cooperation is teaching the context and history of the Holocaust because there are dozens of golden rules that we, as a people, can learn from history, and also apply to our modern world. The importance of the Holocaust cannot be stressed enough in middle schools, high schools, colleges, and universities because Holocaust education is the bridge for understanding, the bridge for empathy-building, and the bridge for long-lasting peace initiatives in the Middle-East and throughout the world. Holocaust education will only help people understand facts, foster empathy, understand Jewish suffering, accept reality, eliminate hatred, racism and discrimination, combat extremist narratives, eliminate terrorism, encourage critical-thinking, build bridges, support human rights, strengthen Jewish-Muslim relations, enhance peace and security in the Middle-East and around the world. This Jewish-Muslim cooperation can only have positive reverberations in every country, while also creating a more peaceful, equal, free, and just society for our children because THIS is the very best gift we can provide for future generations to succeed.

Another example of Jewish-Muslim cooperation is Yad Vashem’s Righteous Among the Nations Program which aims to recognize Muslim and non-Jewish rescuers for risking their lives to save Jews during the Holocaust. Additionally, The Holocaust Memorial Day Trust “encourages remembrance in a world scarred by prejudice and systematic targeted persecution, which brings people together to learn more about the past, empathize more with people today, and work to build a better future.” And similarly, the Benjamin Ferencz Institute for Ethics, Human Rights and the Holocaust is “dedicated to providing Holocaust programming that transcends international, intergenerational, interfaith and interprofessional boundaries to promote justice, tolerance, equality and human dignity for all people.” These are just 3 examples of successful partnerships that need to be known and studied, but the next generation should build even more bridges to strengthen interfaith relations, foster peace, and enhance mutual understanding.

The 3rd example to strengthen Jewish-Muslim cooperation is allowing students the opportunity to learn about the history of the Holocaust through various lenses such as interfaith lesson plans, multicultural programs, and interfaith projects because this will only make students more aware of the world around them, while also allowing students to appreciate people of different faiths earlier in life. This tiny idea can have a significant and positive impact for all students because it will only teach students to respect one another, and teach students how similar we are, as a people. We need to take the time, energy and effort to maximize our investment in our children because if we don't invest in our children today, then who will? Sometimes, in life, the ideas that initially seem too difficult or too complex are the very ideas that need to be tried-and-tested to see whether we can actually broaden our children's perspective and mind. If we don't break out of the same educational norm, then how can we expect our children to become well-rounded model citizens? Before we expect anything from our children, we need to set them up for success first, and the single best way to accomplish that is to incorporate interfaith and multicultural programs while they study the history of the Holocaust.

Schools and educators need to incorporate Holocaust education into their curriculum and use interfaith lesson plans, multicultural programs, and interfaith projects to their advantage. This will only stimulate children to want to learn about the Holocaust, and it will broaden their horizons by working together, building bridges, encouraging critical-thinking, fostering empathy, understanding facts, accepting reality, and eliminating hatred, racism and discrimination in all its forms. Once this is achieved, then we can start working together to make our time on this earth more peaceful, more valuable, and more secure for everyone. We need to “be the change that [we] wish to see in the world,” and only Holocaust education will allow that to happen. Once we successfully achieve that, the possibilities are endless.

Zunair Ashfaq, MSW, MBE, is a bioethicist, social worker, human rights defender, and writer

www.linkedin.com/in/zunair-ashfaq-281b3415