Muslim American Sabeeha Rehman
and Jewish American Walter Ruby
will discuss a new book they co-authored called “We Refuse to be Enemies–How Muslims and Jews Can Make Peace One Friendship at a Time.” Rev. Rosalind Cauffman leads. (You may recall that Sabeeha and her husband Khalid spoke at Pebble in 2018.)
We Refuse to Be Enemies is a manifesto by two American citizens, a Muslim woman and Jewish man, concerned with the rise of intolerance and bigotry in our country. Together Rehman and Ruby have spent decades doing interfaith work and nurturing cooperation among communities. They have learned that, through face-to-face encounters, people of all backgrounds can come to know the Other as a fellow human being and turn her or him into a trusted friend. In this book, they share their experience and guidance.
Growing up in Pakistan before she immigrated to the United States, Sabeeha never met a Jew, and her view was colored by the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. In his youth, Walter never met a Muslim, and his opinion was shaped by Leon Uris’s Exodus. Yet together they have formed a friendship and collaboration.
Tapping their own life stories and entering into dialogue within the book, they explain how they have found commonalities between their respective faiths and discuss shared principles and lessons, how their perceptions of the Other have evolved, and the pushback they faced. They wrestle with the two elephants in the room: the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and polarizing material in the histories and holy texts of Judaism and Islam. And they share their vision for reconciliation, offering concrete principles for building an alliance in support of religious freedom and human rights.
Sabeeha also authored the memoir, “Threading My Prayer Rug. One Woman’s Journey from Pakistani Muslim to American Muslim,” published in July 2016 by Arcade Publishing. The book was short-listed for the 2018 William Saroyan International Prize for Writing, and named to the Top 10 Diverse Nonfiction Books 2017, by Booklist, among other honors. She is an op-ed contributor to the Houses of Worship column of the Wall Street Journal.
Sabeeha migrated from Pakistan to the United States in 1971, after her marriage to a Pakistani doctor in New York. She holds a Masters in Healthcare Administration, and has had a 25-year career as a hospital executive. Her career spanned hospitals in New York, New Jersey, and Saudi Arabia.
Walter Ruby had a life-changing experience as a reporter covering the World Congress of Imams and Rabbis for Peace in Seville, Spain in 2006, and decided to dedicate himself going forward to the mission of nurturing ties of communication, reconciliation and cooperation between Jews and Muslims.
From 2008-2017, as Muslim-Jewish Relations Director at the New York-based Foundation for Ethnic Understanding, Ruby acted as a new kind of shadchan (Yiddish for matchmaker); bringing together grass roots Muslims and Jews across the United States and around the world for dialogue, friendship building and joint community service actions. He also worked to build lasting bonds between synagogues and mosques and Muslim and Jewish organizations.
Walter presently serves as executive director of Jews, Muslims and Allies Acting Together (JAMAAT), an eclectic community of Muslim, Jewish and Interfaith activists in Greater Washington, and as coordinator of the Washington Area Chapter of Project Rozana, which works to strengthen ties between Israelis and Palestinians through health care.
Ruby worked as a journalist for more than 30 years; writing for the Jerusalem Post, Ma’ariv, The Forward, New York Jewish Week, London Jewish Chronicle, Washington Jewish Week, Long Island Jewish World and other publications. During his career, he had postings in Haifa, Israel, New York and Moscow, and covered stories of Jewish interest or related to the Israeli-Palestinian peace process in varied locales including Algiers, Geneva, Berlin, Cairo, Mumbai, Reykjavik, Bogota and Asuncion. Walter is a co-author, together with his brother Dan Ruby, of the recently published memoir of Holocaust survivor Michael Edelstein entitled “Live Another Day: How I Survived the Holocaust and Realized the American Dream”. Ruby presently writes a blog focused primarily on politics entitled Walter Ruby: Keeping Hope Alive. https://bywalterruby.blogspot.com/
A passionate traveler with a penchant for long distance rambles on foot. Walter lives with his wife Tanya in Frederick, Maryland.
Celebration starts at 10:30 am. We are continuing virtual celebrations.
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