Who We Are

For centuries, Jews and Muslims knew each other.

Jews in Muslim lands lived side by side with their neighbors, going back to the days of the Prophet.   They interacted with each other, and frequently influenced each other.  They added to each other's music, art, and philosophy.  Important rabbis began their legal decisions by writing Bismi Allah Al-Rahman Al-Raheem.  Muslims sought the blessing and counsel of great rabbis. Muslims greeted each other with the words Assalamu Alilkum, while Jews said Shalom Aleichem.

Both communities gained from this.  The chief reason this was possible is that both knew each other.  They knew what they wanted to draw from, what they wished to accept, and what they did not.  They did not rush to demonize each other, because they knew from first-hand experience that the others were not demons.

We are a group of Jews who work for a major Jewish human rights organization.  We are launching this site as a small but important contribution to world peace.  By sharing our Jewish values with you, by answering questions you will directly put to us, we hope to create an atmosphere where people will be able to  talk to each other, even if not always agree.  It is our hope that talking will lead to real relationship.

This will not be a place for political debate.  Here, we will try to explain who the Jewish people are, what their past was like and their aspirations for the future.  In short essays we will explain essentials of Jewish belief, values and practice, starting with some basic areas like Belief in G-d, Prayer, and Charity.   We are traditional, religiously observant Jews, and so will draw on the thousands of years of traditional sources in rabbinic literature to provide our answers.  (We recognize that many Jews might answer some questions differently, without relying as much upon traditional sources.  It is beyond our ability to provide all the possible alternative approaches.) 

We will also, as our name implies, do our best to answer whatever questions and challenges you put to us, and listen to your feedback.  Please, if you are at all curious, ask us whatever you like.

We are calling our site Ask Musa.  It reflects the undeniable reality of how intertwined our histories have been - going back to a biblical figure revered by both our peoples, known to us as Moshe Rabbenu, or Moshe, our Teacher.

The road to understanding between people begins with small steps.  With the help of Allah, we hope that we will be privileged to take some of them on this site.