My name is Omer, I'm a friend of Lee's (Jihadi Jew) and really consider myself a student of his. While I was at University I was blessed with the privilege of experiencing the wonderful hospitality, intellect, compassion, spirituality, guidance and most importantly caring of the Weissman family. For those in awe of Lee (as I am) the only thing I wish for you is that you get the pleasure of someday meeting his incredible Besheret (his wife) and his mind boggling daughter. Lee was and still is an inspiration for me and a teacher. He is the reason I wear that coat and hat in the picture above, the side locks, style of kippah, and most importantly that smile. I became closer to Rebbe Nachman of Breslov because of him and there is one other thing...
A few years ago I had returned from Brooklyn after the birth of my daughter and began studying with him. He had told me of a project he had started involving dialogue with Muslims and Jews to show the similarities between the faiths. I am assuming he asked me to get involved because we shared the same views and tried desperately while I was working at the local university to mend what I call "the insanity" (he still tries, I don't live in the area anymore so it is no longer my fight). After I had gotten involved in the facebook group where the idea of Jihadi Jew had originated Lee had invited me to accompany him to the Yorba Linda incident. It was surreal, tragic, ignorant, bigoted, and at times very comical. I learned two things that night: That Lee's struggle was mine as well, and that progress has to be made through creativity.
The mission of "בקש שלום ורדפהו"
Through out my interaction with Lee I've always asked "how do we take this cyber experience and transform into into something actual, some form of action?" I love what Lee does on Twitter and during numerous long days of work (I teach students with very severe cases of intellectual disability and autism; this means on a daily basis I am engaged with various forms of bodily excrement and being physically assaulted) his tweet bring me great joy, I'm sure there are thousands of others who feel the same way. The question has always remained, till recently. Lee tweeted a quote from Rumi "Start a huge, foolish project, like Noah...It makes absolutely no difference what people think of you". He also made the statement: "How is it that people think that finding ways to live together is somehow harder than living with the consequences of killing each other?" Those two quotes inspired what I will be taking upon myself for the next year. It seems to me that the evolution of Jihadi Jew must move beyond simply "getting to know the other" and transcend towards defining the value of both yourself and the other.
The quote "בקש שלום ורדפהו" comes from Tehillim / Psalm 34:line 49 it's literal translation is "request peace and pursue it". Unfortunately Hebrew is never that simple simple. The word "בקש" which is translated as request has a deep implication of prayer. Rabbi Nachman in his second Torah of his masterpiece Likutey Moharan writes: "The primary weapon of the Jewish people is prayer. All the wars that a person must wage- whether wars against the evil inclination (yetzer hara/ nafs) or other wars with those who wish to impede him or set themselves against him- are all fought with prayer" He continues to teach " A person should give Tzedakah/ Sedaka before praying. This will cause his prayer to be fluent in his mouth. Giving Tzedakah/ Sedaka also saves the person from extraneous thoughts during prayer, and he will be able to pray properly without veering off to the right or the left. Instead, the person will speak his words judiciously". The word "שלום" (peace) is rooted from the word complete or whole. No true sense of completeness or wholeness can exist in a world where the concept of "the other" exists, so therefor the psalm is demanding of us to either pray for our unification with the other, or better yet pray that we conquer the Yetzer Hara/ Nafs perception that the other exists and there for peace is unattainable. Finally the word "ורדפהו" (and pursue it) is an active word. It literally means "run after it". It is not enough to desire something, no matter how noble the intention. One must actively improve the world. The requests we make to G-d/ All-h, our prayers, must be followed by our contributions to materialize them.
Because the word "רדפהו" literally means to run after, I have taken it upon myself to run a marathon in the next year. I am running in order to raise Tzedaka for a Muslim cause, I don't know which yet( if I have my way I will never know), it doesn't matter which it is/ they are. The point is that Muslim causes are important, not just for Muslims but for the world. It is important, I believe, for Muslims to see that belief come to fruition from a non Muslim. More importantly it is my belief and therefore I as the passage explains must make it an entity in my existence. Finally prayer; for the next year (and far beyond that) I will spend time specifically on prayer for Muslims and Islam. I will publish my prayers here as well as share ideas and experiences that I have gained through this journey. I hate running and am thoroughly out of shape, so initially a lot of my journey will involve dieting and exercising. Don't worry I won't bore you with those details in this blog. My hopes is that you share with me your "foolish projects", that we may support each other through prayer, well wishes, and any other material way we can. Inshallah we begin to dedicate ourselves to finding merit in "the other". It is through intimacy with the other, not exclusion, that peace, true peace, one that is rooted from being complete and whole can exists.
