It happened just over a week ago, at the Puzzles eatery on the
Hill.
Andy Green, a second-year math and economics student, and Adam
Greenwald, a second-year history student, were waiting for a friend
to buy food.
They happened to overhear a conversation between two women who
were members of the Muslim Student Association and a man who
identified himself as a Christian fundamentalist.
The three were talking about their different religions, and
Green and Greenwald, who are both members of UCLA Hillel, were
drawn into the conversation.
“Even though we had midterms the next day, we talked for
over an hour, and at the end, we decided to exchange our phone
numbers and to start a dialogue group,” Green said.
They decided to name the prospective group
“Shalom-Asalaam,” which means peace in Hebrew and
Arabic, respectively.
“The group will focus on Middle East issues and conflicts,
since without dialogue, there will never be peace,” Green
said.
Though the group is by no means established, it may already have
faculty support. David Myers, a professor of Jewish history, has
expressed interest in helping sponsor a group like
“Shalom-Asalaam.”
“I would be thrilled to help start such a group,”
Myers said, adding that he feels such a dialogue group will help in
“moving beyond the politics of contradiction”
surrounding Israel and Palestine.
“I am committed to the idea of a dialogue on campus. I
believe it is important for both communities to recognize their
shared humanity,” Myers said.
Even though the logistics of the group were determined a week
ago, Green and Greenwald had the same idea last year during a class
they both took called “Voices for Peace.”
The class was co-taught by Rabbi Chaim Seidler-Feller, director
of UCLA Hillel, and Shawki El-Zatmah, a Palestinian graduate
student, and focused on the history of the Middle East from both a
Jewish and Palestinian perspective.
“There is no equivalent to this class anywhere in the
country. It is a model of tolerance and cross existence,”
Seidler-Feller said.
Students taking the class were exposed to both Jewish and
Palestinian experiences. One of the projects in the class was to
read and evaluate a book that presented a “view contrary to
your own,” Seidler-Feller said.
This fostered a shared sense of camaraderie among students
attending the class, and many kept in touch even after the class
ended. Some of these students may constitute the first members of
“Shalom-Asalaam” once the group is created, Green
said.
The dialogue group would be primarily oriented towards students
who are willing to open up to new points of view.
“It would be for students who don’t think their way
is the only right way. Otherwise it will be difficult for members
to open up,” Green said.
If successful, this group would be the first of its kind on the
UCLA campus. Previous attempts to begin such a group have ended in
failure.
Even though the dialogue group is now in its early stages, Green
said it might become active around winter quarter.
“Right now this is something that is missing on this
campus, and we want to fill that void,” he said.