c l o S e e N c o u N t e r S a M o n g S t d r E a
this summer two events took place in England’s most prestigious universities. one was a workshop for entrepreneurs; the other an academic conference. What they had in common is that they brought exceptional young people of different faiths and nationalities together. they were a life-changing experience and perhaps, as these young people make their influence felt, a world- changing one.
here JudI hErMan talks to some of those who attended this year’s ariane de rothschild fellowship in cambridge, ‘Social Entrepreneurship and cross-cultural network’.
TheAriane de Rothschild (AdR) Fellowship brings together international Muslim and Jewish social entrepreneurs to participate in a unique model for conflict resolution at Cambridge University’s Judge Business School. In this third year of the programme the Fellows come from the UK, US and France and, for the first time, Canada and Belgium. They had all been subjected to a
rigorous selection procedure to whittle them down from300 applicants to get the right mix of gender, age and social enterprise. “I’ve never spent two weeks with such
a diverse range of people,” declares Daniel Banks appreciatively. “I got to know the Muslimfellows both as individuals and at their various levels of practice. Like with the Jewish cohort there was everything from Orthodox to someone who just identifies on a cultural level. There was that same range within theMuslimparticipants.” The programme leaders needed to be
convinced not only that each social enterprise was worth supporting but also that each individual had leadership qualities and stamina – because it is a demanding two weeks with a lot of late nights and after- hours homework . The programme has four elements:
business studies, humanities, leadership and interfaith
dialogue.Valerie Russsell Emmott reports that whenAriane de Rothschild herself came tomeet the 2011 Fellows she told themthat when she went to Business School they didn’t put business in the context of humanity or history.When the programme was created she wanted to see it reflect those realities. So in addition to learning about
promotion and finance and all the subjects covered by a top-flight business school,
10 JEWISh rEnaISSancE octoBEr 2011
participants also had the benefit of humanities lectures from the Centre for History and Economics at King’s College, Cambridge. These lectures had a profound effect on
the Fellows asAmira Nassar Halversem testifies. “What’s great about the programme is how it breaks all the clichés about cultures and peoples, besides the practical aspects of learning about finance andmanagement”. For her, “The history of Zionismand Jihad was an eye
opener.As westerners, we associate the concept of Jihad with terrorism and violence, whereas really Jihad is something thatMuslims live by every day because that’s a way of life. It has to do with giving the best of yourself, justmaking a small effort in life to become a better person every day. The word has been hijacked by themedia.” You would expectAmira, who was
brought up in Lebanon with oneMuslim and one Christian parent and describes herself as ‘a secularMuslim Christian’ to pick up on Jihad, but she’s equally eloquent about Zionism. “What I learned about Zionism in the historical context was very important as a non-Jew to understand”, she explains excitedly. “How the stereotypes against Jews in
theMiddleAges had been carried on for centuries, and then we got toWorldWar ll, the build-up of antisemitism, and we know the end of the story, the
Holocaust.All of this explains the rise of Zionismsince the late 19th century. European Jews felt there was a need to have a particular type of movement to defend Jewish identity.” “It was a very heated argument
because I completely understand all the concepts and share 100% the anxiety of Jews and history; because we were
Daniel Banks is a theatre director and educator, co- director of dnaWorKS, an arts and service organization dedicated to dialogue and healing. his hip hop theatre Initiative, set up with his students at nyu, trains artists to create theatre based on the experiences of hip hop generation youth and to build leadership capacity in socially and economicallymarginalised communities in ghana,
S.africa, Mexico, hungary,azerbaijan, Israel/palestine, the uK and across the uS.
Amira Nassar Halvorsen, who lives in Brussels, is developing tip top linguas, an accelerated language immersion centre as well as cross- cultural communication workshops for relocatingmanagers. She plans that commercial clients will provide sponsorship to teach students frominner-city areas. amira is fluent in English, french, Italian, Spanish,arabic and proficient in norwegian.
Valerie russell emmott works in the area of equality and diversity training, anti- racismand interfaith dialogue. She is the interfaith representative for the Jewish communities of Bristol, a voluntary affiliate with radio SalaamShalomand works on community development with the Somali community of Bristol.
Shahwiqar Shahin, programmeManager at the Muslimcollege, london, has worked throughout the uK in collaboration with governmental bodies, charities and key organisations to build bridges between faith communities and to helpMuslimcommunities to increase their capacity and confidence in working with the wider British society. he is currently pursuing anMain abrahamic religions.
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