The wanton shooting of American soldiers at Ft. Hood late last week has troubled me on several levels. At the outset, how could our military, with all the advance signals of the derangement and violent thinking of Maj. Dr. Hasan, not deal swiftly and assuredly as only the military can do? According to published reports, the military intelligence community knew of the Dr’s political leanings. What caused Dr. Hasan’s superiors to hold back questioning him or disciplining him rather than allow him to continue to treat patients and promote him? Like many of you, I spent over 3 years in the Army and I know that military justice can be very swift and draconian especially when security is at stake.

I am also amazed at the responses from our government officials. There are those who advocate “drawing and quartering him” immediately. Others are quoted as saying “put him into the Guantanamo Prison with all the other Muslims.” Still others are saying: “Let’s open a complete investigation.” But most are staying silent, at least in public.

Our country was founded in part upon the premise of freedom of speech and religion and I, for one, am loath to see any of our freedoms subverted as our investigations into Hasan’s actions continue however there are countless checks and balances within our governmental system that will preserve the rights of the accused and the rights of the people to know that, if he is found guilty, Dr. Hasan will receive swift justice. As he makes his recovery, Maj. Dr. Hasan’s religious proclivities have touched countless nerves around the world and I continue to be very bothered by Islamic extremists who are quite boisterous in their public hatred of all things not Muslim and who publically advocate either joining Islam or putting the apostate to the sword. There seems to be no middle ground with these fanatics.

I am certainly no expert on the religion of Islam but as a general overview, I know that the Islamic religion is almost as benign as Judaism and Christianity in its one Gd understanding and their observance systems. We need to remember that the Islamic religion can trace its roots all the way back to Ishmael, the son of Abraham via Hagar.

In the sedrah Lech L’cha we read two weeks ago, we read that once Sarah bore Isaac, she insisted that Abraham kick Hagar and her son Ishmael out of the community, and last week we read of Hagar placing her infant son under a bush in the desert when they ran out of water and Gd appeared and spoke to Hagar saving their lives and promising that the line of Ishmael would become a great nation – what we know today as Islam. So, what happened to Ishmael? Where did he go after being banished from Abraham’s camp? Was he completely disenfranchised by Abraham? Apparently not because in Chapter 25 of Genesis that we read just a few minutes ago, at the death of Abraham, we find in sentence #9 that Isaac AND Ishmael buried their beloved father in the cave of Machpelah next to their mother Sarah.

I also know that Islamic religion holds Abraham, Moses, and several other Jewish patriarchs as prophets within the fabric of their faith so our Jewish connections to the basic Islamic faith are not as tenuous as one might first recognize.

Now don’t get me wrong – I am as angry as the next person at Osama bin Laden, the militant leaders of Islam both political and religious, and people like Dr. Hasan, however, I know that across history, more people have been slaughtered in the name of religion than for any other reason, yet we don’t have to accept that principle as a modus oparendi for us today. We should be able to trust the members of our military to protect our American interests and freedoms across the globe without a soldier’s religion getting in the way: without seeing a soldier turn on his own because a militant Imam to him to do so.

Bereshit, the Book of Genesis clearly states that Gd promised both Abraham and Ishmael longevity of life and a line of people far into the future. I respect that history but I do not respect or accept the militancy of some Islamic clerics and their wrath. Extremism at almost every level is unsupportable. Car bombs, IED’s, human suicide bombers, and others who advocate or perpetrate violence in the name of religion must be dealt with swiftly, surely and legally. Tolerance and kindness to those whose religious views may be different than our own is crucial if we are ever to see peace.

Jewish-Muslim relations are an area where bridges of understanding are sorely needed. These bridges must be strengthened, and in some cases, they are badly in need of repair. And thus I pray that ALL religious leaders around the world will immediately put aside their hatred and instead, urge their followers to learn more of their particular religious teachings, listen to the religious leaders of their faiths who speak and advocate peace instead of violence and respect those whose understanding of Gd may be different than their own in the hope for world peace.

Shabbat Shalom,

Rabbi Rubovits