READ MEDIA RESPONSES TO OUR INITIATIVE!

January 2006, Chicago Jewish News and November 30, 2006, Chicago Tribune

The Jewish/Muslim Initiative announces its Spring line-up:


1) The University of Illinois at Chicago and Chicago-Kent College of Law are proud to continue the
Jewish/Muslim initiative. Please join us as we welcome Dr. Azim Nanji, inaugural visiting Professor of
Jewish/Muslim Relations at UIC and Kent and current Director of the Ismaili Institute, London,
for a series of three lectures.

"Rethinking Common Values of the Abrahamic Traditions"

Friday, April 21, 2006
Immediately following
8:00 pm services
in the main sanctuary

Beth Emet
The Free Synagogue
1224 Dempster
Evanston, Illinois 60202


"Legal Pluralism in Muslim Contexts"

Monday, April 24, 2006
12:00 pm
Chicago-Kent College of Law
Illinois Institute of Technology
Ogilvie Auditorium
565 West Adams
Reception to follow



"Sustaining Identity: Jewish and Muslim Experiences in the New World"

Wednesday, April 26, 2006
4:00 pm
University of Illinois, Chicago
Cardinal Room
Student Center East
750 South Halsted
Reception to follow


All lectures are free and open to the public. Please RSVP to (312) 413-2102 with questions and/or to
indicate which lecture. Sponsored by the Jewish Studies Program and the College of Liberal Arts
and Sciences at the University of Illinois at Chicago and by the Institute for Law and the Humanities
at Chicago-Kent College of Law at Illinois Institute of Technology.


                                                                 


2) JAMS (Jewish-Arab-Muslim-Students) present the hip-hop Middle East play,
"From Tel Aviv to Ramallah," on April 6th at 7:00 pm in L285 in the EPASW Bldg.,
1040 W. Harrison Street. This play, written and directed by UIC Jewish Studies and
English Professor, Rachel Havrelock, stars Yuri Lane and Sharif Ezzat, a Jewish-Arab
performance team who have performed at college campuses and at theatrical venues across
the country. The play is free of charge.

"From Tel Aviv to Ramallah" is an hour-long hip-hop play that shuttles back and forth in a day
in the life of a young Israeli and a young Palestinian. The show depicts the parallel narratives
and lives of Israelis and Palestinians, and exhibits the youth cultures of the Middle East. Yuri
Lane is a human beatbox who depicts multiple characters by generating the individual soundtrack
of each character through a cappella vocal percussion combined with acting and dance. The set
consists of live visual projections composed by multimedia artist Sharif Ezzat.

"From Tel Aviv to Ramallah" does not take an ideological stance on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
It depicts the nature of life during the conflict and airs the culture and humor that persist despite
the political situation.

For more information on the play and its performers, please visit http://www.yurilane.com.

Praise for "From Tel Aviv to Ramallah":

"Vivid, heartening piece...a true collaboration." --New York Times

"Lane is not only an accomplished mimic, he's also an acrobat with sound.
All the instrumental and percussive music in 'Beatbox Journey' is created
on Lane's lips, the music supplying the evocative connective thread
between his main characters." --The Washington Post

"Lane's colorful depiction is so real, his characters so well developed,
that you can't help but be moved. His recreation of the cities' bustling
marketplaces and throbbing discos is so vivid that you can almost smell
the smoke wafting from the hookah pipes and feel the moist heat emanating
from the dance floor." --San Francisco Examiner

"From Tel Aviv to Ramallah is a must-see for those interested in finding
utopian spaces for peaceful coexistence in contemporary hip-hop culture."
--San Francisco Bay Guardian



3) During the spring 2006 semester, UIC and Chicago-Kent will offer the course "Judaism and Islam:
Interactions and Intersections," to be co-taught by religious scholar and visiting professor
Azim Nanji, Director of the Ismaili Institute, London; Rachel Havrelock, UIC professor of
Jewish Studies and English; and Sheldon Nahmod, Chicago-Kent Distinguished Professor of Law and co-director of Chicago-Kent's Institute for Law and the Humanities.

A leading contemporary figure in the Ismaili branch of Islam, Nanji has authored, co-authored
and edited several books including, "The Nizari Ismaili Tradition" (1976), "The Muslim Almanac"
(1996), "Mapping Islamic Studies" (1997), and "The Historical Atlas of Islam" (2004). In addition,
he has contributed numerous shorter studies and articles on religion, Islam and Ismailism in
journals and collective volumes including "The Encyclopedia of Islam," "Encyclopedia Iranica,"
"Oxford Encyclopedia of the Modern Islamic World," and "A Companion to Ethics."

JST 225: Topics in Jewish/Muslim Relations:
Judaism & Islam: Interactions and Intersections (3 hrs)
                       Same as RELS 225 and CLS 225

This course examines the history of interaction between Judaism and Islam touching on some
paradigmatic moments when shared geography and shared ideas brought Islam and Judaism into
the sphere of mutual influence. We will examine how the hostility between Jews and Muslims
has been constructed as well as the origins of this hostility while also considering the history
of coexistence and the places where Jews and Muslims lived together. While central theological
and philosophical texts from the two traditions will be studied, we will also question the idea of
a discrete "tradition" that exists in isolation bounded by its own tenets. The history of
interaction between Islam and Judaism includes shared prophets, sacred geography, legal tenets,
philosophic revolutions and marginalization during the periods in which the conception of the
"European" and "Westerner" were formed.



  Jewish/Muslim Initiative, Fall 2005


Dr. Akbar Ahmed inaugurates the world's first visiting professorship of Jewish/Muslim relations at the University of Illinois at Chicago, and Chicago-Kent School of Law.

Distinguished anthropologist, diplomat, writer, and filmmaker Dr. Akbar Ahmed, the Ibn Khaldun Chair of Islamic Studies and Professor of International Relations at American University in Washington, DC, will give two, free public lectures:

"The Importance of Jewish/Muslim Dialogue: Crossroad for the Abrahamic Faiths"
Monday, November 28, 2005, 4:00 pm
University of Illinois at Chicago
Student Center East (750 South Halsted) Room 302
Reception to follow in M. Ward Lounge, 2nd Floor

"The Importance of Jewish/Muslim Dialogue: Judaism and Knowledge in the Abrahamic Faiths"
Tuesday, November 29, 2005,12:00 pm
Chicago-Kent School of Law, Illinois Institute of Technology
Ogilvie Auditorium (565 West Adams)
Reception to follow in the lobby

Sponsored by the Jewish Studies Program and the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences at the University of Illinois at Chicago, and by the Institute for Law and the Humanities, Chicago-Kent College of Law, Illinois Institute of Technology