WASHINGTON (JTA) — Jewish and Muslim clergy, along with scholars, will meet to talk about halachah and shariah, the religious laws of their faiths.
The meeting in New York on Oct. 30, convened by the Washington D.C.-based Catholic University and the Center for InterReligious Understanding, will feature presentations by Rabbi David Silber of the Drisha University in New York and Ebrahim Moosa, a professor of Islamic studies at Duke University, as well a prominent rabbis and imams.
The symposium comes in the wake of concerns among Jewish religious leaders of all streams about a campaign among conservatives to ban shariah, or Muslim religious law, and how that could limit or even squelch the use of halachah, or Jewish law, to settle disputes among the observant.
The Center for InterReligious Understanding organized last year’s visit to Auschwitz by U.S. imams.
