Shalom/Salaam: The Untold Story of a Mystical Entanglement

Shalom/Salaam: The Story of a Mystical Fraternity is an interdisciplinary project predicated on the belief that contemporary art, at its best, can move outside of the narrow confines of the art world, approaching the general public through creative thought and a gentle activism.

My Shalom/Salaam Project highlights the strong Sufi influence on the development of Jewish mysticism, following this unfamiliar tale from 10th century in Spain, Egypt and the Holy Land, through the Kabbalah and into the Baal Shem Tov's Hasidism in the 18th century. I believe that the popularization of this positive story can help facilitate the peace dialogue between Jews and Arabs, becoming part of the healing process of that fractured relationship.

Based in my own original research about Jewish and Muslim mystics that studied together, read each other's texts and openly borrowed ideas from the other religion's mystical masters, Shalom/Salaam is a unique mixture of art, writing, scholarship and activism. Through a series of art shows, written pieces, conference appearances, forums and other activities, the Shalom/Salaam Project introduces this tale of spiritual entanglement to a diverse audience.

Shalom/Salaam is comprised of three different series of artworks, each concentrating on a different aspect of the tale. Paintings from the Baal Shem Tov explores the ecstatic mysticism of the 18th century Jewish mystic, the Baal Shem Tov, who was strongly influenced by Sufi threads buried within medieval Jewish spiritual thought. Secret Garden is a wall-borne installation that explores the subtle and beautiful Sufi mystical path of Islam. Lastly, a series of iconic portraits of specific medieval Jewish and Muslim mystics that linked these two religions at their spiritual cores, exhibits how this story was created by real people, sharing insights and respect across cultural and religious boundaries over nearly a millennia.

In addition to the artwork on this subject, I have taught a course entitled Sufis and Hasids: Masters of Mysticism at the Jewish Study Center in Washington DC (2000, 2001). I have published and delivered numerous papers on the subject, and I have completed a 300-page academic study of this subject, Shalom/Salaam: The Story of a Mystical Fratnerity, that will continue to popularize this commingling of Jews' and Muslims' most intimate religious beliefs. During the cold winter of 2008, I sat down with Virginia Gray Henry, Publisher of Fons Vitae Publishers, to go over the book page by page, and then spent more than a year re-writing the manuscript for her publishing house. The manuscript is currently in the final stages of pre-publication, and will hopefully be in print sometime toward the end of this year (2009) or beginning of the next.

Additionally, I received grants and in-kind support from the Puffin Foundation (NJ), Sugarman Foundation (CA) and the New York Foundation for the Arts (NY).

I have published or presented at conferences, numerous academic papers, most recently at the Al-Azhar and the West Conference, in Cairo, Egypt, July 2009.

Lastly, I participated in a symposium on the subject along with Dr. S. H. Nasr, University Professor of Islamic Studies, George Washington University and Dr. Marc Eli Saperstein, Head of the Judaic Studies Program at George Washington University in November 2004. After the symposium, Dr. Nasr was kind enough to send along a brief note indicating:

"In bringing this very important but mostly forgotten history to light, the author is making a major contribution to creating better understanding between Islam and Judaism in a world so much in need for such understanding."

Ultimately, this project combines visual art, writing and scholarship to answer the call of Nobel Peace Prize laureate Elie Weisel, who said, "I still believe human bridges can be built between the two communities (Jews and Arabs), through reciprocal visits between students, teachers, musicians, writers, artists, business leaders and journalists." By popularizing this untold tale of mutual respect, perhaps a story of peace - so unusual in these difficult times in the Middle East - can begin to resonate as loudly, or even louder, than the sound of gun ships and bombs that currently command the stage between these two historic cousins.