Mosaica's Response to the Desecration of the Yassuf Village Mosque by Rabbi Michael Melchior, Founder of Mosaica Center These days, the Jewish people all over the world are celebrating the historic event of the purification of the Temple in Jerusalem. In this very same period, we learn from the media of the horrendous act of the desecration of a holy place to Muslims, the burning and damaging of the mosque in the village of Yassuf.  As in any holy site, in this mosque too, tens of people gather daily to pray to G-d, addressing Him with pleas for grace and compassion, and pouring their hearts out to Him.  The perpetrators of this heinous crime have not yet been caught, but if it was indeed conducted by Jews, supposedly in the name of the Jewish Torah, why then, it constitutes an act of blasphemy against the entire Jewish people, against the members of the Muslim faith, and against the nations of the world.  In such instances, it is tempting to describe the perpetrators as “insane”, “extremists”, “a few stray weeds”, and such terms. However, such sayings contain the grave danger of exempting society as a whole from the responsibility of confronting and dealing with such a phenomenon.  The Jewish people, who have experienced centuries of religious persecution, including the desecration of graveyards and places of worship, are well aware that these acts are the dire consequences of acts of incitement and hatred. Incitement and hatred are severe and illegitimate in themselves, but when attributed religious motives and conducted in the name of G-d are seven times worse.  Recently, a publication was released under the cover of “halakhic research”, focusing on the appropriate approach towards the “other”, in general, and in particular towards the Arab minority in Israel. This book received the approval of a number of Israeli rabbis. It was hard to come by rabbis who were willing to publicly condemn those responsible for the writing and publication of the book.  Anyone who lends a hand to the publication of such a book and its distribution among the religious public should not be surprised to discover that some of its readers will participate in the desecration of holy sites or even inflict bodily harm on others.  Such publications lead to the de-legitimization of the “other” and to their dehumanization, from which only a short path leads to acts against them and their holy sites.  As a society, it is our responsibility to offer a religious and educational  alternative. One which is based on the exalted values of the Jewish Torah, values of peace and justice, reconciliation and tolerance; values based on the collective history of the Jewish people, which opposed acts of violence and fought zealotry and its adherents. We must not allow these perpetrators to be perceived, G-d forbid, either by the Israeli public or by the nations of the world, as authentic representatives of the Jewish Torah.  Declarations and condemnations against blasphemous acts, as grandiloquent as they may be, will not suffice in preventing the recurrence of such heinous acts in the future. This will only be reached by strenuous educational efforts, involving thorough and in-depth processes of reflection in the educational areas as well as the religious and Halakhic areas.  In continuation to my radio address during this week, even now I call upon our Muslim counterparts not to allow the abhorrence and disgust they feel towards incidents such as these to break down the bonds of trust we built between us, or to allow them to divert us from the joint path we have been creating over the last few years through inter-religious dialogue. I call upon you to continue our mutual commitment to do our utmost to prevent the repetition of such acts, and to our continued cooperation in our endeavors to instill foundations of justice and peace, reconciliation and tolerance, in our region and worldwide.