c. 1999 Religion News Service

UNDATED _ American Jewish groups joined their Israeli counterparts Monday (Feb. 8) in expressing sorrow at the death of Jordan’s King Hussein, a one-time enemy of Israel who later became one of the Arab and Islamic worlds’ strongest supporters of peaceful coexistence with the Jewish state.

Hussein, who was buried in the Jordanian capital, Amman, Monday following his death the previous day from cancer, often spoke in religious terms about his desire for Middle East peace.

At the 1995 funeral of assassinated Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, Hussein spoke movingly of the common religious roots of Christianity, Judaism and Islam.”We belong to the camp of peace,”said Hussein, who was 63.”We believe that our one God wishes us to live in peace, and we wish his peace upon us. For these are his teachings to all the followers of the three great monotheistic religions, the children of Abraham.” Bald from chemotherapy, Hussein spoke in a similar manner at last October’s White House signing of the Wye River peace agreement. It is time, he said, to end the”petty differences”that keep”all the children of Abraham”from a better future in the Middle East.”He always expressed himself that way,”said Rabbi Marvin Hier, dean of the Simon Wiesenthal Center in Los Angeles.”He was a true believer in God and the commonality of the Abrahamic faiths.” The center held a tribute Monday to the Jordanian monarch at its Museum of Tolerance in Los Angeles. In 1995, Hussein became the first Arab leader to visit the museum, which details the Holocaust and other examples of extreme bigotry.”If you had told me 25 years ago that a Jewish organization would hold a tribute for Hussein at his death, I would have said impossible,”Hier added.”That we have done so is a measure of how much a one-time enemy of Israel and the Jewish people had become a great, great friend.” In New York, a statement by the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations said Hussein”will be missed by all those who came to appreciate his manifold contributions to his country and region.”His memory will remain with us forever,”said the conference, the central coordinating body on national and international issues for 55 American Jewish groups from across the Jewish political and theological spectrum.

In 1994, Jordan became the second Arab nation after Egypt to sign a peace treaty with Israel. But even before then, Hussein _ despite Jordan having fought against Israel in 1948 and 1967 _ had reached out secretly to Israel, prompting Israeli and American Jewish officials to regard him as a budding peace partner.

In 1973, on the eve of the Yom Kippur War, Hussein even flew secretly to Israel to warn of a coming Arab surprise attack. Such actions prompted Steven Grossman, former president of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, to say,”King Hussein will forever be known as one of the great heroes of the Jewish people.” Hussein also met in Jordan and in the United States with American Jewish leaders prior to the 1994 peace treaty. Phil Baum, executive director of the American Jewish Congress, was part of a group that met with Hussein in Jordan as early as 1986.

Baum said Hussein made sure that whatever food was served by the Jordanians at the meetings was kosher, or acceptable under Jewish dietary laws. Baum called Hussein”hamish,”a Hebrew word meaning informal and friendly.

Rabbi Eric H. Yoffie, president of the Reform Union of American Hebrew Congregations, evoked a traditional Jewish expression of condolence in his response to Hussein’s death.”May his memory be a blessing, and his life an inspiration,”Yoffie said of Hussein.

Jewish officials were not the only American religious leaders to express their sadness at Hussein’s death, however. The National Council of Churches, an umbrella agency for 35 Protestant, Anglican and Orthodox Christian denominations, said”few other individuals have done more for the peaceful resolution of Middle East conflicts than King Hussein.”In our loss, we are comforted by the knowledge of the sincere faith in God that sustained King Hussein through many painful tests and trials in his life,”said the Rev. Joan Brown Campbell, NCC general secretary.

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