Despite Raines’ faulty logic in comparing all Muslims and Arabs to a potentially loaded gun, his article also violates our American notion of “innocent until proven guilty” and our pluralistic sensibilities about the need to end prejudice and racism. Raines goes as far as to say that, “Until checked and cleared, all Muslims should be kept away from Jews, Israel, mass transportation, media outlets, political bodies, and governing councils.” He does not just express his personal fears, but argues that we should take his own misperceptions to the next level and create discriminatory policy against all Arabs and Muslims.

Raines’ comments are particularly disturbing to me as a Jew. I fear that this thought (or variations of it) are all too common in the Jewish community. I have heard too many racist comments made by Jews about Arabs. I have seen too many Jews speak negatively about Muslims and their religious tradition. From back-handed comments muttered under their breath to public statements of intolerance, Jews are not innocent of believing and expressing such prejudicial ideas.

But as a Jew I am passionate about the need to end such “Islamophobia.” The history of my people has taught me about the negative effects of such blind hatred. Throughout Jewish history, Jews have been treated as “the other” and subject to anti-Semitism. They have been shunned from society, violated, and oftentimes even killed because of their religious identity. As a Jew I know what it feels like to be discriminated against because it has happened to my own people. And therefore as a Jew I see it as my obligation to stand up to hatred, bigotry, and discrimination wherever it exists and by whomever it is committed, even if it is by my own people.

As individuals and as a community we have a responsibility. We must be thoughtful in our words and our actions. Before saying or doing something against another human being – one that we also believe is created in the image of God – we should put ourselves in their shoes. How would it feel if someone said that about Jews? Do commonly held prejudices of Jews (or anyone else for that matter) have any basis in reality and what are the negative effects of espousing such bigoted ideas? As Jews we have an extra moral responsibility to ask ourselves these questions. We must do so as individuals ­– and even more so as organized Jewish bodies such as JEWSWEEK – in choosing what ideas we express and beliefs we hold. It’s a simple message we all learned as children, “Do unto others as you want done unto you” or as we say in Hebrew, “Ve’ahavta la’reacha kamocha.”