Published: 21 June 2018
Last updated: 4 March 2024
And over the past year, Miller has done just that, producing three animated videos and dozens of Facebook talks in which he explains Jewish ritual to an Islamic audience, in Arabic. The first video focused on food, comparing and contrasting kashrut with halal. The second focused on prayer, and the third on clothing. The recently completed, soon-to-be released fourth video focuses on worshipping God.
Funded by British billionaire Celia Atkin, whom he met during an Israeli-Palestinian research fellowship in London, Miller produces the videos at a popular animation studio in Jerusalem. He writes the narration and voices over in English, while an Israeli-born Palestinian friend and colleague consults on the script and voices-over the Arabic.
The inspiration for the series came to him as he was teaching basic Judaism to Muslims as part of the Shorashim Project, which brings together Jews from settlements in the Gush Etzion bloc in the West Bank and Palestinians for religious study.
“I was ready to focus on theology but the eight or so Palestinian participants were much more interested in nitty-gritty questions about ritual and practice. I changed my lectures and thought, ‘I could be speaking to 500 million Arabs and 1.6 billion Muslims.
“They have the same questions, but for centuries many of them have not had any Jewish neighbours that they could talk to, or any resources in Arabic to turn to. And I realised that this kind of religious dialogue and reaching out can be part of a larger scheme of education and peace,” he says.
According to the statistics provided to him by Facebook and YouTube, Miller has 37,000 subscribers on YouTube and 8000 on Facebook. His videos have been viewed more than two million times; 30 per cent of those views were in Saudi Arabia, 10 per cent in Egypt, and 7.5 per cent in Iraq.
The viewers are largely well-educated, with most holding at least an undergraduate degree; 83 per cent are 35 years old or younger.
Miller doesn’t know why the series is so popular in Saudi Arabia. “Maybe it’s because there are no Jews there since they were kicked out in the 7th century, so they have no historic memory, positive or negative. Maybe it’s because of Saudi Arabia’s attempts to involve itself in the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.
“Or maybe it’s because they are a religious people, and the videos are about religion.” He also doesn’t know why 82 per cent of the viewers are tagged as male.
“Maybe it’s because the men are the ones lazing around watching videos and the women are in the kitchen and with the children? Or maybe the women are signing in on their husbands’ computers, so their gender isn’t getting noted.”
Noting that the countries of North Africa are producing some of the most extreme and most liberal trends in Islam, Miller would like to increase his following there and also produce French versions of the videos, to be viewed, for example, in France and Belgium, where Islamic fundamentalism is becoming entrenched. He says he is searching for funding.
He also reveals that the videos are shared by Israel’s Foreign Ministry, whose Arabic-language Facebook page has more than 1.3 million followers. “I’m not doing hasbara (official propaganda) for the ministry, but I will never say no to someone sharing my videos. The videos speak for themselves.”
Closer to home, Miller says he gets far fewer views in Palestine Palestine? and the countries surrounding Israel. “Proportionately, they are a small fragment of the Muslim world,” he says, “so I have not focused on them. Once, I did put money into Facebook in order to target Gaza, the West Bank and Jordan.
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“I got another 100,000 clicks, but this is a very expensive process. Anecdotally, I know that the videos are being seen here, but I don’t have follow up.”
The videos focus on Jewish ritual, he says, “because that is what comes naturally to me.”
Miller, 36, grew up in a modern Orthodox home and studied at prestigious modern Orthodox schools in Jerusalem. Unusual for someone of his background, he majored in Arabic in high school, fell in love with the language and with Islamic culture. His army service was spent in Unit 8200, a prestigious intelligence unit, where he focused on Arabic translation and interpretation.
After his military service, he completed a master’s degree in Middle East history and Islamic studies at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem; his master’s thesis was a comparison of issues of religion and state in Egypt and Israel.
He was an Arab affairs correspondent for the Times of Israel before making a switch several years ago and is currently studying for his rabbinic ordination at Beit Midrash Har’el, a traditional egalitarian rabbinical school in Jerusalem. (Full disclosure: Miller also writes for The Jewish Independent.)
Is ritual a valid representation of Judaism? After all, from Biblical times onward, Jewish prophets and scholars have cautioned against ritual as a replacement for true service to God. “Ritual isn’t the only important way to be a Jew,” he acknowledges, “but this description works for me because I am an observant Jew. Also, I believe that ritual is something that we can all relate to.
“Sure,” he continues, “it’s a bit of a cop-out and a way of avoiding some of the more difficult questions. But I believe that we must build a basic level of trust before we can deal with the more sensitive issues.
“And when we get to the more sensitive issues – and I believe I will – I hope that we will be able to trust each other enough for Muslims to say, ‘Just like we have zealots among us, the Jews do, too. And just like we have difficult issues to deal with, the Jews do, too.’
“My idea isn’t to debate, but to bring us closer. I want the Muslims who are viewing my video to know that I struggle, just like they do. As a liberal Jew, for example, the issue of ‘chosenness’ is something that is complicated for me.
“I try to explain that God put responsibilities on us, the Jewish people, for reasons that I can’t explain, and this does not mean that we are inherently better than others in any way. Is that a completely satisfying answer? No, it doesn’t completely satisfy me, either.”
Miller amplifies his videos with his Facebook conversations, where, he says, he attempts to provide answers to some of the more complicated questions. “In these 15-20 minutes of FB live, I can allow myself to be more theological and push back on some of my viewers’ reactions.
“Some of my viewers are defensive and think that I am trying to convert them to Judaism, so I tell them that Judaism doesn’t proselytise. And when I talked about how matzoth are made, I talked about how ridiculous the blood libel is.
“Obviously, I can’t give all the answers. But when you don’t know anything about the other, you can dehumanise and demonise them, and then you can kill them. I don’t think that religion will make us all fall in love, but at least we can stop killing each other.”
When you don’t know anything about the other, you can dehumanise and demonise them, and then you can kill them. I don’t think that religion will make us all fall in love, but at least we can stop killing each other.
Peace-building isn’t Miller’s overt agenda, and he says that he tries to isolate religion from politics. “I am often asked about Zionism and my political affiliations. I avoid answering. And there’s no Hebrew on my FB page or YouTube videos.”
The animators have chosen a cute version of Miller himself as the narrator, and he says that he is aware as a modern Orthodox Jew, he represents modern Orthodox ritual.
“I am who I am – male, Zionist, liberal Orthodox, a graduate of the security establishment. But I am trying to present a more diversified picture of Judaism. For instance, in the third video, I said that in some Jewish traditions, women wear kippot, too.
“On the other hand, with full respect to the other denominations, religious Muslims may have more in common with Orthodox Jews through common experiences, such as the requirement to pray at certain times during the day.
“Anyway,” he quips, “find me a Reform Jew who speaks Arabic fluently and is willing to do this with me, I’ll put him or her in.”
While common wisdom often holds that the peace process should avoid religion, Miller disagrees. “Of course, the conflict isn’t only religious, but we’d be lying to ourselves if we don’t acknowledge that religion plays a bit role.”
In fact, he says, at least in some part, peace processes have failed because they avoided religion. “The people who initiated the peace process were secular and their peace-building project was a secularising project.
“But on both sides, there are individuals and groups who are deeply religious, and they were left out of this process. In parallel to leaders making political decisions, the societies need to get to know each other, the Muslims and Arabs need to know that our religions are similar and that Jews have legitimate historic ties to this region.”
Don’t Jews need a parallel set of videos about Islam? “Sure, but that’s not my job. We need Muslims who will explain Islam to us. I hope they pick up the challenge.”
AND SEE Islamic cleric preaches compassion between Israelis and Palestinians (Jerusalem Post)
Main image from the animated videos