CONVERSATION WITH…DR. JUDEA PEARL
By Judie Jacobson

Slain journalist's father to speak
In January 2002, Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl was kidnapped and murdered by terrorists while on assignment in Karachi, Pakistan.
In the moments before he was killed at the age of 38, Daniel was videotaped saying: "My father is Jewish, my mother is Jewish, I am Jewish." That moment inspired Alana Frey of Rockville Centre, N.Y. preparing for her bat mitzvah, to ask friends and family to write down what being Jewish meant to them. She planned to collect their responses, and send them to Adam, the son born to Daniel Pearl and wife Mariane after the journalist's death, so that the young boy, now 2 ˝, could grow to appreciate his heritage and find comfort in his father's words.

When Alana told Daniel's parents about her plan, Judea and Ruth Pearl decided to expand it into a book that included the thoughts of prominent Jewish figures in government, science, the arts and other fields. "I Am Jewish:  Personal Reflections Inspired by the Last Words of Daniel Pearl" (Jewish Lights) contains reflections on what it means to be Jewish by 150 people, including actor Richard Dreyfuss, historian Martin Gilbert and TV journalist Mike Wallace.  The book received the 2004 National Jewish Book Award in the category of anthology.
A native of Israel, Dr. Judea Pearl lives in Encino, Calif., and is a professor of computer science and statistics at UCLA.  The recipient of numerous scientific awards, he is renowned internationally for his research contribution in artificial intelligence, human cognition and philosophy of science. Dr. Pearl also serves as president of the Daniel Pearl Foundation, which was formed by the slain journalist's family and friends to promote interfaith understanding. 
Last week, he took time to speak to the Ledger prior to his upcoming appearance at The Conservative Synagogue in Westport this Sunday.
Q:  Tell us a little bit about your son's background and what being Jewish meant to him.
A:  Daniel was born in Princeton, N.J.  When he was two, we moved to Southern California, where he grew up.  He went to Stanford University and graduated with a degree in communication with Phi Beta Kappa honors.  He was also an accomplished musician. He played the violin…and later the mandolin, the electric violin and the fiddle. He joined bands, orchestras, chamber music groups. He used music to make friends. He joined the North Adams Transcript and the Berkshire Eagle in Western Massachusetts, and was hired by the Wall Street Journal in 1990. To Danny, being Jewish meant being part of a family…having the language to communicate with that family and identifying with the past of that family.
Q:  How do you hope to accomplish the mission of The Daniel Pearl Foundation  "to promote cross-cultural understanding through journalism, music, and innovative communications?" 
A:  The mission is already accomplished.  We have projects going in all three of these areas. In journalism, we bring Pakistani journalists on fellowships to work in U.S. newsrooms for six months, in the hope that they will pick up and export back to their country ideas relating to a free press and honest reporting.  In communications, we have a project to create a joint newswire of sorts that will tie together thousands of high schools around the world.  Each school that joins the service can pick up information that is pertinent to the environment of its particular country from an international center  -  they will have access to stories on entertainment, sports, news, politics, etc. It will encourage students to write for a global high school student paper. The project has begun and the service should be up and running this year.  In music, an international network of concerts are held each year on Daniel Pearl Music Day --  which is Danny's birthday.  This year we had more than 400 concerts held in 39 countries. The last country to join was Afghanistan  -  this year a full day of music for children was held in Kabul.  Information on how to take part in any of these projects can be found on our website  -  www.danielpearl.org.
Q:  How do you hope to affect the younger generation of Jews with the book "I Am Jewish"?
A:  The main objective is to empower them to understand that they have something to offer the world.  That   -  counter to all the propaganda around them, counter to all the hostilities that they occasionally see on campus, and counter to all the confusion in the media  -  they are not baby-killers and they are not greedy imperialists.  Like Danny, they are approaching the world with pen and fiddle and they are trying to reach human life with new insights, with humor and understanding, and with a commitment to tikkun olam.  And they can be mighty proud of what they are doing and who they are.  That is the main message we are sending to teens  -  we are providing them with an undistorted mirror of how Jews see themselves. The idea for this book came from Alana Frey, who asked each of her bat mitzvah guests to write down what it means to be Jewish.  She contacted us out of the blue and wanted to send the book to my grandson, Adam.  I thought, why not pose the same question to the best Jewish minds of our generation.  It was a unique project. We included people from all walks of life  -  musicians, sports figures, authors, rabbis of all denominations Emotions were high.  People willingly took part  -  some spent weeks formulating their responses.  Many of the contributors said it wasn't a easy topic to write on.  It's a topic that you don't often sit down and think about.
Q:   You and your wife have called for an all out effort to put an end to "exhibition" killings  -  such as the one that took the life of your son  -  that have become commonplace.  What do you suggest?
A:  First, the media should exercise responsible judgment on whether and how they broadcast and publish terrorist messages and imagery. The media should treat such material as responsibly as it treats bomb-construction manuals and rape scenes.  They should talk to the authorities first to inquire whether or not it is safe to air.  They should consult with the families of the victims. This is dangerous stuff.  Giving the terrorists a voice emboldens them and could cause them to invent new, even more shocking methods of killing people to get their message across.  We also have a duty to pressure Muslim clerics in the west to issue religious condemnations against the terrorists who advocate these kind of killings.  Secular condemnations are a dime a dozen and are ineffective. In particular, Muslim clerics in the west should use the Islamic instruments of Fatwa and Apostasy. The clerics are reluctant to do this in part because issuing a false accusation against a Muslim is punishable by death.  Therefore, one has to be very sure that the charge of Apostasy is correct.  But I believe they are afraid that the terrorists may not be sinners after all  -  they think they may go to paradise.  If they weren't in doubt, there would be at least one Fatwa by now.

Dr. Judea Pearl will speak at The Conservative Synagogue, 30 Hillspoint Road, Westport, on Sunday, Dec. 5, at 7:30 p.m.  He will be joined by Alana Frey, the teenager who inspired the book.  All proceeds from this event benefit The Daniel Pearl Foundation.