Interfaith Program Joins Muslims and Jews in Prayer...
On Feb. 7, at Shabbat services at Temple Beth Hillel (TBH) — a Reform shul in Valley Village — a small, attractive woman sang religious songs she had coauthored. In a sweet, self-assured voice — with undertones of depth and strength — Ani Zonneveld, brimming with heartfelt energy, sang about light and prayer and soul, words the 50 or 60 congregants had often heard during Jewish services. There was one word, however, that stuck out, one word that most weren’t used to hearing in the shul’s sanctuary: Allah. “Oh, Allah, increase my light everywhere. … Oh, Allah, Oh, Allah.” TBH Senior Rabbi Sarah Hronsky — flanked by overhead screens projecting Zonneveld’s lyrics — suggested that congregants, if they...
London Jews Host Islam Awareness Week
LONDON – Joining hands to help poor and needy, a London Jewish group announced plans to host Islam awareness week to showcase some of the social action projects taking place across the country. “It seemed appropriate to use JW3 as a venue to launch Islam Awareness Week this year,” Julie Siddiqui, executive director of Islamic Society of Britain, told Jewish News on Wednesday, February 19. “The Jewish community have done a brilliant job at putting faith into real action with projects that really help others who need it.” Culminating on years of positive cooperation between the two faiths, this year’s Islam Awareness week will revisit the most important achievements in offering help to the community. Siddiqui – who...
Jewish Filmmaker to Head Philadelphia Chapter of CAIR...
A national Muslim civil-rights organization has named a Jewish filmmaker as executive director of its Philadelphia chapter. In introducing himself online, Jacob Bender writes “Asalaam Alaykum!” (“peace be upon you” in Arabic), quotes the Quran, and states he brings “a decades-long commitment to promoting peace and justice between Abraham’s Children (Abna’ Ibrahim) and a long resume of professional accomplishments.” In announcing the appointment, the Washington-based Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) referred to Bender, its highest ranking non-Muslim, as “a bridge builder between the Jewish, Christian, and Muslim communities,” noting that, “in the wake of the attacks on September 11, 2001, Mr. Bender undertook a series of outreach initiatives to the Muslim community, both in the U.S. and abroad....
Muslim Americans More Popular than the Tea Party...
Tea Party favorites Rand Paul, Ted Cruz, Sarah Palin and Larry Klayman spent most of last week bashing Muslims and introducing the “Quran” and “Allah” to the shutdown and debt ceiling debate that they are losing in Congress. Unfortunately for them, Muslims are in fact more popular and viewed more favorably by Americans than the far right movement. Having failed at governance and the basic task of securing an operational government, the Tea Party leaders had to retreat to ugly screams of Islamophobia in order to distract attention from their downfall and to drum up support with fear tactics. Larry Klayman, a clownish figure who started the Tea Party group Freedom Watch, brought a whole new dimension to...
Coalition Crosses Religious Lines to Aid the Community...
As she sat on her deck with her walker in front of her, surveying the crowd of people working to repair her home, Geraldine Dorsey was pleased about the volunteers who came together — from different faiths — to help her. “They were one,” Dorsey said of the members of three synagogues and one mosque who gathered April 25 to make repairs to the home of the 75-year-old Mount Airy resident, who suffers from multiple sclerosis and has limited mobility. The interfaith group, which has dubbed its collaborative efforts CIRCLE, or the Columbia-Rockville Interfaith Rebuilding Coalition for Living Enhancement, was there to repair the home suggested by Rebuilding Together Howard County, a nonprofit that uses volunteers and donated...
Muslims, Jews Work Together to Help Less Privileged...
April 25, 2010|By Robert Little, The Baltimore Sun Gary Metz and Ayman Nassar have this in common: They are both men of faith, both active in their Howard County congregations, and they’re fully willing to take on the dirty work of helping the less privileged. Nassar is a Muslim, and Metz is a Jew, but it was the similarities that brought them together at a home renovation project in Mount Airy on Sunday. Both reject stereotypes; both view education and cooperation as the path toward shattering them. As Metz oversaw a crew of volunteer painters from local synagogues, Nassar corralled a group of teenagers from his mosque to dismantle an old shed out back. By the time the...
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