Founded in January 2017 by Cynthia Levine-Rasky and Sabreena Ghaffar-Siddiqui, the Toronto chapter meets on a monthly basis in rented space downtown. Since the first meeting of March 5, the women’s camaraderie was palpable. Members range in age from 23 to 67, and they differ in ethnic identity and religious practice. As a result, there is always a lot to talk about: childhood and family, positive and negative religious experiences, encounters with other Muslims and Jews, and with other groups. Plans are underway for social action that may take the form of charitable work and political activism. Such plans could not be timelier.

A Statistics Canada report, ‘Police-Reported Hate Crime in Canada, 2015’ released on 13 June 2017, indicates that police-reported crimes motivated by hate against the Muslim population rose 61% in 2015. While the number of crimes targeting the Jewish population declined between 2014 and 2015, more Jews were targeted in both years than any other religious group. Hate crimes can involve violent offences such as assault, uttering threats and criminal harassment but they also frequently involve vandalism and graffiti.

The Sisterhood of Salaam Shalom was founded in New Jersey in 2010 by Sheryl Olitzky and Atiya Aftab. Its mandate is to promote trust, respect, and relationships between North American Muslim and Jewish women. Members work together to challenge anti-Muslim and anti-Jewish sentiment and to engage in social action to benefit the local community. Expanding from 50 to 150 chapters after the election of President Donald Trump on 8 November 2016, the organization’s rapid growth demonstrates people’s urgency to challenge social divisions by making connections to each other.

“What happened in the United States had a ripple effect around the world,” says Levine-Rasky. “Like elsewhere, in Canada, we are seeing a rise in racist activity especially against religious minorities. People should not give in to fear. When Jewish and Muslim women stand together, we make a strong statement against fear.”

“Foreign conflicts have at times put a strain on Muslim and Jewish relationships at home,” says Ghaffar-Siddiqui. “The sisterhood not only dismantles the misconception that we are unable to get along, but it also aims to forge meaningful ties where they may have not existed otherwise. The love, compassion and patience that come so easily to women are essential to strengthening Muslim and Jewish bonds in the wider community. It is only with such solidarity that we can fight hate against both groups.”

Source: The Muslim Link

Last month, for example, there were some unusual celebrations of the Jewish feast of Passover in New York. A mosque played host to 200 women and men as they gathered for a seder, the ritual dinner which ushers in the eight-day Passover commemoration. It was organized by the Muslim-Jewish Solidarity Committee, a group which also aims to raise awareness of social problems like poverty and food insecurity. Next month, during the Ramadan fast, it has invited Muslim supporters to gather for an Iftar (a communal meal at sundown) in a synagogue. Such events send a powerful message to the world that once-antagonistic groups are putting differences aside, says Michelle Koch, director of the Committee. The current “toxic climate” in the United States makes such joint rituals all the more important, she argues.

Across the country, hate crimes have prompted some generous responses. For example, when a mosque in Florida was torched by arsonists, many of the contributors to a repair fund were Jewish. And when Jewish headstones were vandalized in Missouri, Muslims chipped in a total of $125,000 to repair the damage. Although it is secular in origin, the Women’s March movement, which denounces the new administration as inimical to female interests, has offered a forum in which some religiously committed women on the ideological left can collaborate. Participants have included Sharon Brous, a New York rabbi; Linda Sarsour, an Arab-American political activist, and a religious sister on the radical edge of the Catholic church, Simone Campbell.

Reuven Firestone, a (male) history professor at Hebrew Union College in Los Angeles, says there are reasons for the female preponderance in inter-faith projects. Male religious leaders are often suspicious of inter-confessional dialogue, while their female counterparts are bolder in reaching out beyond the boundaries of their own group. In his home city, there is a self-described Muslim-Jewish Partnership for Change, also known as New Ground, which says it “works to connect and empower Jewish and Muslim change-makers in America.” All the executive staff are women.

An even more explicitly female initiative is the Sisterhood of Salaam Shalom, a New York-based non-profit organization which invites women to help overcome Muslim-Jewish suspicions. Before the presidential race, the project had around 50 local groups scattered across country; since the election, the number has surged to 160. Sheryl Olitzky, executive director of the Sisterhood, says this success confirms that “women navigate the world through relationships and bonds, men through rules and regulations.” … In any Muslim-Jewish conversation, even one that focuses on relatively innocuous topics such as rituals and families, the elephant in the room is the Israeli-Palestinian question. As Mr Firestone recalls, several initiatives in this area foundered about 20 years ago because the Jewish participants wanted their opposite numbers to begin by accepting the validity of Israel as a Jewish state, while the Muslims wanted their interlocutors to renounce Zionism.

Source: The Economist