We had just gotten back from vacation. Our son Moish told us that he and his girlfriend Charissa had made themselves a wonderful dinner while we were away and he offered to make us the same dinner the night after we got back. However, Charissa had other plans. She wanted him to join her at the annual Interfaith ‘Iftar’ dinner at the mosque she attends in Paterson. Charissa has come to synagogue with us several times. I thought it would be good for us all to go with her to her mosque.

Iftar is the evening meal when Muslims end their daily Ramadan fast.  The Islamic Center of Passaic County (ICPC) holds an annual community Iftar that is co-sponsored by over a dozen other Muslim and Interfaith organizations. The theme for this year’s Iftar was “A Faith Based Community: Promoting Love and Eradicating Hate”.

President of ICPC, Nabil Abbassi, spoke about the purpose of Ramadan.  By fasting, he said, we take out what is bad and cleanse ourselves of hate. We then have a choice in what we take back in. Just as we choose to eat good food, so it is the same for thoughts, feelings, and actions. He thanked God for the blessing of this country and noted that with blessing comes responsibility and said: God entrusts us with freedom of speech and we must use this freedom in the right away. Those who misuse this freedom and spread hate, he said, should be rejected.

Imam Qatani spoke about inclusion and acceptance. God created different genders, different races, different faiths to test us. To be a true believer, he said, you have to pray for your brothers, you have to pray for your family, you have to pray for your neighbors, you have to pray for your fellow citizens.

There is so much negative press about Islam – an assumption that Muslims are inherently opposed to people of any other faith. It was good to see this side of Islam.  And we were privileged to sit with the CEO of ICPC, Omar Awad, who indicated that he would welcome the opportunity for joint programs with Shomrei.

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Sarita Eisenberg

Sarita is a co-VP for Programming and a co-chair for Shomrei's Social Action Committee. She is also co-editor of ShomreiWeek (Shomrei's weekly newsletter) and the Kol Emunah Blog. She holds a Ph.D. in Language Science and until recently was a professor in the Department of Communication Sciences & Disorders at Montclair State University. She lives in Montclair with her husband Lou Hammerman.

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