Muslims and Jews find common ground with food and Scripture
Jews and Muslims came together Christmas Eve with faith leaders to discuss their religions, culture and current events. The eighth annual event took place at the Houston Congregation for Reform Judaism and was sponsored by that synagogue, the River Oaks Islamic Center and Congregation Beth Israel.
Our reporter listened as organizers asked attendees to guess which religious passages were from which faith and then spoke about the commandment of giving in the Jewish and Muslim traditions. The words for giving in each faith are similar: sadaqah in Arabic and tzedakah in Hebrew. Later, community members discussed their similarities and differences.
“As Salaam Alaikum.” “Shalom.” “Hey, where’ve you been?” “Raise your hand if this is the first time you’ve been to this event.” Most hands go up. “Opa!” “There’s a lot of positive energy in this room, and I don’t think it’s because it’s Christmas.”
“We’ve got lots of potato latkes, samosas.”
“Food: That’s what I came here for. Food.”
“Don’t bother me when I have food in my mouth.”
“I think we’re all a bit like that, right?”
“At Christmas, Jews eat shrimp?”
“Jews eat Chinese food. You know what else we do? We go to a movie.” “Us too.” “Halal and kosher rules have a lot of similarities.”
“Have you ever had alcohol?” “I haven’t, no.” “I have.” “Yes.” “If you talk about hookah, I’ve done that.” “My friend talked me into it.” “Did you feel guilty?” “I should have felt more guilty.”
“Try and guess which passages are from Islam and which are from Judaism.”
“The first one is absolutely Islam.” “It could go either way.” “That sounds like Islam to me.”
“You guys are going awful fast.”
“Whoever saves a life, it is considered as if he saved an entire world.” “Is there a B? For both?” “It sounds Jewish to me.” “That’s us as well.” “You shall not attain righteousness until you spend out of what you love.”
“This is trickier than you’d think.”
“Who can argue with any of them?” “Time to go back to school.” “How many did you get wrong?”
“Quite a few.”
“Sadaqah and tzedakah.” “It’s the same word.” “What are we trying to go after? Is this righteousness? It is giving of ourselves to others.”
“What are the three things that enable God to see us? Repentance, prayer and charity.”
“It can mean to be honest and upright.”
“You have to have a relationship with God.”
“Charity is a proof in our faith and our belief system.”
“All of God’s creation. Irrespective of race, gender and religion, we must offer charity.” “Smiling a smile is charity.” “Bring your entire self to the table. Not just your wallet.”
“Giving is because you have and they need. You gotta do it, because it’s the right thing to do.”
“Growing up, you didn’t have all this extracurricular news, no social media.”
“The amount of hate that people have out there.”
“Behind the computer, behind the iPhone, it gives them a platform for it.”
“Is everyone registered to vote?”
“It’s important to see how people look at us. I’ve never seen things quite like this.”
“Everybody has the same angst.”
“One thing imam was saying was how short our life is. There are fights going on all around the world. It’s much easier to live in harmony than to fight.”
“I was very moved. The rhythm of his speech. The song. Fascinating.”
“Is it very humid in Saudi Arabia?”
“It depends on what part. Everywhere you go, you have AC blasting.” “Like Houston.” “Will you marry a traditional Muslim woman?” “She is a convert.” “We raised our kids as Jews, but my husband was so ambivalent.”
“Did you face any kind of persecution for being Muslim?”
“I’ll ask you the same thing.”
“You read right to left, just like Arabic.”
“Do you actually read it from the scroll?”
“Yes, we read from this. We lay it down, and we read it.”
“If you drop a scroll, you have to fast for 40 days.”
“So don’t be around clumsy people.” “What is the Jewish fast like?” “A day of complete focus. It’s a 24-hour fast.” “But only one day, right?” “Just one day. You guys have an entire month.”
“We all have issues on our minds. Conflict, home, terrorism, elections.”
“This is a vehicle to communicate.”
“It’s getting people to do things together, to learn.”
“2017 has sort of been tumultuous. Our communities have been a little bit battered.”
“Houston is open to doing this kind of work.”
“Fear is eliminated by conversation, food and chai (tea).”