A group of Muslims and Jews recited a Hebrew blessing as four Hanukkiot (nine-candle menorahs) were fully lit to celebrate Hanukkah’s final day, last Thursday.
The Shehecheyanu blessing is often recited on the first day of Hanukkah. But it’s also a prayer for gratitude and new experiences. So, the group of about 30 people tightly packed into a small living room in northern Detroit decided it was appropriate because the gathering marked a new beginning for the city’s Muslim-Jewish Forum.
The grassroots, interfaith forum has been barely active for the last few years. The death of one of the informal group's founding members — Isaac Agree Downtown Synagogue President Samantha Woll — and ongoing bloodshed in the Gaza strip presents a lot of pain and tension for both religious minorities.
But this group of new and old forum members say there is an opportunity in that "agony" to build bridges and act to support each other emotionally and politically.
“The grief and pain is a really powerful human common denominator,” said Rabbi Jeff Stombaugh of The Well, a Detroit Jewish community organization. “And I think that is a place, certainly not the only place, to start to be able to go deeper and to sort of find a place to step forward into the next chapter of being together.”
Razi Jafri is a Muslim documentary filmmaker who co-founded the Forum alongside Samantha Woll and others. Speaking to attendees of Thursday’s gathering, Jafri said the Forum is founded partly on the belief that “no two religions in the world” are more similar than Islam and Judaism. And he noted, both religions have a large community presence in southeast Michigan — though both are still very much in the minority.
“The interactions between the communities have been minimal,” Jafri said. “There's been a lot of tension. … While those issues get worked out, there's no reason for us not to gather and share space with each other, break bread, celebrate each other's holidays.”
Interfaith unity between Muslims and Jews is not a new idea and the forum is not the only group in southeast Michigan trying to bring these communities together in the face of rising reports of hate crimes and other Islamophobic or antisemitic harassment over the last few years.
“It behooves us to really come together and in a painful time like this, to understand each other's perspectives,” Jafri said. “And really build relationships and friendships that could help create a more peaceful environment.”
Concerns about hateful acts have only sharpened since October 7, when Hamas launched a surprise attack on Israel that killed about 1,200 people, and Israel began its monthslong retaliation that has likely killed over 15,000 people in the Gaza Strip, according to a December 9 Reuters analysis of death tolls from government and outside sources.
Lara Khadr, a Muslim data analyst and one of the forum’s longtime members, said “what is happening to Palestinians is not a Muslim versus Jewish issue. It is a humanitarian issue.”
“So right now there is a rising death toll … in Palestine. And people are feeling really helpless, especially given the lack of support from the United States,” she said. “And there are also hostages still being held in Gaza, and we don't know if they are still alive.”
Stacie Chaiken is one of the forum’s new members. She is a theater artist who moved to Detroit from Los Angeles a few months ago.
“I'm not Israeli. I have spent a lot of time there. I know Israelis really well. And I have a lot of friends who are Muslim and Palestinian and from Gaza, it's very hard to hold the agony on both sides,” Chaiken said.
Chaiken said she feels both Islam and Judaism are often “mischaracterized,” particularly in discussions about Israel and Palestine. She said Muslims and Jews need spaces to “talk to each other about what we believe in and what the teachings are and how we hold family and community. There is tremendous similarity and where there are differences, [we] learn how to talk about them.”
Building those kinds of relationships was at the core of Thursday's gathering as attendees traded information and questions about the concept of “light” in their respective scriptures and religious philosophies. After sharing a halal and kosher potluck meal and chatting for about an hour, the group began to address what comes next for the forum.
More gatherings like this were a top desire for most people. The group talked about finding bigger venues, planning to meet around upcoming holidays like Ramadan in 2024, and getting invitations out to more people through area mosques and synagogues.
Kais Basha, a Muslim cognitive psychologist, said he agreed that “it's super important” to give space for that kind of “interfaith dialogue.” He’s been part of the forum for a few years and said he feels like there needs to be more “impact” on a “neighborly level.”
“What can we do? How can we mobilize outside of the potlucks and the gatherings, which again, is super important to me,” he said.
There was also discussion of more direct political advocacy that the forum could take on, like pushing for a stronger separation of church and state and combating racism.
“Our fates in America, as religious minorities, are so intertwined. We're facing many of the same challenges, particularly against the challenge of white supremacy,” said Razi Jafri. “And I think this is one of the things that should not only bring our communities together, but align ourselves with other communities that are at the forefront of fighting this problem.”
