ISNA Celebrates the 5th Annual Muslim-Jewish Weekend of Twinning
This past weekend, the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA) was proud to join The Foundation for Ethnic Understanding once again for the 5th annual Weekend of Twinning. The annual Weekend of Twinning (http://ffeu.org/twinning) is an initiative led by the Foundation for Ethnic Understanding (FFEU) to strengthen Muslim-Jewish relations worldwide. It provides an opportunity for synagogues, mosques and other Muslim and Jewish groups to form partnerships and hold joint programs together with the goal of building ties of communication, reconciliation and cooperation between Muslims and Jews.
With Thanksgiving fast approaching, Jews and Muslims in at least 17 cities across North America joined together to provide nourishing meals to hungry and homeless people and to participate in learning/networking events highlighting the common moral imperative in Islam and Judaism to feed the hungry. The Feeding the Hungry programs were the highlight of the 5th Annual Weekend of Twinning, thereby giving expression to the shared moral imperative in Islam and Judaism to help those most in need. On November 20, Jews and Muslims on Long Island brought blankets, warm coats and non-perishable food items to a homeless shelter serving victims of Hurricane Sandy. There will be similar events in the Chicago area on November 25 and in Morristown, NJ on December 5. The Feeding the Hungry programs are only a few of scores of varied events involving hundreds of mosques, synagogues and Muslim and Jewish organizations in cities around the world.
ISNA encourages all Muslim and Jewish student groups, young leadership groups and women’s groups – as well as mosques and synagogues – to participate in similar events during the Weekend of Twinning and throughout the year. In 2011, thousands of people from over 250 synagogues, mosques and Muslim and Jewish groups took part in the Weekend of Twinning in 16 countries around the world.
Future 2012 Twinning Events are listed below:
- November 28-29 — BAKU, AZERBAIJAN: Rabbi Schneier will be in Baku, Azerbaijan to preside over the first ever Muslim Jewish twinning event in that country.
- Saturday December 1 — NEW ORLEANS: Members of Temple Sinai and Masjid Rahim in New Orleans will go together to hospitals and nursing homes to visit ailing people of all backgrounds; thereby fulfilling the moral imperative in both faiths to visit the sick.
- Sunday December 2 — LOS ANGELES: Muslim and Jewish young professionals in Los Angeles will gather at 7 PM at Busby’s on Wilshire Blvd. under the aegis of the NewGround: A Muslim-Jewish Partnership for Change, for an evening of storytelling, based on real life experiences of growing up Muslim and Jewish in Los Angeles.
- Tuesday December 25 — ST. LOUIS: The 5th Annual Weekend of Twinning will officially conclude in St. Louis on Christmas Day, when Jewish and Muslim volunteers from around the metropolitan area will hold an International Muslim-Jewish Day of Service, stepping in to offer essential services to people in need so that Christian caregivers can spend the holidays with their families.