Islamic-Jewish ‘twinning' brings faiths together worldwide

By Marcus K. Garner

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Ariana Lewis had never met a Muslim before Sunday.

The Jewish teen got to interact with Muslims her age for the first time at her Sandy Springs synagogue, as part of an international interfaith outreach called a Weekend of Twinning.

“I didn’t know we had so many similarities,” said Lewis, 14, of Sandy Springs.

Friday through Sunday, more than 100 mosques and 100 synagogues in 22 countries joined together for a weekend of twinning -- pairing people of different faiths -- in an effort to bridge the gaps between Judaism and Islam and confront prejudice toward both.

“We really want to focus on our commonalities,” said Asad Abdulla, a junior at Emory University and a member of the campus interfaith group, the Children of Abraham. “We have to dispel ignorance and share a mutual knowledge about one another.”

The linking of youth from Congregation Or Hadash in Sandy Springs and the Roswell Community Masjid was one of five in Georgia, with twinnings in Marietta, Buckhead, Decatur and Savannah.

Following a summer of increased anti-Muslim sentiments spawned from plans to build an Islamic community center near the site of the Sept. 11, 2001 World Trade Center tragedy, Rabby Marc Schneier, president of The Foundation for Ethnic Understanding and an organizer for the Weekend of Twinning, said the world-wide activities are sorely needed.

“The targeting this summer of Muslim communities in New York, Tennessee and elsewhere demonstrate that we as a country have a long way to go until all men and women are accepted as equals,” said Schneier, president of The Foundation for Ethnic Understanding and lead organizer of the Weekend of Twinnings.

“I am proud to see so many join in on the Weekend of Twinnings and rather than joining in the chorus of unacceptance choosing instead to confront Islamophobia, anti-Semitism and bigotry head-on.”

In Sandy Springs on Sunday, Mona Khalef, 14, of Woodstock, was among the 30 high school and college students who paired up -- one Jew and one Muslim -- to discuss the things they loved about their faiths and the things that frightened them.

“I get nervous about wearing this,” Khalef, a freshman at River Ridge High School, told David Micley as she motioned to her white hijab. “I’m scared when people come up to you and ask questions randomly, like ‘are you planning to blow us up?’”

Micley, 22, an Emory senior and co-founder of the Children of Abraham, was taken aback by what he heard.

“I can’t believe that her teachers haven’t said something,” he said when he spoke to the group. “That’s a real problem that’s not just in the schools, but in our society in general.”

During the ice-breaking session at Or Hadash,Muhammad Elosta, 17, a junior at Pope High School in Marietta, learned about one of his partner’s favorite aspects of Judaism.

“He talked about these pancakes with potatoes in them,” Elosta told the group, referring to Cody Benbeniste’s love of latkes. “We have similar foods to that. We have barrique.”

Rabbi Analia Bortz pointed to the joint origin of both Jewish and Islamic faiths to illustrate their similarities.

“Who is really our father?” Bortz asked the group of youths.

“Abraham,” the Jewish kids answered.

“Ibrahim,” came the answer from Muslims, as the students sat in a circle at the auditorium of the Weber School.

“What is the first thing he does when people came to his tent?” Bortz asked.

“Offered them food,” several students responded.

“So food, extremely important part of our traditions,” Bortz said.

She and Roswell Community Masjid leader Bassem Fakoury pointed to other similarities Jews and Muslims share.

“Today is the first day the month of el-Hajj, which is translated to pilgrimage,” Fakoury said, referring to the annual trip thousands of Muslims make each year to Mecca to reaffirm their faith. For the Jews faith, Hanukkah was “the recovery of our traditions,” Bortz said.

Following the lunch and ice-breaker, students traveled to Big Tree Forest Preserve, about two miles away from Weber, and planted a dogwood tree together.

“Hopefully, this is the start of something,” said Nisma Zbib, 16, an Alpharetta High School junior.

Ariana Lewis agreed.

“I want to do this again.”