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Muslims and Jews working side by side to help Christians seems like a pipe dream, but for the first time ever, in Detroit, Michigan, about 40 or so Muslims were expected to join with some 900 Jews to volunteer on Christmas day.
Many Jews consider Christmas Day an opportunity to serve their community while Christian neighbors celebrate their holiday. This year, what's also known as Mitzvah Day in southeast Michigan is getting an added boost from Muslims.
The joint venture was a result of talks between the Jewish Community Relations Council, the Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Detroit and the Council of Islamic Organizations of Michigan.
Victor Begg, chairman of the Islamic council, said he was seeking a public way for the two faith communities to "build bridges of understanding and cooperation," which led to joining the Mitzvah Day effort."The general public is what we need to give the message to, our entire community," he said.
The Jewish volunteers usually help any of 48 different social service organizations to deliver toys to needy children and help feed Christmas meals to the poor. The Muslims will be working side by side with Jews at Gleaners Community Food Bank which is located approximately 25 miles north of Detroit, in Pontiac.
Both Muslims and Jews share a common link when it comes to volunteerism, so getting them to volunteer together seemed a worthy endeavour.
Not only are most Muslims and Jews available to serve on Christmas Day, but leaders also recognized a shared commitment to community service. Charity in Judaism is known as "tzedakah." In Islam, it's called "zakat.""It's an interesting parallel," said Robert Cohen, executive director of the Jewish Community Relations Council. "Both of our faiths predispose us to engaging in this sort of thing."
Cohen believes that the actual act of working side by side can forge relationships that can help people rise above their differences.
"We felt it was a perfect activity for people to be getting together like this because you work side by side with one or two other people as you're moving the boxes," Cohen said. "The grass-roots connection builds relationships on a personal level."
And he's right. When you get to know someone on a personal level and realize they're usually not very different than you are, it can make a huge difference in how you perceive them. It's too bad there weren't more Muslim volunteers, but it's a great start. Now if other communities across the nation (and in other countries) would begin doing the same thing- forging bonds between the various religions, perhaps there wouldn't be such animosity between them all.
