How one coward's Easter egg illustrates need for more understanding (guest column)

By David Krishef

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Interfaith advocates honored at Grand Rapids mayor's State of the City address

Published: Saturday, January 28, 2012, 9:26 AM    

By Matt Vande Bunte | The Grand Rapids Press The Grand Rapids Press

GRAND RAPIDS – Organizers of the Year of Interfaith Understanding were highlighted this morning at Mayor George Heartwell’s State of the City address. Several people involved in the year-long celebration of religious diversity in West Michigan were recognized as "Champions of Diversity."

Heartwell in his past few annual speeches has identified people who work to advance goals of diversity and inclusion. This year's honorees:

·       Petra Alsoofy, a former president of the Muslim Students Association at Grand Valley State University who now serves on the advisory board of GVSU’s Kaufman Interfaith Institute

·       Rev. David Baak, former director of the Grand Rapids Area Center for Ecumenism who currently is designated associate pastor for mission and pastoral care at Westminster Presbyterian Churc

·       Whitney Belprez, program manager of GVSU’s Kaufman Interfaith Institute and coordinator of the Year of Interfaith Understanding activities

·       Douglas Kindschi, longtime GVSU professor of mathematics and philosophy and director of the Kaufman Interfaith Institute

·       David Krishef, rabbi at Congregation Ahavas Israel, a synagogue on Michigan Street NE

·       Ghazala Munir, a Pakistani immigrant and Muslim who is vice president of the Interfaith Dialogue Association

·       Muaz Redzic, imam at the Bosnian Cultural Center and co-founder of the Southern Kentucky Interfaith Council

·       Michael Schadick, rabbi at Temple Emanuel on East Fulton Street.

·       Fred Stella, outreach minister for the West Michigan Hindu Temple and longtime Interfaith Dialogue Association board member

·       Mary Vaccaro, director of the Dominican Center at Marywood and former GRACE board member who teaches theology and women’s studies at Aquinas College

The Year of Interfaith Understanding, motivated by theologian Hans Kung's statement that “there cannot be peace among nations until there is peace among religions," has a variety of events scheduled this year.

After the congregants of an Orthodox synagogue could no longer afford their rent, they found help in the local mosque.

Members of the Chabad of East Bronx worship in the Islamic Cultural Center of North America. (Ted Regencia)

Near the corner of Westchester Avenue and Pugsley Street in Parkchester, just off the elevated tracks of the No. 6 train, Yaakov Wayne Baumann stood outside a graffiti-covered storefront on a chilly Saturday morning. Suited up in a black overcoat with a matching wide-brimmed black fedora, the thickly bearded 42-year-old chatted with elderly congregants as they entered the building for Shabbat service.

The only unusual detail: This synagogue is a mosque.

Or rather, it’s housed inside a mosque. That’s right: Members of the Chabad of East Bronx, an ultra-Orthodox synagogue, worship in the Islamic Cultural Center of North America, which is home to the Al-Iman mosque.

“People have a misconception that Muslims hate Jews,” said Baumann. “But here is an example of them working with us.”

Indeed, though conventionally viewed as adversaries both here and abroad, the Jews and Muslims of the Bronx have been propelled into an unlikely bond by a demographic shift. The borough was once home to an estimated 630,000 Jews, but by 2002 that number had dropped to 45,100, according to a study by the Jewish Community Relations Council. At the same time, the Muslim population has been increasing. In Parkchester alone, there are currently five mosques, including Masjid Al-Iman.

“Nowhere in the world would Jews and Muslims be meeting under the same roof,” said Patricia Tomasulo, the Catholic Democratic precinct captain and Parkchester community organizer, who first introduced the leaders of the synagogue and mosque to each other. “It’s so unique.”

The relationship started years ago, when the Young Israel Congregation, then located on Virginia Avenue in Parkchester, was running clothing drives for needy families, according to Leon Bleckman, now 78, who was at the time the treasurer of the congregation. One of the recipients was Sheikh Moussa Drammeh, the founder of the Al-Iman Mosque, who was collecting donations for his congregants—many of whom are immigrants from Africa. The 49-year-old imam is an immigrant from Gambia in West Africa who came to the United States in 1986. After a year in Harlem, he moved to Parkchester, where he eventually founded the Muslim center and later established an Islamic grade school. Through that initial meeting, a rapport developed between the two houses of worship, and the synagogue continued to donate to the Islamic center, among other organizations.

But in 2003, after years of declining membership, Young Israel was forced to sell its building at 1375 Virginia Ave., according to a database maintained by Yeshiva University, which keeps historical records of synagogues. Before the closing, non-religious items were given away; in fact, among the beneficiaries was none other than Drammeh, who took some chairs and tables for his center.

Meanwhile, Bleckman and the remaining members moved to a nearby storefront location, renting it for $2,000 a month including utilities. With mostly elderly congregants, Young Israel struggled to survive financially and, at the end of 2007, was forced to close for good. The remaining congregants were left without a place to pray. During the synagogue’s farewell service, four young men from the Chabad Lubavitch world headquarters in Crown Heights showed up. Three months earlier, Bleckman, then chairman of the synagogue’s emergency fund, had appealed for help from the Chabad.

“The boys from the Chabad said they came to save us,” said Bleckman. “We were crying.”

At this point, Chabad took over the congregational reins from Young Israel, with members officially adopting the new name Chabad of East Bronx. Still, for the next six to seven weeks, Bleckman said they could not even hold a service because they had nowhere to hold it.

When Drammeh learned of their plight, he immediately volunteered to accommodate them at the Muslim center at 2006 Westchester Ave.—for free.

“They don’t pay anything, because these are old folks whose income are very limited now,” said Drammeh, adding that he felt it was his turn to help the people who had once helped him and his community. “Not every Muslim likes us, because not every Muslim believes that Muslims and Jews should be like this,” Drammeh said, referring to the shared space. But “there’s no reason why we should hate each other, why we cannot be families.” Drammeh in particular admires the dedication of the Chabad rabbis, who walked 15 miles from Brooklyn every Saturday to run prayer services for the small Parkchester community.

For the first six months, congregants held Friday night Sabbath services inside Drammeh’s cramped office. As more people began joining the congregation, Drammeh offered them a bigger room where they could set up a makeshift shul. (When it’s not in use, students from the Islamic school use it as their classroom.) Inside the synagogue, a worn, beige cotton curtain separates the men and women who attend the service. A solitary chandelier hangs just above the black wooden arc that holds the borrowed Torah, which is brought weekly from the Chabad headquarters. A large table covered with prayer books stands in the center, and a picture of the Lubavitcher Rebbe is displayed prominently on a nearby wall. During Shabbat, when Jewish congregants are strictly prohibited from working, they have to rely on the Muslim workers at the center or on Drammeh to do simple chores such as turning on the light and switching on the heater.

At first, it did not make sense, said Hana Kabakow, wife of Rabbi Meir Kabakow. “I was surprised,” said the 26-year-old congregant who was born and raised in Israel. “But when I came here I understood.” The Kabakows have been coming to the service from Brooklyn for the last two years.

Harriet Miller, another congregant, said she appreciated the center’s accommodating the synagogue. “They are very sweet people,” said the 79-year-old Bronx native and long-time resident of Parkchester, who added that she welcomes the new Muslim immigrants in her neighborhood: “We were not brought up to hate.”

Drammeh also understands the importance of teaching tolerance more broadly, and for turning the school—which was itself founded at the nearby St. Helena Catholic Church on, of all days, Sept. 11, 2001—into a model of sorts for religious tolerance in New York.

“We’re not as divided as the media portrays us to be,” Drammeh said. “Almost 90 percent of Jewish, Muslim, and Christian teachings are the same.”

His latest project involves introducing fifth-grade Jewish and Islamic school students to each other’s religious traditions. Other participants of the program, now in its sixth year, include the Solomon Schechter School of Manhattan, the Al Ihsan Academy of Queens, and the Kinneret Day School of Riverdale. At the end of the program, students organize an exhibit that shows family artifacts of their respective cultures and religion. The principal of the Islamic school, who is also Sheik Drammeh’s wife, said that even after the program ended, the participants became “fast friends” and would visit each other’s homes.

“They would have birthday parties together,” Shireena Drammeh said. “When someone invites you to their house, I mean, that says it all right there and then.”

While the Jewish congregants are thankful for their new home, they hope that one day they can rebuild their own synagogue. That day may be far off: Even now that they have space to worship, they still struggle to operate. They don’t have proper heating inside, and the portable working heater could not reach the separate area where the elderly women are seated, forcing them to wear their jackets during the entire service. Congregants are appealing for financial support from the Jewish community and other congregations.

But Leon Bleckman and others say they now also have loftier goals, including reviving the Jewish presence in the neighborhood and reaffirming the positive relationship with their Muslim friends. “We are able to co-exist together side by side in the same building,” said Assistant Rabbi Avi Friedman, 42. “That’s sort of like a taste of the future world to come—the messianic future where all people live in peace.”

Ted Regencia is a digital media student at the Columbia Journalism School. His Twitter feed is at @tedregencia. Lindsay Minerva, a digital media student at the Columbia Graduate School of Journalism, is an intern at Newsweek. Her Twitter feed is at @lindsayminerva.

'Dialogue is a path to respect': Year of Interfaith Understanding kicks off in Muskegon

Published: Wednesday, January 11, 2012

By Megan Hart | The Muskegon Chronicle

MUSKEGON — The 12 chairs set up for spectators could have been filled many times over as people lined the rotunda of Baker College's Culinary Institute of Michigan Tuesday afternoon.

The primary attraction wasn't food, though there were some cookies and plastic cups of punch.

Many of Muskegon County's elected officials and clergy were there to kick off the 2012 Year of Interfaith Understanding with a proclamation and music. And there were a few “bona fide real people” as well, Year of Interfaith Understanding co-chair Kay Ostrom observed, with at least three faiths represented.

The Year of Interfaith Understanding also is being observed in Kent County and the cities of Holland and Zeeland, Ostrom said. But the groundwork was laid in Muskegon more than 20 years ago, with a Community Seder (a special meal observed during the Jewish festival of Passover) and dialogues between Muskegon's Christian and Jewish residents.

“Pat yourself on the back because there are not many places in the world where this happens,” she said. “It is very, very special that we have had this kind of opportunity.”

In the invocation, the Rev. Jim Rausch of First Presbyterian Church, prayed for an understanding of sharing as both “giving and receiving,” talking and listening.

“Dialogue is not synonymous with persuasion,” Ostrom added. “Dialogue is a path to respect.”

One of the speakers, the Rev. Charles Poole of Bethesda Baptist Church, called on the community to make this year a time of action.

“I think we all understand or should understand that peace is not a respite,” he said. “Peace is not a time where we sit around and do nothing. Peace is a time of engagement.”

The other speaker, Rabbi Alan Alpert of Temple B'nai Israel, said he found the Muskegon community to be very welcoming when he moved here for his first assignment as a rabbi more than 30 years ago. He said he considers several of the older pastors in the area, including Poole, as mentors, though they lead congregations of a different faith.

Though larger cities might have a reputation for being more cosmopolitan, Muskegon's relatively small size is an asset for interfaith activities because the number of leaders is manageable, Alpert said.

“In Muskegon, you feel like you can put your arms around it,” he said.

Muskegon Mayor Steve Warmington read a proclamation in support of the Year of Interfaith Understanding that encouraged citizens to “devote energy to the thoughtful study of all faiths and engage in respectful conversation with people of other traditions.” Muskegon Heights Mayor Darrell Paige, Norton Shores Mayor Gary Nelund, Roosevelt Park Mayor Sue Lumley and County Commissioner I. John Snider also attended.

A string quartet from Muskegon High School and a choir from Reeths-Puffer High School also performed.

Email: mhart@muskegonchronicle.com

Interfaith group builds trust, friendship as they learn together (column)

By Charley Honey

Katie Greene | The Grand Rapids PressFrom left, Susan Schadick, Carol Presant, Debbie Mageed and Diane Slay have a conversation over drinks as their interfaith group of five couples meets for dinner and discussion at the home of Michael and Susan Schadick. The group has been meeting regularly for a few years as a way to better understand each other's religions.

The Rev. Riley Jensen throws out the question like a potato straight from the oven: If you were to follow another faith than yours, which would you choose?

Whoa, do we really want to talk about this? We’re at a dinner party with four Christians, four Jews and two Muslims, after all. How about an appetizer with no explosive ingredients?

But the guests gamely dive in. After four years of these friendly get-togethers, few subjects are off limits.

Susan Schadick, this recent evening’s co-host along with her husband, Rabbi Michael Schadick, picks Islam. She says she likes its strong connection to prayer and ritual.

“I find it warm,” adds Susan, “as opposed to Christianity, which has a coldness to me.”

“We call ourselves the frozen chosen,” says Jensen, a Presbyterian, to laughs all around.

Aly Mageed, a devout Muslim, picks Judaism for its similar concept of God, adding he would find its theology “very comfortable.”

Such are the small surprises you get when people of different faiths share enough meals to be honest with each other — and laugh at themselves.

It’s the sort of under-the-radar interfaith interaction that has been going on in West Michigan for some time. This fellowship over food, modest though it may seem, holds promise for a more ambitious effort to help our community’s people of faith know each other better.

The 2012: Year of Interfaith Understanding is under way. After more than a year of preparations, religious and civic leaders are embarking on an unprecedented initiative. Their objective: to offer us new ways to encounter, experience and relate to one another.

Events begin today

Mayor George Heartwell, an ordained minister, is slated to speak on the initiative this morning at Congregation Ahavas Israel. Tomorrow, congregations begin discussing “God in America,” a six-week PBS series on WGVU-Channel 35. Other events include a series of monthly dinner discussions at the Dominican Center at Marywood and a tour of the new Islamic mosque. Learn more at 2012gr.org.

Dozens of congregations are involved, plenty of community organizations and all the major colleges and universities. Involved why, and to do what?

Katie Greene | The Grand Rapids PressClockwise from left, Aly and Debbie Mageed, Michael and Carol Presant and Pam Kidd laugh at a joke from Riley Jensen, right, as the group of interfaith couples meets for dinner and discussion at the home of Michael and Susan Schadick. The group has been meeting regularly for a few years as a way to better understand each other's religions.

Well, for starters, the Year of Interfaith Understanding is a chance for all of these institutions to work together in creative and interesting ways. There’s no telling what good ideas and new initiatives could result from such diverse players.

Closer to the ground, this interfaith year could bring about fundamental changes in the way people in our region relate to each other. For as devout as West Michigan is, we’re better at working within our own religious silos than reaching across faith lines.

Think how powerful it would be if an interfaith team swung hammers together to put up a Habitat for Humanity home.

And in era of such high religious tension, West Michigan could show other parts of the country how a traditionally conservative, predominantly Christian community can respect people of all faiths. Plenty of non-Christian children here have been told by playmates they’re going to hell; this is a chance to show children how to understand other faiths with which they disagree.

Poignant example

At the home of Michael and Susan Schadick, my significant other Andrea and I saw how friends could disagree and even laugh about their differences while still tackling touchy subjects.

The group formed in 2007 as an informal gathering of couples. At first, they tread lightly, afraid of offending each other.

Katie Greene | The Grand Rapids PressPam Kidd, left, and Carol Presant laugh during an interfaith discussion at the Schadicks' home.

“Now, we do it all the time,” cracks Brent Slay, a regular from the outset.

Their readiness to poke fun stems from trust earned over time, and a mutual regard for the importance of faith.

“We recognized early on we all had more in common than we had in conflict,” says Slay, a Christian. Adds Michael Presant, a Jew, “We all have strong beliefs about our own faith but are interested in learning about other faiths.”

Surely that interest is key to making a group like this work. So is tolerance of other views that could threaten less confident believers. As Carol Presant put it, they have more in common with each other than with “any extremism in our own religion.”

And while they try to stay away from inflammatory politics, they do get into it briefly this evening about the recent elections in Egypt and what they might mean for human rights.

Otherwise, they talk about the Christian concept of unconditional grace, a televised version of Mitch Albom’s “Have a Little Faith,” and what they admire about each other’s faiths. All seem to think the others’ take care of their members better than their own faith does.

All in all it’s a warm and good-humored evening, where disagreements are neither ignored nor hammered on. Not all couples could do it, but many do. I’ve been in church groups where people get to know each other over dinner. There’s no reason it can’t happen with people who worship differently, too.

“I wish there was a way to repeat this with other people in the city,” Michael Presant says. Now, there is.

Year of Interfaith Understanding kicks off with packed month of events

GRAND RAPIDS — Here’s a New Year’s resolution: Break bread with people who practice other religions.

Monthly dinner table talks are one means to make 2012 the “Year of Interfaith Understanding,” as Grand Rapids Mayor George Heartwell proclaimed last fall after the 10th anniversary of Sept. 11, 2001 terrorists attacks.

Also scheduled this month as part of the year-long project are a film series, a study of America’s religious history, and a variety of educational lectures on a diverse range of topics. Organizers hope the various nibbles of interfaith camaraderie take a bite out of religious violence and contribute to world peace.

“When we look at all the conflict and struggle in the world, so much of it very sadly is based on misunderstanding regarding religion,” said Mary Vaccaro, director of the Dominican Center at Marywood, a Catholic facility.

“Real change happens in our understanding and respect for one another as we relate as human beings one on one. It’s one thing to go to a class, but when we really start engaging shoulder to shoulder (with people of other faiths), that’s when it moves beyond just ideas and you realize these are people.”

Vaccaro is coordinating the monthly dinners that start Jan. 17 with an interfaith panel discussion on prayer, fasting and almsgiving. Panelists will include Sr. Diane Zerfas, a Christian, Kamal Nuriddin, a Muslim, and Fred Stella, a Hindu, and Rabbi David Krishef, a Jew.

People will talk about the topic while dining at a table of eight people, including those of other faiths, then finish the program with a large-group discussion. Other dinners are scheduled Feb. 21, March 20, April 17 and May 15, with more being planned.

Dinners in coming months will focus on other topics common to major religions: forgiveness, the role of ritual, mystics and mystical traditions, and the origin of life. Vegetarian food will be served to respect dietary customs of various religions, Vaccaro said.

“It’s really exciting because it provides not just an opportunity for people to learn about another religion, but actually to be at a dinner table with people of other faiths,” she said. “Any time you have people breaking bread together, that helps.”

Other interfaith events on the docket include a Shabbat speaker series at Congregation Ahavas Israel, a synagogue at 2727 Michigan St. NE. Mayor George Heartwell will speak about the Year of Interfaith Understanding at 11:15 a.m. Saturday. Vaccaro and U.S. Rep. Justin Amash will speak Feb. 4 and March 3, respectively.

At 9:30 a.m. Sunday, First United Methodist Church will convene its first class tied to a television series called “God in America.” Programs are scheduled to air 6-7 p.m. Sundays through Feb. 12 on WGVU-TV.

The Cathedral of St. Andrew and Porter Hills Village are among the facilities hosting classes at various times, while several small groups plan to view the show in homes either on WGVU or with a set of DVDs, said P. Douglas Kindschi, director of the Kauffman Interfaith Institute at Grand Valley State University.

“It’s kind of our ‘Religious Understanding 101,’” said Kindschi, a GVSU math and philosophy professor who will host a viewing group of two Christians, two Muslims and two Jews at his home.

Kindschi said the series explores why the United States differs from other countries in how it governs religion, and how that has fostered the practice of faith. It also looks at violence in the history of religious faith.

An undercurrent to the “Year of Interfaith Understanding” is that peace among religions is a precursor to peace among the nations.

“One thing I hope to see is a change in our image that, yes, we have a strong Dutch Christian conservative heritage, but we have other heritages, too, and that enriches our community,” Kindschi said. “I’m hoping by the end of the year we can be proud of the fact that we have significant religious diversity in our community.

“If in every community people become sensitized to this idea, it’s going to actually contribute to peace among nations.”

Among other upcoming events: a talk about the peace process in Israel and Palestine, a tour of a local mosque and a film series featuring storylines rooted in particular faith traditions.

The Grand Rapids Community Foundation has awarded the “Year of Interfaith Understanding” a $50,000 grant to help more churches, synagogues, mosques and other groups fund related programs. Requests for assistance are being sought.