The Jewish New Year

By Rabbi Howard Siegel

Source: Houston Chronicle

 

“Fact” is defined as “a thing that is indisputably the case.” One such indisputable fact is Change. Nothing in life stays the same. This is the result of another indisputable fact-Time. Time and Change co-exist in tandem with one another. The passing of time is often measured by change.   A baby is born, learns to walk and talk, grows into adulthood, marries, has children, ages, and dies. Every stage of life is accompanied by changes in fashion, culture, and philosophy. One may argue the only constant in the entire universe is God, and even God changes!

Getting to Know Our Neighbors

By Nancy Agafitei

 

About five years ago, I was visited at the library by Saadia, one of the Muslim ladies in our community who used the library with her young children. She came with a request to hold a book fair at the library. She wanted to display books that informed people about her faith, and to offer short talks that addressed topics of current interest about Islam. I think she expected me to decline, or at least debate, her request. For me, though, it was a simple choice -- public librarians are all about giving people access to all kinds of information. I got out the calendar and booked a room for them on a Saturday afternoon.

Taboo Topics

By Saadia Faruqi

Source: State of Formation

 

I’ve been working in the field of interfaith dialogue for more than a decade. On good days it’s a lot of fun, and I really see the benefit. On bad days, it’s nothing but headache and heartache. Why? Maybe because there are some topics that are off-limits, and so become the elephant in the room in a very difficult way.

A Muslim's Reflections on Holocaust Remembrance Day

By Saadia Faruqi

Source: Tikkun Daily

 

Shalom and Peace! Today on Holocaust Remembrance Day I would like to share a recent experience that changed my perspective in an unexpected way. My perspective about Jews, about the Holocaust, about myself. Sounds mysterious? I didn’t mean it to be. Let me go back a couple of weeks and start again.

Fasting for Peace

By Saadia Faruqi

Source: Tikkun Daily

 

If you live in a major U.S. city chances are that you’ve heard of Ramadan, the sacred Islamic month in which Muslims fast from dawn to dusk. Ramadan used to be a strange and unknown religious celebration in the United States a few decades ago. Now, thanks to the negative and positive publicity American Muslims have received in recent years, everybody knows when and why we are fasting. Everyone from the White House to the local church and synagogue is holding interfaith iftar events (breaking of the fast) for their Muslim friends and neighbors. I should be proud and happy that my esoteric religious ritual is no longer looked upon as an undue hardship forced upon me by my religion. That finally the American public is ready and willing to accept me, with my five daily prayers and my fasting and my hijab, as one of them. I should be attending those interfaith iftar events with happiness and fervor. But I’m not.

Lessons of Easter and Passover

By Tim Neeley

April was a commemorative month for two of the major religions of the world. Jews commemorated the event of Passover, while Christians celebrated Easter. But the fact that they coincide in time each year is in no way their only similarity. In fact, both holidays have much in common with each other, and both can be a source of wisdom for the world.

When One of Us is Hurt We All Feel Pain

By Saadia Faruqi

Source: Tikkun Daily

As Passover ends for my Jewish friends, I join them to mourn the attack on the Jewish Community Center in Overland Park, Kansas. Yes I am a Muslim, and the world doesn’t expect me to sympathize with Jews. But the world is wrong. We have increasingly become divided along religious lines, and Jewish-Muslim relationships have become strained because they have incorrectly become synonymous with the Israel-Palestine issue. This is neither true Islam nor true Judaism.

Religious Freedom, Anyone?

By Saadia Faruqi

Today is religious freedom day in the United States, a day celebrating the anniversary of the passage of the Virginia Statute on Religious Freedom by President Thomas Jefferson in 1786. This piece of legislation effectively accomplished two things: it prohibited taxing people to pay for the local clergy, and it protected the rights of the public to express their religious beliefs without suffering discrimination. While two centuries ago most Americans were of the same faith, mostly Christian, in today’s America this concept of freedom of religious speech on an individual level becomes even more important.