Interfaith Encounters - Youth style

I thought this news report I received from the youth group (college-age men and women) was very touching and want to print it here.


"In the previous meeting we studied about the ways Judaism and Islam recognize the possibility of giving charity to people of other faiths. After we saw that in both religions there is recognition of giving charity and acting with kindness with any human being, even if he or she does not share your faith, we went out in the beginning of April to implement the idea.

We printed announcements in which we wrote that this year there is a solution for those who wish to get rid of their leaven before Passover and at the same time do good with it. We publicized the phone numbers of the group's activists and their respective living areas in Jerusalem, in order to allow anyone who is interested to bring us leavened products. In addition, we appointed contact people in all three campuses of the Hebrew University. But we did more than that. In one of the evenings before Passover we met at the Nachlaot neighborhood in the city center, to collect leaven from neighborhood homes. We divided into pairs, each consisting of one Jew and one Muslim, a man and a woman, and started our way.

Visiting the neighborhood's homes was a very special experience. Many of us took part in many interfaith encounters and events. Usually these events have a very good atmosphere – due to the simple reason that those who come are either already convinced or at least are open enough to make the effort and come. In this visit to the neighborhood we could not predict who will receive us with warmth and who will slam the door. It was a real "gamble". We did not look for those who are already convinced but went from door to door, without skipping anyone, and willing to encounter any type of response. And indeed there were also unpleasant responses. There were people who refused to donate once they understood the food is designated for Arabs. Some protested: "would Arabs collect food in this way for poor Jews?" From our perspective it was a major step. It is important to remember in which environment we operate, how deep is the mutual mistrust between the two people, how long is the way ahead of us. Whoever wants to act and make an impact should not delude themselves and must understand the complexity of the reality. But it is important to stress that finally we were surprised for the better. The vast majority donated. Some even added sums of money, beyond the leaven products that were meant to be burned anyway. We left the neighborhood with large quantities of food and it was clear to us that if we had more time and more volunteers we would have collected a lot more.

We learned much from this round in the neighborhood that evening. We were filled with hope for reconciliation and understanding when we saw that contrary to what we expected, most people agreed to donate for people of the neighboring nation, despite the on-going state of war. We think that the residents of the neighborhood also gained something from this evening, beyond the opportunity to donate to the needy. It does not occur every day that you are visited by a Jewish young man and a Muslim young woman or a Jewish young woman and a Muslim young man. It is most likely that for most of the neighborhood's residents it was the first time to see young Muslims and Jews working together for a common idea. Perhaps this too was a small contribution to the reconciliation process between us.

The last phase of this operation was the distribution of the collected food. Unfortunately, most of the Jewish members could not come. Those who could were afraid to go into the Arab neighborhood in East Jerusalem (Silwan) where the food was distributed. And here we have another example that we should not delude ourselves. The problematic security reality caused that our original plan, of Jews and Muslims who will go together in an Arab neighborhood and will distribute food to the needy, was fulfilled only partially. Indeed the way is long but as we all know, even a journey of a thousand miles begins with one small step.

Dotan Arad & Salah Aladdien"