Giving thanks and breaking bread together
Sharing Iftar, a meal for peace, with the Peace Islands Institute
Iftar is the evening meal that Muslims, who observe the laws of Ramadan, which demand abstaining from food and drink from dawn to sunset for 30 days, eat to break the fast.
Our synagogue, Congregation B’nai Israel in Emerson, has always fostered strong interfaith connections. Ellen Michelson, one of our past presidents and past trustees, attended a special communal service addressing the widespread anti-Muslim sentiment.
A Catholic priest told everyone at the service to introduce himself or herself to someone of a different faith, and to have a conversation with that person.
The woman sitting behind Ellen was Muslim, and their chat was so amazing that Ellen began reaching out to various Muslim organizations to partner with CBI at our interfaith events.
She found Peace Islands Institute in Hasbrouck Heights, loved its mission statement — it promotes peace, love, respect, humanity, integrity, welfare, understanding, and envisions a world becoming an island of peace in the ocean of our universe — and organized our first program together. We have been hosting and co-hosting events for the last six years.
A couple of weeks ago, our synagogue hosted the Iftar dinner, and after a few speakers, a muezzin (the man who calls Muslims to prayer) chanted, and when the prayer service ended, we ate. (We sat to allow our Muslim guests to eat first; we hadn’t been fasting all day, as they had been.)
The food, all vegetarian of course, was prepared by members of Peace Islands Institute and served under our supervision.
It was a wonderful evening.
About a week later I got an email asking me to say a prayer or two at the Peace Islands Institute’s annual Iftar celebration at the Chart House in Weehawken, and I couldn’t say no.
Matthew J. Platkin, New Jersey’s attorney general, was among the speakers. So were some members of the state Assembly and the mayor of Weehawken, to name just a few.
The Institute showed videos explaining Ramadan; a wonderful trio — two sisters with magnificent voices and their guitar-playing father — performed, and then, after prayers were chanted, we ate.
I was asked to be the first speaker after dinner. I looked out at 200 faces; there were people from every walk of life: clergy, non-clergy, all celebrating peace, love, and harmony, and I began with the prayer that Jews say after breaking a fast:
Baruch atah Adonai Eloheinu melech ha’olam, hanoten lanu chayim u’mezonot, hamevarech otanu bazman zeh. — Blessed are You, Lord our God, King of the Universe, who gives us life and sustenance, and blesses us in this time.
Then I continued: “There are many things that intrigued me while studying scripture (Tanach, the New Testament, and the Quran), but a major moment for me is in the Book of Genesis when Isaac and Ishmael come together to bury their father, Abraham.
Truth be told, both Isaac and Ishmael had very clear reasons to be upset with Abraham. Ishmael and his mother, Hagar, were banished from their home and sent into the desert, ostensibly to die.
As for Isaac, who was almost sacrificed, the Torah concludes the story by telling us that Abraham returned to his servants, but it does not mention Isaac returning with him. Actually, it never mentions him even talking to his father again.
Isaac could not fathom why his father argued with God about destroying Sodom and Gomorrah, but when God told Abraham to sacrifice Isaac, he obeyed.
The more I think about Isaac and Ishmael coming together, the more it suggests a reconciliation, or at least a moment of mutual respect.
Maybe it should serve as a metaphor for peace between their descendants — Jews, Christians, and Muslims — all of whom trace their spiritual heritage to Abraham. Many interfaith dialogues focus on the commonalities of Judaism and Islam to build bridges between the two communities.
While differences exist, Islam and Judaism share a profound spiritual and ethical kinship. Both emphasize God’s oneness, both trace their spiritual lineage to Abraham, both have laws governing religious, moral, and daily life, and both emphasize justice, charity, and community responsibility.
That bridge is certainly what Peace Islands and B’nai Israel have accomplished, and God willing (inshallah, b’ezrat haShem), we can spread that bridge until it leads all peoples to a better understanding of the fact that we are really all the same.
In Judaism we recite a special prayer of gratitude when we reach a momentous occasion: the shehecheyanu (who has kept us alive — obviously referring to God). I sang the prayer in Hebrew as written by Tzvika Pick, ending just as he wrote it with an extended amen.
The English translation is: “Blessed are You, Lord our God, King of the universe, who has kept us alive, sustained us, and brought us to this moment.”
They were glorious moments for us, and we gave thanks!!
Cantor/Rabbi Lenny Mandel, who left the wilds of Manhattan almost 50 years ago and lives in West Orange, has been the chazan at Congregation B’nai Israel in Emerson for the past quarter-century.
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