Post election “developments” have deepened the American Muslim and Jewish communities’ bond and “their commitment to work together against anti-Semitism and Islamophobia,” according to the Jewish-American publication The Forward
“One of the fault lines of the divide-and-conquer tactic is the supposed Jewish-Muslim rift,” says Rami Nashashibi, executive director of the Inner City Muslim Action Network. “I’ve been seeing a deepening of a sense of accountability. There will be no acceptance of anti-Semitism in the Muslim-American community, and the same for Islamophobia in the Jewish community.”
Makom Shalom, a synagogue in Chicago, recently hosted an interfaith Shabbat dinner featuring Muslim scholar and activist, Karen Danielson. “Karen has never been to a synagogue for a Shabbat dinner,” said Rabbi Davis. “We’ve come to a point where we’ve built a lot of trust. When I asked her, she said yes.”
“Jews are feeling an affinity to Muslims because of the anti-Muslim steps taken by the administration, the travel ban and so on,” says Rabbi Davis. Many of his congregants have told him that if the government institutes a Muslim registry, they will add their names to it.
Muslims also feel a similar affinity, many see Jews as a model of how to flourish in America. “They want to learn how to preserve their faith as a minority religion,” says Rabbi Andrea London of Beth Emet Synagogue in Evanston, Illinois. “The Jewish community has done that successfully. They’ve set up institutions and teach their children, but they have also become part of the dominant society.”
