This story made me smile:
Virginia synagogue doubles as mosque for Ramadan
"The building is a synagogue on a tree-lined street in suburban Virginia, but for the past few weeks – during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan – it has also been doubling daily as a mosque. Synagogue members suggested their building after hearing the Muslim congregation was looking to rent a place for overflow crowds."
I read it on this site.
Finally a positive story of cooperation between Muslims and Jews. After living in Cairo for 5 years, I've heard the weirdest conspiracy theories against Jews. They literally get blamed for every single problem (even though most Egyptians have never met a Jew). I think it's about time people start seeing the difference between Jews and Zionists. Anyway, this story really made me happy!
Also, a Starbucks is opening near me! YAY!
20 comments:
There was one a while back about a Jewish community in Boston (? I think?) that helped raise money to build a mosque and helped build it. Mujahideen Ryder had a thing on it.
MashaAllah, great story!
For our Eid this year the venue was made possible by a Jewish Organization... I heart all this mushy gushy let's all live in harmony stuff :) It leaves me hopeful.
Yaay! Yeah I don't know what's up with blaming the Jews for everything.
I like this website: http://www.richardsilverstein.com/tikun_olam/
Congrats on having a new Starbucks near you ... they're going to be opening a new one inside of a grocery store near my house and so now I'll have 3 within 2 miles. :D
I agree that we more often than not confuse zionism with judaism. Although, I have to admit that being in this West Bank this summer made it a challenge for me to care about the difference when I got back home.
HOORAY for Starbucks!!! What will your first drink purchase be?
Noor - wow, good to know this has happened more than once! Thanks for posting, missed all your comments :)
Sarah: I love it too! It's a nice break from the normal depressing news.
Aynur: I think a lot of it is political, but there's also a lot of ignorance.
Haha wow, 3 Starbucks' near you...lucky woman!!
Mrs S: venti vanilla latte! And maybe carrot cake :)) Can't wait!!
Bahlool: I've had this discussion so many times, esp. about Starbucks. I think in the end if we stop buying all products that somehow fund Jews/Israel, we won't be left with much else.
Cairo thats true but we should all strive to do our best. If there is a choice between two things and one of them is not a supporter of Israel, then the choice shouldnt be that hard.
I think one of our main problems is that we muslims dont use our power. Look at the boycott of Arla, it devestated them.
A lot of the companies that support israely products produced on ockupied land have started to change their label so that people dont knwo they are from the occupied areas, its because of the boycott of their products.
Especially starbucks seems to be more active in supporting Israel then other companies thats why its a bigger target.
Bahlool - ugh, I know you're right but part of me wants to ignore this whole Starbucks/Israel thing because I love Starbucks so much :(
But you're 100% right, every small bit counts.
Bahlool,
Boycotts don't work. They just don't. Instead of a Boycott, how about protesting on the streets and educating people about what Israel is doing?
If we are going to Boycott something, it takes worldwide effort to even make a dent. There are not enough people aware of politics to make the effort work. It doesn't work. Protests and letters to gov't are more effective because it reaches the news. Even people who hate Israel drink their coffee at Starbucks.. It just doesn't connect. There are too many Jewish run companies to make it effective.
More than half of the media/Hollywood in America is run by Jewish people. So are many baby products, cosmetics, and household names. Anyways, it is Zionism we must confront, not Judaism.
You say:
"The problem is that a lot of jews still support Israel. This taints the jewish people."
I disagree, this does not taint Jewish people any more than terrorism taints Muslims. Ignorance taints people, plain and simple.
It is also why this situation is so complex and has not yet been resolved. Boycotts are not going to open Zionist eyes, the UN proceeding with it's war crimes investigation will though. This is what we should be talking about and showing our support for.
Remember when that Dutch guy made those cartoons depicting the prophet? Many Muslim countries tried to boycott Dutch products.. It didn't work. I think we should be protesting on the streets, signing petitions, and getting our voices heard on the news..
When a Mosque in my city joined with a Jewish student organization and protested the occupation of Palestine, it hit our local news and CNN.. This is what makes a President decide if the issue is important or not. Public unrest will always sway issues more than anything else.
Hmmm... Interesting comments on Starbucks. Am glad im not a fan of coffee. Ive kinda given up thinking about the Israeli-Palestinian issue coz everytime there's "peace", some individuals from Palestine will launch something over like as though they're asking for it. I believe that no one would ever attack unless provoked. Or perhaps, there's something I mustve missed.
It is, however, very nice to know that there are awesome jews out there.
And Cairo, I noticed u tweaked the layout! And just you know, ur blog looks perfect on my Nokia E63 but mine doesnt!
I know that lately a lot negative messages about Islam come from the Dutch, but the cartoons came from Denmark.
But you are right economic boycott doesn't work. And if it would work at the end it are the workers in the company who are going to loss there jobs, and not the big peolpe at the top who make the desicions.
Anonymous,
I agree with you about the people who work at these places being the ones who ultimately suffer. It is locals running and working in these places.
Thanks for checking me on the Denmark/Dutch thing... :)
Sarah Elizabeth and anonymous: you're right, in many cases boycotts don't work, unless they are on a very very big scale, in which case they might have some kind of impact. But it is very difficult to organize huge boycotts like that.
Re. Starbucks it's ironic that there is one right outside Masjid al-Nabawi in Madinah.
And anon you are right - boycotts often hurt the locals, not the big multinationals.
Marzuki: I remember during the last Gaza offensive last December, Israel had finally stopped bombing Gaza and then some Palestinians sent some more rockets over, giving the Israelis the perfect excuse to resume. In general though, Israel needs no or very little reason to attack Palestine/Palestinians.
And yes, finally managed to get the layout perfect!
Hey Sarah!
Sorry I've been missing for a while :) This post made me really happy. It's heartwarming at the very least. As you said, living in Egypt for a while, and to a lesser extent in Bahrain, the jews are blamed for everything. It just turns me off to hear that. I remember hearing someone blaming bird flu in Egypt on the Jews who wanted to "weaken" the Egyptians. Whatever!! I'm sick and tired of it always being a conflict. The truth is there ARE people from all religions who WANT to cooperate and just coexist. Peacefully. It makes me hopeful, you know? I don't know if I'm in denial or what, but I just don't want to hear about Palestine/Israel anymore. And as much as I do sympathize with the Palestinians, I do not believe that they will ever get back all of their land. I just want fighting to stop :(
G: another thing that bothers me is the fact that many Egyptians and Arabs, esp. the gov'ts, simply use the Palestine issue when it benefits them, and then forget about it.
But yeah, like you said...amazing story :)
This is a lovely story. So glad to read it.
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