Meet Volunteers Behind the Largest “Iftar in the Synagogue” to Date

By Michal Goldschmidt
JCUA 2012 Intern

Michael Goldschmidt

With our popular event, Iftar in the Synagogue, right around the corner (Thursday, Aug. 2), our planning committee is working hard to ensure the evening’s success. With more people expected to attend than ever before, there’s more preparation and organizing to be done, and our committee have their work cut out.

This past week the meeting was held in Beth Shalom B’nai Zaken Hebrew Ethiopian Congregation – one of the three locations for “Iftar” 2012. Upon arrival, Tamar Manasseh, an energetic rabbinical student on the planning committee and a leader at Beth Shalom, greeted participants enthusiastically. She gave a tour of the synagogue, so that everyone could visualize Iftar occurring there and discuss which rooms should play host to which elements of the program.

Talia Yousuf (left) and Mariam Afzal, representatives of the Council for the Advancement of Muslim Professionals.

As always, this year’s committee is made up of Jewish and Muslim volunteers, some of whom are representatives from co-sponsoring organizations and communities. Committee members Talia Yousuf and Mariam Afzal, representatives of the Council for the Advancement of Muslim Professionals, are both extremely excited for the event and proud to be involved.

Talia noted that as much as the event itself is impressive and evokes a feeling of pride, “it’s the group of dedicated and diverse individuals from the committee who are the true source of my inspiration. It takes a lot of effort and dedication to bring forth such a large scale project.”

Iftar in the Synagogue 2011 a Huge Success

More than 400 Jews and Muslims attended this year’s Iftar in the Synagogue, an annual event of JCUA’s Jewish-Muslim Community Building Initiative. The evening’s theme, “Diverse Experiences. A Common Future,” invited both communities to explore how to truly see each other by sharing diverse religious and cultural experiences, engaging each other in conversation, and empowering each other to build a common future.

Learn more about JMCBI in this video.

Here are some photos from the event.

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Iftar in the Synagogue 2011: “Diverse Experiences, A Common Future”

Iftar in the Synagogue is a unique interfaith gathering that is held during the Islamic holy month of Ramadan.  This is the seventh year JCUA is putting on this special event.  It is a chance for people of different religions to come together and share their diverse religious and cultural experiences, engage in conversation and empower each other to build a common future.

This year Iftar in the Synagogue is taking place on August 18 from 6-9:30 p.m at Temple Sholom, 3480 North Lake Shore Drive, Chicago.  At this event there will be Jewish and Muslim prayers, speakers, conversation and a kosher/halal dinner.  We will also be collecting non-perishable food items to be donated to the Urban Minority Alliance (UMMA) Center.  This is a free event, but space is limited so please RSVP.

 If you are interested in volunteering at the event, or want to learn more, contact Asaf Bar-Tura at asaf@jcua.org.

Download the event flyer.

Iftar in the Synagogue 2011 is sponsored by the Council of Islamic Organizations of Greater Chicago, the Council for the Advancement of Muslim Professionals, the Muslim Women’s Alliance, Temple Sholom, and the Jewish Council on Urban Affairs.