Sun Sentinel
Sergio Carmona
Interfaith Jews Muslims Moroccons
A group of 70 young professionals from 17 countries split evenly between Muslims and Jews recently came together in Essaouira, Morocco for an inaugural conference on Muslim-Jewish relations.
The conference was organized by the Muslim Jewish Interfaith Coalition, the Foundation for Ethnic Understanding and the Mimouna Association under the patronage of André Azoulay, senior advisor to Morocco’s King Mohammed VI.
Rachel Delia Benaim, founder and director for the Muslim Jewish Interfaith Coalition, which has active staff members in New York, Miami, Washington, D.C., London, Brussels, Amsterdam, Milan, Tangier, Rabat, Tunis, Cape Town and Jerusalem, has South Florida ties. Benaim, 25, grew up in Boca Raton, where her parents currently live. She is Jewish and is an award-winning journalist and interfaith activist. Her family heritage lays in Gibraltar and Morocco.
For Benaim, one of her personal highlights from the forum in Morocco was an interfaith Friday night Shabbat prayer service in the synagogue where her great grandfather, her grandmother and their family prayed.
“To be there in an interfaith setting while re-sanctifying that space and that time was incredibly moving for me personally.”
Benaim felt the conference was a greater success than she could’ve imagined. Participants joined in discussions and seminars that were aimed to provide them with a more nuanced understanding of the theological, cultural and deeply personal underpinnings of Judaism and Islam. The goal was to have them go back to their communities with a deeper understanding of the complexity of the issues that often separate Muslims and Jews, as well as with a deeper appreciation for the values and experiences that bring us together.
“I’m grateful that people showed up, that they engaged, that they shared with each other and that they walked away with a deeper understand of one another, with personal relations and with goals for larger coalition building in their community,” Benaim said.
The conference centered around in-depth text-based sessions in its Beit Madrassa, which is a play on the Jewish beit midrash, and the Muslim religious school, a madrassa. Discussions centered around the complexity of Muslim-Jewish relations, spirituality and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict as it provided the opportunity for members of both faiths to meet one another and create meaningful relationships.
“So often in Muslim-Jewish interfaith work, faith is left out of the conversation,” Benaim said. “Our forum bridges sacred text, belief and culture through a simultaneously text based and culturally immersive environment.”
Rabbi Marc Schneier, FFEU’s president, thought the conference was groundbreaking.
“It’s very encouraging to see the next generation of Muslims and Jews around the world picking up the mantle of leadership and I just trust that many other young leadership organizations, both in the Jewish and Muslim communities, will follow their example.”
scarmona@sun-sentinel.com or @serge0514
