Jewish and Muslim congregants shared Friday evening prayers and a meal at a Manhattan synagogue hours after an attack on a Detroit-area temple left communities on edge, an annual gathering that organizers said carried added weight against a backdrop of religious violence and Middle East conflict.
Muslims observing Ramadan broke their daily fast at sundown alongside Jewish families welcoming Shabbat at Temple Emanu-El on the Upper East Side, the tenth consecutive year the interfaith dinner has brought the traditions together over shared food and ritual.
Attendees said the timing felt urgent. Thursday morning’s assault on a synagogue outside Detroit has Jewish communities across the country bracing for copycat incidents, while divisions over wars in the Middle East have strained interfaith relations that took years to build.
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“I believe that there’s a lot of things going on right now in the world that we should be more doing stuff like this and talking with each other,” said Goklb Ozer, one of those gathered Friday.
Senior Rabbi Joshua Davidson said the act of eating together sends a message when polarization runs deep. “The fact that we are breaking bread together, Jews and Muslims, sends a message of unity to the wider world in a very divided time,” he said.
Zeynep Gencoglu described the congregation as a community worth preserving through difficulty. “I really love this community, the people. Especially during those hard times, we have to come together and support each other,” she said.
Elizabeth Walsh said discovering common ground matters more than pretending differences do not exist. “There’s so many things that we share that are the same. And those that are different are so interesting to learn,” she said. She added that mutual respect does not require affection but demands some form of unity. “If we don’t come together as people and treat one another with respect, we don’t have to love one another, but we have to come to some kind of unity.”
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The dinner coincided with Ramadan, Islam’s holy month of fasting, and the start of Shabbat, the weekly Jewish day of rest.
Muslims abstain from food and drink from dawn to sunset during Ramadan, breaking the fast at Iftar with prayers and meals. Jews begin Shabbat Friday evening with blessings over wine and bread before a festive dinner.
Temple Emanu-El has hosted the interfaith gathering for a decade, but this year’s event carried additional significance as reports of religious hate crimes have climbed and conflicts abroad have tested relationships between faith communities in the United States.
Organizers expressed hope that conversation could counter hatred, a belief rooted in the idea that sustained contact between groups reduces prejudice and builds resilience against forces seeking to exploit division.