This day proves that it is not impossible for people to get along. Please take note, this is happening in the United States of America where, unlike anywhere else in the world, in spite of all of our faults, all men have the freedom to follow their beliefs. If given enough time, we are a short lived species, things will work themselves here.
Do not allow our politicians to force change and acceptance, given the freedom and the time, we can and will, learn to live together. As always, the United States and our Constitution are truly showing just what is possible when people are given the chance to live free.
Mary Turfah bent over a box of dry goods at Gleaners Food Bank in Pontiac this morning hunting for items to include in the food box she was assembling for needy people in the region, her green hijab held firmly in place.
The 15-year-old Dearborn Heights resident was among an estimated 40 local Muslims participating in the metro-Detroit’s Jewish community’s annual Mitzvah Day, the volunteer program held every Christmas. The tradition — mitzvah means “good deed” — enables Christians to stay home and enjoy the holiday, while those not celebrating help with social-service projects in southeastern Michigan
.
It was the first time Muslims joined the 18-year-old effort, invited by the Jewish Community Relations Council to create an interfaith opportunity.
“Doing a mitzvah, a good deed, is not a Jewish thing. It’s not a Muslim thing. It’s a human thing,” said Michael Benghiat of the Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Detroit
.
Among the volunteers manning the same assembly line — softly serenaded by Christmas carols playing on a blue boom box — was Shelley Subelsky, 54, of Farmington Hills.
“This year, particularly with everything that’s going on with the economy, I felt it was a good thing,” explained the Temple Kol Ami member who came with her 19-year-old daughter, Carrie.
Approximately 80 people helped out in Pontiac, though Mitzvah Day includes more than 60 sites — and 900 volunteers — across the region, according to Robert Cohen, executive director of the Jewish Community Relations Council.
The Gleaners session was scheduled to end with enough time for the Muslims to make it to their mosques by 1:30 p.m.; this year, Christmas
fell on Islam’s weekly day of prayer.
The Pontiac volunteers sorted and packaged close to a ton of food, according to Gleaners Food Bank spokesman W. DeWayne Wells.
As large cardboard boxes all around him were filled with everything from bottled water and peanut butter to canned orange slices and tomato sauce, Eid Alawan, outreach director of the Islamic Center of America, explained, “Working together, we’re all of the Abrahamic faiths.”
“There’s so much hatred in the world today and it’s really sad; we all believe in helping people,” Mary, a Cranbrook sophomore, said. “A holy day is a holy day. It doesn’t matter to who.”
Do not allow our politicians to force change and acceptance, given the freedom and the time, we can and will, learn to live together. As always, the United States and our Constitution are truly showing just what is possible when people are given the chance to live free.
Mary Turfah bent over a box of dry goods at Gleaners Food Bank in Pontiac this morning hunting for items to include in the food box she was assembling for needy people in the region, her green hijab held firmly in place.
The 15-year-old Dearborn Heights resident was among an estimated 40 local Muslims participating in the metro-Detroit’s Jewish community’s annual Mitzvah Day, the volunteer program held every Christmas. The tradition — mitzvah means “good deed” — enables Christians to stay home and enjoy the holiday, while those not celebrating help with social-service projects in southeastern Michigan
.
It was the first time Muslims joined the 18-year-old effort, invited by the Jewish Community Relations Council to create an interfaith opportunity.
“Doing a mitzvah, a good deed, is not a Jewish thing. It’s not a Muslim thing. It’s a human thing,” said Michael Benghiat of the Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Detroit
. Among the volunteers manning the same assembly line — softly serenaded by Christmas carols playing on a blue boom box — was Shelley Subelsky, 54, of Farmington Hills.
“This year, particularly with everything that’s going on with the economy, I felt it was a good thing,” explained the Temple Kol Ami member who came with her 19-year-old daughter, Carrie.
Approximately 80 people helped out in Pontiac, though Mitzvah Day includes more than 60 sites — and 900 volunteers — across the region, according to Robert Cohen, executive director of the Jewish Community Relations Council.
The Gleaners session was scheduled to end with enough time for the Muslims to make it to their mosques by 1:30 p.m.; this year, Christmas
fell on Islam’s weekly day of prayer.The Pontiac volunteers sorted and packaged close to a ton of food, according to Gleaners Food Bank spokesman W. DeWayne Wells.
As large cardboard boxes all around him were filled with everything from bottled water and peanut butter to canned orange slices and tomato sauce, Eid Alawan, outreach director of the Islamic Center of America, explained, “Working together, we’re all of the Abrahamic faiths.”
“There’s so much hatred in the world today and it’s really sad; we all believe in helping people,” Mary, a Cranbrook sophomore, said. “A holy day is a holy day. It doesn’t matter to who.”
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