“How can you step foot in the mosque?!” was the question posed last week by many of our congregants. We were invited to the ISCJ mosque for the annual Interfaith Thanksgiving Service, sponsored by the South Brunswick Clergy Association. But earlier in the week, the horrible massacre took place in a Jerusalem synagogue, and religious tensions were rising throughout Israel.

Some say we shouldn’t have participated. Others say we had to participate.

Our co-president Ruth Anne Koenick mentioned from the bimah that the tzedakah box at the mosque had been robbed. And we brought a check to the mosque, with an expression of sympathy for their loss. But others wondered why any of this was our business. And presumably all of us breathed a sigh of relief when it became clear that the robber wasn’t Jewish.

Some were bitterly disappointed that no condemnation of the murders in Jerusalem was heard from the Imam. Others feel that this would be asking too much.

What do you think?

This Shabbat, while we are celebrating Thanksgiving—giving thanks not least for the wonderful, pluralistic country in which we live—we will have an open discussion on the topic of interfaith relations. We’ll talk about what happened at the Interfaith service, and what didn’t happen. And we’ll explore what we can and should expect of our Muslim and Christian neighbors

And what they can and should expect of us.

Please be a part of the discussion. See you on shabbat.

Rabbi Wolkoff and Cantor Rockman