Montreal Jews, Muslims unite to help Syrian refugees

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Wednesday 23 Dec 2015 - 12:32 Makkah mean time-12-3-1437 Rabbi Lisa Grushcow, left, and Shaheen Ashraf find inspiration in Judaism and Islam in their work for refugees. Image from The Canadian Jewish Montreal, (IINA) - Jews and Muslims can find common cause in assisting Syrian refugees, and in doing so, appreciate the similarity of their religious values, The Canadian Jewish News reported. That was the message conveyed at a meeting of members of the two communities addressed by Rabbi Lisa Grushcow, senior rabbi of Temple Emanu-El-Beth Sholom, and Shaheen Ashraf, secretary of the Montreal chapter of Canadian Council of Muslim Women. About 50 people attended the event at the Atwater Library last week convened by the new Jewish-Muslim Forum of Montreal. It was the first open event of the group, which is an initiative of the New York-based Foundation for Ethnic Understanding (FFEU), in partnership with CRARR (Centre for Research-Action on Race Relations), a local non-profit organization that has been combating discrimination for more than 30 years. Since 2008, FFEU has fostered Muslim-Jewish dialogue around the world, including in Toronto, organizing “twinning” events annually in November and December. This year, such events took place in more than 30 cities, said Walter Ruby, director of the program. The temple was the first Montreal Jewish group to commit to sponsoring refugees. It announced in September that it would sponsor at least one family and undertake to raise a minimum of $30,000. Rabbi Grushcow said the congregation is now hoping to sponsor three families. All the paperwork has been done for the first family and most of it for the second, she said. The temple is now trying to identify a third family to sponsor. As is the norm, the temple does not know when the families will arrive, and temple members may be given as little as 24 hours notice. SM/IINA