Inspiring Interfaith Work, Even During Pandemic

Hello, friends.

This pandemic has been tough on everybody, that much is clear. On top of everything it definitely makes me miss being able to gather with my friends of all faith and non-faith backgrounds, attend their worship services and have them come to mine, share a meal together, and just gather for anything interfaith. But while it is not the same, the important multifaith work continues and I wanted to share some wonderful examples of how folks are continuing to build bridges during the pandemic:

1. "Texas Church Helps Mosque Damaged After Snowstorm": A mosque in the Dallas area was damaged by the devastating snowstorm that swept across Texas earlier this month. So their nearby friends at a Methodist Church helped start a GoFundMe that has since raised more than $50,000 for repairs. Read more here.

2. Building Online Relationships: Communities around the world continue to come together virtually to build relationships, offering interfaith sacred text study, cross-faith learning opportunities, and more. In my work with a local synagogue, we hosted a

Multifaith Panel on the Environment on January 27 for the wider local community, which had multiple speakers from different traditions offer their perspectives on environmental protection. We also welcomed Adam DePaul, the Storykeeper for the Lenape Nation of Pennsylvania, to teach our community about the Lenape people. International interfaith meetings and conferences have even continued in this time of social distancing, which is always an exciting thing to see in order to check in with folks about the situation around the world.

3. World Interfaith Harmony Week, Feb. 1-7: Just like it does every year, the first week of February saw people around the world honor the efforts to build stronger relationships across lines of difference during World Interfaith Harmony Week. This celebration, proposed in a UN Resolution back in 2010 by King Abdullah II and Prince Ghazi bin Muhammad of Jordan, see people organizing projects promoting harmony, understanding, and learning, all around the world. You can explore the website for more details.

With so much physical distance required between so many people today, it is inspiring to see people still working to support and protect each other. 

But is it enough? What more can be done?

A lot of interfaith work involves building relationships in good times, so that we can most especially support each other in the difficult times. This is a great example of how #1 above happened, with the church having already had a relationship with the local Muslim community and so supporting the community when their mosque was damaged. How can we, every day and even when we are apart, both prepare for difficult times and also admit that we are living in difficult times and have to support each other now? What can we do, for example, in response to the rise in Asian hate crimes in New York City this past week? How can we offer support to people in Myanmar as they face such intense and dangerous unrest? And the list goes on and on.

In talking to friends and colleagues around the world, it is clear that people are suffering disproportionately throughout the pandemic. Maybe your safety has been compromised. Maybe you have lost your job. Maybe you have lost a loved one. Maybe you are set physically, but have found you mental health has suffered to the point where it overwhelms your ability to function. These are all realities to confront.

And if you can, if you have the capacity and the safety and the resources, this is still a time when we need to build relationships with people who are different from us. That need does not go away, not even during a pandemic. With the many tensions facing the United States these past few months and years, with the pandemic exacerbating already-existing inequalities in our society, it can be easy to feel like you are about to collapse under the weight of it all. Yet we have to find ways to continue on.

I know not everyone can always be doing this work, and certainly not all the time--and that is completely and understandably okay. But if you can, if you even have a little bit of energy to check in on a friend of another faith, or more, please do. Because it is indeed times like these when those relationships help me remember that we are all in this together, and that building a better world--one of great understanding, respect and peace, one with great justice and love--means fighting the good fight, even when it's incredibly hard.

Jewish tradition teaches us in Pirke Avot* (a part of the Mishanh) that, “You are not obligated to complete the work, but neither are you free to desist from it." (2:21) The burden and overwhelm of wanting desperately to solve all of the world's many, many problems cannot outweigh the obligation to do something, however small, now. To take a step for justice, now. To build relationships with those of other faiths, now.

I write this post as much for me as I do for everyone else. Living through a pandemic is hard. I find it difficult to work on projects, even interfaith ones, when I think about the reality of the world we live in--when we cannot see most loved ones, cannot do much outside of the house, and cannot travel to new places and meet new people, all in an effort to protect ourselves and others from this virus. It's tough.

But I remain as certain as ever that if we all come together, support each other, and keep moving forward, then we will find ways to continue building a better world for tomorrow.

Now go out and love one another.

<3,

Allyson

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*You can read more about Pirke Avot here.