WJC President Ronald S. Lauder: "This idea should take root here and elsewhere"
NEW YORK, Nov. 8 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Last night, the World Jewish Congress (WJC) hosted a dinner for the participants of the First National Summit of Imams and Rabbis in New York City, an event organized by the Foundation for Ethnic Understanding (FFEU) and the Islamic Cultural Center of New York. The meeting was the first of its kind and aimed at fostering better understanding between clerics of the Muslim and Jewish faiths. Workshop sessions focused on sharing religious and cultural commonalities and on possible joint actions of the two communities in the United States.
The WJC dinner concluded the summit and was addressed by a number of Muslim and Jewish leaders, including the FFEU's founding president and WJC American Section chair, Rabbi Marc Schneier; FFEU chairman and hip-hop star Russell Simmons; the imam of the Islamic Cultural Center of New York, Sheik Omar Abu-Namous; the permanent observer of the Organization of the Islamic Conference to the United Nations, Ambassador Abdul Wahab; the director of the Islamic Society of North America, Sayyid Mohamed Syeed; and the president of the World Jewish Congress, Ronald S. Lauder.
In his dinner speech, Lauder applauded the efforts of those who tried to build bridges between the two great Abrahamic faiths. "Religious leaders have a special role to play to help us reach out to one another and to explore our religious and cultural commonalities," the WJC president told dinner guests. He said meetings between Muslim and Jewish leaders should take root and could perhaps set an example for other countries, too. Lauder added: "In your synagogues and mosques country-wide you have the capacity to reinforce the positive and to help create a better understanding between Jews and Muslims among local communities."
The World Jewish Congress is the international organization representing Jewish communities in over 80 countries around the world. The WJC serves as the diplomatic arm of the Jewish people to world governments and international organizations.
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Source: World Jewish Congress
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