Detroit Muslims join Jewish group for Mitzvah Day Helping the Poor

Stories of cooperation and affection have been suppressed by two groups, those whose interests lay in weaponizing religion for nationalist purposes, and enlightenment liberals who wanted to establish society on a secular basis jettisoning the usefulness of clerics as weavers of civil society. But the fact is that along with the harm done by benighted clerics and hierarchies there were also moments of beauty in history that have yet to be extensively documented.

This story below is typical of many today that suggest a new era of global civil society has arrived when Jews and Muslims team up to help Christians on Christmas. But it is not as new as some might imagine. Tales of cooperation, mutual study and reverence, abound in anecdotes passed down from history that our age of militancy has tended to suppress. For a variety of reasons most of us around the globe are trying to crawl our way out of a disastrous latter half of the 20th century which saw many states weaponize religion as an instrument of foreign policy and regional control. Who did this? America to the Muslim world in Pakistan during the cold , the Muslim world to itself, Israel to its settlers and the entire direction of revisionist Zionism, and so on. Stories of cooperation and affection between the three Abrahamic faiths have been suppressed  for a long time by two groups, those whose interests lay in weaponizing religion for nationalist purposes, and enlightenment liberals who wanted to establish society on a secular basis jettisoning the usefulness of clerics as weavers of civil society. But the fact is that along with the harm done by benighted clerics and hierarchies there were also moments of beauty in history that have yet to be extensively documented. A notable exception is the Abrahamic Family Reunion.

Ilana Meallem was featured recently in the Jerusalem Post as one of the most extraordinary bridge builders of the Abrahamic Family of the Middle East, torn apart by colonial and nationalist wars in this past century. She is as extraordinary as her great great grandfather, the Ben Ish Hai. She told me yesterday that when he died in Bagdhad, after being chief rabbi for so many years, the entire city came to a standstill. Muslim and Jew alike, mourned him as a sainted mystical figure. That was 1909, and we just left 2009. What a difference a century makes.

Detroit’s Muslim community joins Jewish groups to help with Mitzvah Day
By Sherri Begin Welch

The region’s hungry don’t stop needing food because it’s Christmas.

Children and seniors living in group homes need visitors even more on Christmas.

Their needs don’t take a holiday.

But the people who serve them day in and day out can, thanks to the annual volunteer efforts of many, including Metro Detroit’s Jewish community, on Christmas.

For several of the past 18 years, Metro Detroit’s Jewish community has provided hundreds of volunteers to make sure clients are served, while giving many Christians a chance to enjoy all or part of Christmas with their families.

This year, nearly 900 Jewish volunteers plan to pitch in.

Their efforts give many employees at local nonprofits “a chance to observe their holy day and know that the people they care for all year around are being cared for,” said Micki Grossman, co-chairwoman of Mitzvah Day in Metro Detroit, which is organized by the Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Detroit and the Jewish Community Relations Council.

This year, for the first time, the region’s Muslim community is collaborating with the Jewish groups.

You can read the whole article at Crain’s Detroit Business here.