On January 15, 2012 I flew to Birmingham, Alabama and joined up with the 15 other participants on the Bridges: Muslim-Jewish Interfaith Dialogue @ NYU Alternative Break trip. We were there to aid in the disaster relief work after the April 2011 tornadoes, and helped to build a house with Habitat for Humanity. On MLK Day, we had the opportunity to attend a memorial service at the 16th Street Baptist Church, and afterward we reflected as a group, for it was the first time any of our students had been to a church service, and we discussed our impressions with the NYU Chaplains Rabbi Yehuda Sarna and Imam Khalid Latif. The next night we held a dinner in the local Jewish Community Center for over 50 people, including leaders and students from the Birmingham Muslim and Jewish communities. On the following evening, we visited a local mosque where the Muslim students from the University of Alabama have their programs. On the way to the mosque that night, the friendships that had sprung up and the bonds that had been formed were palpable, as the Muslim girls taught the Jewish girls how to tie their hijabs, and the Jewish students dispensed Hebrew names to the Muslims, while they gave us Arabic names in return. After Hurricane Katrina, the Rabbi & the Imam led a group of students to help with recovery, and it was there that the spark of interfaith dialogue between Muslims and Jews at NYU was born- they even kept a scrapbook with Polaroid’s and written entries. That scrapbook had sat in a drawer until our trip, when it was once again filled with memories, and from which we were able to ascertain just how far we’d come, and how much more exciting work lies in our path.
-Chelsea Garbell
-Chelsea Garbell