At this challenging time, as the Abrahamic faith communities approach a most sacred season in their annual calendars – Passover, Easter and Ramadan – lock down is depriving all of us of the opportunity to congregate in person. In that the virus at the centre of this global pandemic is not differentiating between religious affiliation, gender, race, or nationality, we see this as an opportunity to stand in solidarity with each other. 

On this important occasion, we’ve asked two of our Mitzvah Day supporters to share with us the struggles their communities will face in celebrating Holy Week and observing Ramadan in the weeks ahead. We hope you find comfort in knowing that all of humanity are fighting the same cause and that religious leaders firmly believe that our prayers and support of each other will lead us forward with hope and inspiration.

Four Ways to Embody the Fasting Spirit whatever your Faith

By Liz Arif-Fear

It’s been a strange few weeks into self-isolation at home amidst the Coronavirus pandemic. I for one am still receiving emails about cancelled events.

Yes… Welcome to lockdown!

Of course, for Jews, Christians and Muslims alike, things are going to get even stranger. With the current pandemic, Pesach (Passover), Easter and Ramadan are all going to be spent at home. We’re already into April and it’s now less than a month until Ramadan starts.

For Muslims across the globe, Ramadan is a special month when we fast from dawn to sunset, abstaining from food and water during daylight hours. Prescribed in the Qur’an, it’s a time to practice self-discipline, (re-)connect with our faith and to remember those less fortunate than ourselves.

This, of course, means it’s an important period for giving and doing charitable deeds.

As people look to help others and also connect with those around them, it’s also a very social period. Families, friends, neighbours and communities often get together for a communal Iftar – the name we give to the evening meal when we break our fast.

Image caption: Enjoying a lovely interfaith iftar at Alyth Synagogue with Jewish and Muslim sisters (Nisa-Nashim, 2019).

In a multifaith county such as the UK, Ramadan has become the perfect opportunity to engage in social action and for people of all faiths and none to come together.

Interfaith social action has become a big part of Ramadan and I love the increase in interfaith iftars every year! However, this year with the coronavirus pandemic, many of us will be asking:

What are our religious festivals going to look like? How will we make the most of Ramadan? And how can we reach out to others?

Whilst the idea of missing the daily commute whilst fasting sounds great… My beloved interfaith iftars at first seemed like a distant dream. Likewise, I’m sure many of you are wondering about what Ramadan in self-isolation will look like.

For non-Muslims too, with mosques, synagogues, churches and community centres closed and no interfaith iftars on the ground, you may also be unsure of how to enjoin in the Ramadan spirit.  Well, don’t panic. All is not lost!

We can still have a wonderful Ramadan. Here’s how…

1.  Worship at Home

Ramadan is a time for spiritual reflection. Of course, whilst physically, collective worship is now limited to the members of your household, having a small group is still a positive.

So join in together! Pray together, read together and share this special time.

To solidify the bonds of interfaith friendship, why not also reach out to members of other faith communities?

You could for example set up an email or video-based (see more below) interfaith scriptural reasoning study club. Share reflections, traditions and learn about each other’s faiths.

If you live alone, you can also embrace this time of self-isolation to pause, focus on your spiritual needs and self-reflect. Why not write a diary and incorporate it into an interfaith blog for this holy Abrahamic period?

Yes, we may be physically alone, but we’ve still got God and each other. Plus a mountain of books, online articles and materials available for use!

2.  Get E-social

Ramadan is a time to connect with others. Iftars with friends, family, colleagues and other faith communities offer an important opportunity to come together.  And here’s the good news, despite the pandemic: we can still connect.

With Skype, Zoom and WhatsApp video calling, it’s now super-easy to stay in touch.

When I was working away from home, iftar calls connected with other Muslims. Likewise, I recently enjoyed an online interfaith Seder (Passover meal) with my lovely Jewish and Muslim sisters at Nisa-Nashim.

We’re now thinking about following up with online interfaith iftars this Ramadan. So, why not set up or join one too?

You can discover a host of faith groups via the Interfaith Network. If you’re looking to join, take a look at Eventbrite for online events and keep up-to-date through faith-based groups and pages via social media.

Remember: you can still socialise – it’ll just have to be at the tap of a keyboard!

3.Savour the Joy of Sadaqah

Ramadan is a month of fasting, self-discipline and reflection. And whatever our faith, we all know how important charity and recognising the needs of those less fortunate is. In Islam, the equivalent of a mitzvah (good deed) is called sadaqah. And this is a fundamental part of Ramadan.

Being at home thankfully doesn’t need to be an obstacle. In fact, during this current crisis, it’s more important than ever to look after each other. So, let’s come together and get in the spirit of interfaith social action.

You could help out by:

• Becoming an interfaith volunteer: Contact an organisation from another faith group such as Nishkam SWAT or the Jewish Volunteering Network to see what activities are possible
• Sending gifts: Surprise friends, neighbours and colleagues with a little pick-me-up
• Registering for the NHS’ volunteer service: Help vulnerable people by delivering food and medicines or calling up someone who’s feeling lonely

There’s plenty of opportunities to partake in sadaqah. So, share the Ramadan spirit!

4.  Give Thanks and Have Patience

Ultimately, whilst the current circumstances may not be ideal, we need to look at the larger picture. For many of us at home, we’re safe, happy and healthy – plus we have food on the table to open and break our fasts, enjoin in an Easter meal and hold our own Seders.

In times like these which test our patience, let’s remember our blessings.

For those affected financially by the crisis, who are socially isolated and of course may be ill and/or otherwise affected by the virus, times are incredibly hard. So let’s be thankful for our health and think about those around us – here at home and all over the world – who remain vulnerable.

There’s still plenty to be positive about and Ramadan isn’t going anywhere.

Ramadan Mubarak, Chag Pesach Sameach and Happy Easter!

Have a blessed Ramadan, a meaningful Passover and fantastic Easter!

About the author

Liz Arif-Fear is a British Muslim and writer and campaigner passionate about human rights and interfaith issues, in particular Jewish-Muslim relations. She is Founder and Director of Voice of Salam and tweets at @Voice_of_Salam.

Published on www.mitzvahday.org.uk

To mark Inter Faith Week and ahead of Mitzvah Day – which this year has a green theme – religious leaders from five different faiths will be addressing the dire ecological crisis we face across the globe, drawing on scripture in their calls for urgent action.

In our first piece, which also appears in this week’s Jewish Telegraph, Rabbi Jeff Berger and Shaykh Ibrahim Mogra give the Jewish and Muslim point of view:

The earth, according to both Jewish and Muslim traditions, was created by G-d and entrusted to humanity. A single guardian couple, Adam & Eve, has now expanded to more than 7.8 billion people. The dynamics have changed dramatically, but we are at risk of destroying the very habitat that supports our human life.

There are few things that can impact all of humanity – regardless of race, religion, culture or ethnicity – as much as ecological collapse.

In the Genesis story of Creation (Chap 1:28), man and woman, while still in the Garden of Eden, are commanded to be Fruitful and Multiply. But in the re-telling of the story (Chap 2:15), the first man is charged to Serve and Preserve the Garden.

The Jewish cycle of festivals is built around an agricultural calendar. Our weekly cessation of labour, on the Sabbath, benefits humans and livestock alike.

In the Torah, G-d tells Moses to instruct the people to treat the environment with care. Landowners are annually obliged to share their bountiful harvests with the poor, widow, orphan and stranger – the dispossessed, so that they too are looked after. They also must let their fields rest every 7th and 50th years. Separately, the Torah commands us not to unnecessarily destroy nature.

In the later interpretive writings of the rabbinic period, we have wonderfully rich passages charging us to maintain G-d’s work, the earth, for “if you destroy it, there’s no one to repair it after you.”

We also have the 1st century BCE story of Honi the Circle Maker who saw a man planting a carob tree which would take 70 years to reach maturity. He asked if the man expected to live so long to see it bear fruit and was told “just as I found trees my ancestors planted, so this is being planted for generations to follow.”

The carob tree planter’s story resonates with the words of the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him). He said: “No Muslim plants a tree or sows seeds and then a bird, or a human, or an animal eats from it but that it is a charity for him.”

He also strongly emphasised the importance of planting trees, saying: “If the Day of Judgement were upon one of you and he has a sapling in his hand, then let him plant it.”

The Qur’an says that the human being is G_d’s steward on earth and has been given dominion over the creation. Every human being is a trustee of this fragile planet. The duty and responsibility of this trustee is to preserve and protect it for us and for future generations, and not to dominate and destroy it.

Perhaps the best way to express the relationship between human beings and the planet is that we are in a position of stewardship to Nature.

So what can we do?

First, learn more. Understand where the harmful impacts are coming from and how to reduce them.

Second, let’s stop ignoring or denying the severity of the problems.

Third, let’s begin an honest assessment of our conduct to see where we can make possible changes.

And fourth, let’s encourage our communal institutions to also act more responsibly.

Left as is, the trajectory of our decisions and consumption patterns will accomplish the opposite of the generation of Honi the Circle Maker.

We will be negligent in our duties of stewardship for this magnificent planet with which the Almighty has graced us, and little or nothing will remain for our descendants.

As faith leaders, we believe it is our responsibility to share a message of great concern and to promote a movement for increased awareness and responsibility.

Please join us, on Mitzvah Day and every day, in helping to change our habits.

Published on www.mitzvahday.org.uk

My two strongest childhood memories of Rosh Hashanah are the amazing food at family meals and going to synagogue with my father to hear the Shofar. What are yours?

For some of us, eating certain foods during the Jewish festivals evokes early memories that formed part of our Jewish identity. My Russian-born diminutive aunt would sequester all the women in the family in her home for 3 days of cooking in anticipation of Rosh Hashanah. The meals themselves remain in my memory as times of great family togetherness and much fun for the children.

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On Rosh Hashanah, Jews are obliged according to the Torah to mark the New Year as Yom Teruah (A Day of Sounding Out) and Yom Zikhron Teruah (A Day of Remembering to Sound Out). Our Mahzors list 10 things we should contemplate when listening to the Shofar – among them are G-d’s Majesty, the Creation of the World, the Binding of Isaac, the 10 Commandments and more. The big stuff!

Rabbi David Fohrman from Aleph Beta looks in the Torah for references to Shofar and finds a connection with our national collective experience at Mt Sinai. He suggests that the verse ‘and the sound of the Shofar grew louder’ (Ex. 19:19) shouldn’t be taken literally – that there wasn’t anyone physically blowing a Shofar.

Instead, he believes, the initial sound of G-d’s revelation to Moses began as a Teruah and eventually coalesced into the words that formed the 10 Commandments. So, in listening to Shofar, we’re reminding ourselves of Sinai and of the spiritual sound of being in the Almighty’s presence.

Another Torah reference to hearing a Heavenly Voice goes back even further, to the Garden of Eden, when after eating from the Tree of Knowledge of Good & Evil, Adam and Eve hear the primordial voice of G-d ‘strolling in the Garden’ (Gen. 3:8). Rather than rejoicing with the Almighty, the first couple are said to have hidden, leading G-d to ask the question ‘Where are you?’

The rabbis of the Talmud write that by blowing the Shofar on Rosh Hashanah we ‘confuse the Satan’ who is waiting to accuse us before G-d for our shortcomings. We might ask, ‘Is the Satan so foolish to fall for the same trick every year or do we simply not understand the deeper meaning of this text?’

One approach is to recognise that the confusion is inside of us. Throughout the year some of us go about our lives thinking little about our souls and much more about our mortal existence. The sound of the Shofar confuses that little unhelpful voice inside each of us that always ‘finds excuses why not to do something in our best interest’.

Waking early in the morning to spend a few moments in meditation and prayer or being generous to others who are in need of the things we already have an abundance of, seems relatively simple, but so often just doesn’t happen. We’re trained to be self-centred from a young age.

The Shofar in the Book of Joshua was also used as a clarion call to gather troops together before going to battle, especially outside the walls of Jericho. This year’s Mitzvah Day theme calls our attention to the challenge for each of us to do better in looking after the ecology of our planet.

In case you haven’t chosen yet, please have another look at our available projects website for some amazing opportunities; including Gratitude’s gardening project in Hertfordshire, the JVS gardening project in Golders Green or helping at the Spitalfields City Farm. There are numerous crafts (Jewish Care, Haven House), cooking (Feast) and collection (Camp Simcha, Lord’s Taveners, Bike Project) opportunities as well as projects in hospices, for the homeless and with refugees. Now is a good time to decide.

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Fortunately, my wife learned some of our family recipes from my aunt before she passed away and has added some delicious ones of her own. And, for the last decade I’ve been privileged to take our children to hear the Shofar at synagogue.

The Shofar blast stirs us to check our complacencies, to examine the year that’s gone by and to ask ourselves in relation to G-d’s presence ‘Where am I?’

What answer will we give this year?

Wishing you Shanah Tovah & Tizku LeShanim Rabot,

Rabbi Jeff Berger