The first Ramadan iftar for Mordy Miller, my Jewish-Israeli friend
Every iftar is special, but this is preciousโour intimate personal Jewish-Muslim Ramadan ๐ช๐ง๐ต๐ข๐ณ gathering.
My dear friends Eniko and Mordy joined our family in todayโs breaking of the Ramadan fast. This was Mordy Millerโs first-ever Ramadan iftar. Mordyis is an Israeli scholar/Ph.D. candidate in Jewish Studies residing with his family in Singapore. He is a member of the Jewish Community in Singapore and the founder of Shalom Point for Hebrew language and Israel Studies.
We shared the blessed moment with dates, water and lentil-rice soup. This is a tradition followed by many Muslims around the world. Today, we included ๐ป๐ข๐ฎ ๐ป๐ข๐ฎ, the holy water from Mecca.
I was also happy that both of them enjoyed ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฃ๐ถ ๐ฌ๐ข๐ฏ๐ซ๐ช (lentil-rice soup in Tamil) with ๐ฑ๐ข๐ณ๐ถ๐ฑ๐ฑ๐ถ ๐ท๐ข๐ฅ๐ข๐ช (almost like the vegetarian ๐ง๐ข๐ญ๐ข๐ง๐ฆ๐ญ), a popular combination for breaking fast in Tamil Muslim households of South Indian origin. We went all vegetarian to tick the kosher-halal requirements. This was not necessary, but it was comfortable and convenient.
The most meaningful part of the evening was Eniko and Mordy meeting my family, conversing, and learning about each other. I liked how some parts of the chats were organically directed to identifying the commonalities and differences in religious practices. These kinds of exchanges happen naturally when there is a genuine interest in getting to know each other. Between Judaism and Islam, there are more similarities than differences. Some may be adamant about accepting this, but such ignorance resides among strangers.
Mordy Miller closed the iftar with 'Birkat haOreach', a Jewish prayer recited as the guest's blessing, which is part of Birkat hamazon (blessing God for the food).
The Muslims, too, have such a supplication:
ุงููููููู ูู ุจุงุฑููู ููููู ู ููู ุง ุฑูุฒููููุชูููู ุ ููุงุบููููุฑู ูููููู ู ููุงุฑูุญูู ูููู ู
๐ ๐๐ญ๐ญ๐ข๐ฉ, ๐ฃ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ด๐ด ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฎ ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ท๐ฆ ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ท๐ช๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฎ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ๐จ๐ช๐ท๐ฆ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ท๐ฆ ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ค๐บ ๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฎ.
(Reference: Muslim 3/1615)
I am ending this day with gratitude to Allah, God, for yet another opportunity to meet, share, listen and know more about each other over good food and setting. We realise and appreciate this is a privileged situation, so we will treasure it from where we are.
I am missing some friends who I wish were here too. Thanks, Mordy and Eniko, for the presents. Thank you to my Elaine Robinson and friends at Sir Manasseh Meyer International School for the surprise gift.
