Observant Muslim, Orthodox Jew To Lead New Jersey Township
A practicing Muslim and an Orthodox Jew have been chosen to run a New Jersey township.
Mohammed Hameeduddin was picked last week by the Teaneck Township Council to serve as mayor and Adam Gussen was chosen as deputy mayor for two-year terms.
Hameeduddin, Teaneck’s first Muslim mayor, is one of only a handful of Muslims to lead a U.S. municipality.
The leaders attended middle school together in Teaneck, which has a large Orthodox Jewish population, and both attended Rutgers University, according to ABC News.
“Nowhere else is this possible,” Hameeduddin told ABC. “The opportunity to bring two communities together and break down stereotypes that have belittled our nation is both monumental and humbling.”
Why I became the Forward’s Editor-in-Chief
You are surely a friend of the Forward if you’re reading this. And so it’s with excitement and awe — of all that the Forward is, was, and will be — that I introduce myself to you as the Forward’s newest editor-in-chief.
And what a time to step into the leadership of this storied Jewish institution! For 129 years, the Forward has shaped and told the American Jewish story. I’m stepping in at an intense time for Jews the world over. We urgently need the Forward’s courageous, unflinching journalism — not only as a source of reliable information, but to provide inspiration, healing and hope.
