Imam Consoles Jewish Community Over Murder of Ezra Schwartz
Image by Facebook / icne.net
Digital Fellow Lior Zaltzman November 23, 2015
After Ezra Schwartz of Sharon, Massachusetts, was tragically killed on Friday in a West Bank terror attack, his Jewish community was heartbroken. Thousands gathered at the funeral for Schwartz, who in his 18 years did so much to brighten his community, and who died while spending a gap year in the country that he loved, Israel, where he was studying and volunteering. Many strangers who heard the news were also moved by his story.
READ MORE: 8 Heartbreaking Pictures of Slain Teen Ezra Schwartz
One compassionate response came from what some might consider unlikely quarters. The Imam of Sharon, Massachusetts, sent the following letter of condolence to Schwartz’s family and Sharon’s Jewish community. Addressing it to “My Jewish Brothers and Sisters,” he quoted Psalms and ended with the traditional Jewish condolences: “May God comfort you among the other mourners of Zion and Jerusalem,” transliterated from the Hebrew.
Image by Facebook
It was a heartfelt and genuine gesture that did not feel forced or fake. Jewish social media users shared the letter widely, many lauding the Muslim leader’s epistolary olive branch. If one good thing could come out of such a tragic event, maybe it’s that these two communities — Jewish and Muslim — have been brought slightly closer together.
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning journalism this Passover.
In this age of misinformation, our work is needed like never before. We report on the news that matters most to American Jews, driven by truth, not ideology.
At a time when newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall. That means for the first time in our 126-year history, Forward journalism is free to everyone, everywhere. With an ongoing war, rising antisemitism, and a flood of disinformation that may affect the upcoming election, we believe that free and open access to Jewish journalism is imperative.
Readers like you make it all possible. Right now, we’re in the middle of our Passover Pledge Drive and we still need 300 people to step up and make a gift to sustain our trustworthy, independent journalism.
Make a gift of any size and become a Forward member today. You’ll support our mission to tell the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
Only 300 more gifts needed by April 30
