{"id":30185,"date":"2023-12-13T08:13:41","date_gmt":"2023-12-13T13:13:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/alumni.cornell.edu\/cornellians\/?p=30185"},"modified":"2023-12-13T08:13:43","modified_gmt":"2023-12-13T13:13:43","slug":"interfaith-dinner","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alumni.cornell.edu\/cornellians\/interfaith-dinner\/","title":{"rendered":"At Interfaith Dinner, Empathy and Understanding Are on the Menu"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"has-large-font-size\">Escaping escalating rhetoric around the Israel-Hamas war, Jewish and Muslim students gather for a meal\u2014and bonding<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>This story was condensed from <a href=\"https:\/\/news.cornell.edu\/stories\/2023\/12\/interfaith-dinner-serves-empathy-and-understanding\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">a feature<\/a> in the <\/em>Cornell Chronicle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>By <strong>David Nutt<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-drop-cap\">Planners of a recent community dinner aiming to bring together Jewish and Muslim students, as well as those of other religions, thought they might get 40 people to attend. Instead, they drew twice that many. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cWe had to start setting up extra tables and chairs, because there were so many people who hadn\u2019t registered who heard about the event from their friends and wanted to tag along,\u201d says Alexander Burnett \u201925, an interfaith coordinator with the <a href=\"https:\/\/scl.cornell.edu\/osmm\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Office of Spirituality and Meaning-Making<\/a> (OSMM) in the Division of Student and Campus Life, which held the \u201ccommunity care dinner\u201d in Anabel Taylor Hall in early December.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cMy biggest takeaway is that more events like this are needed. People, I think, have a desire to talk to people who, like on the news and social media, you get alienated from or are distrustful of, or you\u2019re just unsure of how to communicate with them.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image alignwide size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"576\" src=\"https:\/\/alumni.cornell.edu\/cornellians\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/12\/IMG_9953-A-1024x576.jpg\" alt=\"Students at an interfaith dinner in Anabel Taylor Hall\" class=\"wp-image-30179\" srcset=\"https:\/\/alumni.cornell.edu\/cornellians\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/12\/IMG_9953-A-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/alumni.cornell.edu\/cornellians\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/12\/IMG_9953-A-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/alumni.cornell.edu\/cornellians\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/12\/IMG_9953-A-768x432.jpg 768w, https:\/\/alumni.cornell.edu\/cornellians\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/12\/IMG_9953-A-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/alumni.cornell.edu\/cornellians\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/12\/IMG_9953-A-800x450.jpg 800w, https:\/\/alumni.cornell.edu\/cornellians\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/12\/IMG_9953-A-608x342.jpg 608w, https:\/\/alumni.cornell.edu\/cornellians\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/12\/IMG_9953-A-304x171.jpg 304w, https:\/\/alumni.cornell.edu\/cornellians\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/12\/IMG_9953-A-152x85.jpg 152w, https:\/\/alumni.cornell.edu\/cornellians\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/12\/IMG_9953-A-1184x666.jpg 1184w, https:\/\/alumni.cornell.edu\/cornellians\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/12\/IMG_9953-A-592x333.jpg 592w, https:\/\/alumni.cornell.edu\/cornellians\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/12\/IMG_9953-A-296x166.jpg 296w, https:\/\/alumni.cornell.edu\/cornellians\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/12\/IMG_9953-A-1264x711.jpg 1264w, https:\/\/alumni.cornell.edu\/cornellians\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/12\/IMG_9953-A-632x356.jpg 632w, https:\/\/alumni.cornell.edu\/cornellians\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/12\/IMG_9953-A-316x178.jpg 316w, https:\/\/alumni.cornell.edu\/cornellians\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/12\/IMG_9953-A-400x225.jpg 400w, https:\/\/alumni.cornell.edu\/cornellians\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/12\/IMG_9953-A-200x113.jpg 200w, https:\/\/alumni.cornell.edu\/cornellians\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/12\/IMG_9953-A-100x56.jpg 100w, https:\/\/alumni.cornell.edu\/cornellians\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/12\/IMG_9953-A.jpg 1600w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:55px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>The event sought to help students escape the escalating rhetoric around the Israel-Hamas war and instead bond over the common experiences of their faith, their passions, and daily life at Cornell.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThere was a lot of thought put into it,\u201d says Laila Salih \u201925, a computational biology major in CALS who helped plan and host the dinner. \u201cWe really wanted to make sure that it was an event where all felt included, while also trying to balance the intense political climate on campus.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The solution was to create a space for students to engage with each other without any agenda besides understanding everyone\u2019s shared humanity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThere\u2019s been healing spaces for Jewish students and healing spaces for Muslim students, but there hasn\u2019t really been a space for both of them to speak together,\u201d says Salih, who grew up in Sudan and Seattle and is a member of the Muslim Educational Cultural Association and the Pan-African Muslim Student Association. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p>There\u2019s been healing spaces for Jewish students and healing spaces for Muslim students, but there hasn\u2019t really been a space for both of them to speak together.<\/p>\n<cite><strong>Laila Salih \u201925<\/strong><\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cI know from the Muslim side, we wonder like, \u2018Oh, what\u2019s going on? What are they thinking?\u2019 And I\u2019m just as sure that from their side as well they were probably wondering the same thing. \u2026 I think a lot of students on campus want that space. It\u2019s just been so tense and nerve-racking to ask for it or to seek it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The idea for the dinner grew out of brainstorming sessions led by Ivy Breivogel, assistant director of OSMM, who was inspired by a curriculum called \u201cBridging the Gap\u201d that she discovered at an annual Interfaith America conference. The brainstorming sessions pulled together a diverse group of students, joined by Rabbi Talia Laster from Cornell Hillel and Chaplain Numan Dugmeoglu from Cornell Muslim Life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cWe really want to equip students to have these conversations and to build these relationships in this community,\u201d Breivogel says, \u201cso that the next time something like this happens in the world\u2014and there\u2019s a lot of tension and pressure on campus, and conflict building\u2014our student leaders would be equipped and aware and already have the community to lean into.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p>We really want to equip students to have these conversations and to build these relationships in this community.<\/p>\n<cite><strong>Ivy Breivogel<\/strong>, assistant director, Office of Spirituality and Meaning-Making<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p>Even the food was inclusive, with lasagna, salad, vegetarian dishes, and pies and cobblers\u2014all kosher and halal. Students were urged to sit with people they didn\u2019t know, six or seven per table.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Salih and Micah Sher \u201925, an environmental sustainability major in CALS, gave brief introductions that were threaded with insights from their own faiths.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Salih explained how, according to Islamic belief, Jews, Muslims, and Christians are all \u201cAhl al-kit\u0101b\u201d (\u201cpeople of the book\u201d)\u2014meaning they share a common spiritual heritage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Sher was inspired by Salih\u2019s anecdote\u2014\u201cit allowed people to come into the space looking for spiritual meaning, not necessarily political divides,\u201d he says\u2014so he referenced a portion from the Mishnah, which is the oral tradition of Jewish law, that was suggested by Rabbi Talia Laster.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"576\" src=\"https:\/\/alumni.cornell.edu\/cornellians\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/12\/IMG_0009-A-1024x576.jpg\" alt=\"Students Laila Salih and Micah Sher holding microphones at the interfaith dinner.\" class=\"wp-image-30177\" srcset=\"https:\/\/alumni.cornell.edu\/cornellians\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/12\/IMG_0009-A-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/alumni.cornell.edu\/cornellians\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/12\/IMG_0009-A-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/alumni.cornell.edu\/cornellians\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/12\/IMG_0009-A-768x432.jpg 768w, https:\/\/alumni.cornell.edu\/cornellians\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/12\/IMG_0009-A-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/alumni.cornell.edu\/cornellians\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/12\/IMG_0009-A-800x450.jpg 800w, https:\/\/alumni.cornell.edu\/cornellians\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/12\/IMG_0009-A-608x342.jpg 608w, https:\/\/alumni.cornell.edu\/cornellians\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/12\/IMG_0009-A-304x171.jpg 304w, https:\/\/alumni.cornell.edu\/cornellians\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/12\/IMG_0009-A-152x85.jpg 152w, https:\/\/alumni.cornell.edu\/cornellians\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/12\/IMG_0009-A-1184x666.jpg 1184w, https:\/\/alumni.cornell.edu\/cornellians\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/12\/IMG_0009-A-592x333.jpg 592w, https:\/\/alumni.cornell.edu\/cornellians\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/12\/IMG_0009-A-296x166.jpg 296w, https:\/\/alumni.cornell.edu\/cornellians\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/12\/IMG_0009-A-1264x711.jpg 1264w, https:\/\/alumni.cornell.edu\/cornellians\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/12\/IMG_0009-A-632x356.jpg 632w, https:\/\/alumni.cornell.edu\/cornellians\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/12\/IMG_0009-A-316x178.jpg 316w, https:\/\/alumni.cornell.edu\/cornellians\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/12\/IMG_0009-A-400x225.jpg 400w, https:\/\/alumni.cornell.edu\/cornellians\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/12\/IMG_0009-A-200x113.jpg 200w, https:\/\/alumni.cornell.edu\/cornellians\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/12\/IMG_0009-A-100x56.jpg 100w, https:\/\/alumni.cornell.edu\/cornellians\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/12\/IMG_0009-A.jpg 1600w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Laila Salih \u201925 (left) and Micah Sher \u201925 offered brief introductions at the event.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:30px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>Sher and Salih also delivered a very modern edict: they encouraged everyone to put away their phones.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cSomething that I was very acutely aware of was how social media contributes to the current polarization that we\u2019re seeing,\u201d Sher says. \u201cI specifically wanted people to be distanced from their online personas when they were in person, talking to each other.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>To help spur meaningful dialogue, the organizers provided the attendees with prompts: \u201cShare about a moment on campus when you were acutely aware of your religious (or other) identity\u201d and \u201cHow have the events of the world (and on campus) affected your spiritual life this semester?\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Then representatives from each table gave a summary of what they\u2019d discussed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>At the end of the dinner, the students were given cards on which they each wrote a message of love and kindness. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Then they shuffled the cards, exchanged them, and carried them off into the night.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>All photos provided by Student and Campus Life.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-small-font-size\">Published December 13, 2023<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\" \/>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Escaping escalating rhetoric around the Israel-Hamas war, Jewish and Muslim students gather for a meal\u2014and bonding<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":68,"featured_media":30178,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"alumni_hub_syml_posts":[29948,14818,21852],"footnotes":""},"categories":[223],"tags":[],"cornell_year_post":[],"post_folder":[],"class_list":["post-30185","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-students"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>At Interfaith Dinner, Empathy and Understanding Are on the Menu - Cornellians | Cornell University<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Escaping escalating rhetoric around the Israel-Hamas war, Jewish and Muslim students 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