The Northwestern Muslim-cultural Students Association and Hillel sponsored Shalom/Salaam: Jewish-Muslim Chai Chat on Thursday, where Jewish and Muslim students and other members of the NU community gathered to discuss religious differences and similarities.
About 30 people assembled in a Kresge Hall classroom at 7 p.m. removed for the first Chai Chat between Jewish and Muslim students on campus.
“You’re doing something very pioneering here,” Associate University Chaplain Tahera Ahmad said to the event participants. “I believe in coming together and having a discussion. Historically between Muslims and Jews, there is a lot of political debate but we’re here to talk to each other about who we are as individuals, as students, as human beings.”
After the introduction, participants broke out into groups with both Muslim and Jewish attendees to discuss questions they had about each other’s faith and cultures. Some of the topics discussed include the reasons why they decided to come to the event, their religious identities and their holiday traditions.
“It was an overall positive atmosphere,” McCormick senior Najim Yaqubie said. “It’s always good to learn from different perspectives. It was enlightening to hear about the struggles we share that are not apparent immediately.”
University Chaplain Timothy Stevens helped organize the event to facilitate positive bonds between the two groups of students.
“I know that on other college campuses there are tensions between Jewish and Muslim communities where they occasionally have little conflicts but we get along pretty well,” Stevens said. “We wanted to enhance that.”
In order to create these bonds, Stevens added, it was important to discuss peaceful topics instead of the controversies between the two religions for the first Chai Chat.
“Since this was the first time we tried it, I thought, ‘Let’s not jump into controversial issues,'” he said. “The difficult questions are important and ones we need to get to, but if you start there, you end there.”
Weinberg junior Nathan Abelman said he thought it was beneficial to attend an event where he was able to make new friends while having important discussions
“It’s always good to develop greater understanding about other people,” Abelman said. “I don’t know a lot about Islam and there’s a large Muslim community at Northwestern.”
Some students in attendance were also at the protest of Israeli journalist Gil Hoffman on Nov. 10, where about 20 students walked out of Hoffman’s speech in the McCormick Tribune Center forum, alleging his work supported Islamophobic ideals. Communication junior Rayyan Najeeb said the type of discourse fostered at the Chai Chat can help Muslim and Jewish students discuss their differences efficiently and fairly.
“The reason there was a protest was because there wasn’t a productive dialogue presented,” Najeeb said. “I came to the Chai Chat for productive dialogue and it has been. I hope it can continue for the future and bring the Northwestern community closer together.”
