by Deena Yellin
In the aftermath of the 2016 presidential election, during which there was an increase of hate crimes, a shell shocked Arwen Kuttner sought a way to take positive action.
“I didn’t want Muslims or immigrants feeling we were all against them,” said the Englewood resident, who teaches at a yeshiva day school in Paramus. “Nor did I want people turning against Jews. I felt we needed each other so that we weren’t treated as outsiders.”
Then she heard about Sisterhood of Salaam Shalom, a national, New-Jersey-based group that seeks to build bridges among Muslim and Jewish women. Group leaders were inundated with e-mails and calls from others who apparently felt the same way as Kuttner. Some were from Bergen County, where there was no chapter.
Kuttner contacted other local women who had expressed an interest in the group.
“I said `Let’s all get together at my place,’ ” she said.
She’s now co-leader of the 12-plus member Bergen County Chapter of Sisterhood of Salaam Shalom whose goal is to form friendships and wage peace across religious and cultural lines.
Growth spurt
The group is one of a growing crop of Muslim-Jewish interfaith collaborations, such as the Syrian Supper Club, where Jewish congregants invite Syrians to their home to cook and share a meal and, in turn, the diners make a donation to support the Syrian families. Other Jewish communities have raised money for damaged mosques or offered their own facilities as prayer spaces and Muslims across the U.S. have raised money in online campaigns to repair Jewish cemeteries that were vandalized.
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