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Local News
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12/5/2002 2:08:47 PM
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Religions share faiths
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Jews and Muslims enjoy their holidays
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Tom Giffey
Leader-Telegram Staff
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Staff photo by Andi Stempniak
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Mort Sipress of Eau Claire, left, and David Gordon of Altoona
lighted menorahs during a joint Hanukkah-Ramadan celebration Wednesday at UW-Eau Claire.
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With prayers, songs and plenty of goodwill, Jews and Muslims
shared their faiths and their food Wednesday at a joint holiday celebration.
The event at UW-Eau Claire marked the overlapping of Ramadan, Islam’s holiest month, and Hanukkah, an eight-day Jewish
festival.
Participants said the celebration helped dispel the belief, fueled by reports of Middle East violence, that the religions have no
common ground.
“In a way it demonstrates to the larger community that we can talk to each other and we do talk to each other,” said Sue Gordon
of Altoona, a member of the board of Temple Sholom, Eau Claire’s synagogue.
Free of the complicated territorial and historical pressures in the Middle East, Jews and Muslims in Eau Claire get along well,
she said.
About 200 people, many of them college students, gathered for the event, which was sponsored in part by Temple Sholom and
the Islamic Center and Mosque in Altoona.
Muslims broke their daylong fast at sunset Wednesday, which signaled the end of Ramadan.
Mahmoud Taman of Chippewa Falls, an elder at the mosque, explained Ramadan is the month Muslims believe the Quran was
revealed to the prophet Mohammed. It is a period during which the gates of heaven are open and the gates of hell are closed, a
time when the prayers of the devout are answered and Muslims are “more conscious of God himself,” Taman said.
Today begins the three-day Holiday of Eid, during which Muslims “eat and be merry” and children receive new clothing and treats,
he explained.
Taman beamed proudly as a group of six youngsters -- mostly his grandchildren -- held lanterns and sang a song in Arabic,
demonstrating a tradition in some Muslim countries similar to trick-or-treating in the United States.
Earlier people were invited to help light menorahs, traditional candelabras used in Hanukkah celebrations. Hanukkah commemorates
the rededication of Jerusalem’s temple more than 2,000 years ago, when Jews believe a one-day supply of oil burned for eight
days.
Gordon led the singing of two songs, one a traditional Hanukkah tune, the second a parody of the first that dealt almost exclusively
with latkas, Eastern European potato pancakes often eaten at Hanukkah.
“You can tell from the songs that this isn’t a very solemn holiday,” Gordon remarked.
Onlookers said the celebration was an educational experience on a campus that is overwhelmingly white and Christian.
Ally Welch, a UW-Eau Claire sophomore, said having grown up in a small Wisconsin town, she knew little about Islam or
Judaism.
“When I heard this was together, I was so surprised,” she said of the interfaith event.
“It’s interesting to see the people of different cultures because we don’t see that on campus,” added Marissa Klousie, a
junior.
The banquet included numerous dishes unlikely to be found at a traditional Wisconsin potluck.
Sal Obaid, a native of Syria, described the bountiful buffet, particularly the kobba -- a fried-dumpling stuffed with meat, pine
nuts and spices -- made by his wife, Fay. Other featured dishes included baba ghanouj, an eggplant-based purée served on pita
bread; tabbouleh, a salad of bulgur wheat, parsley and other vegetables; falafel, a deep-fried vegetable patty; and baklava, a
delicate desert made of thin layers of pastry and nuts soaked in honey.
Organizer Helaine Minkus, president of Temple Sholom and a UW-Eau Claire professor, said she hopes the event demonstrates
that some people in Eau Claire celebrate holidays other than Christmas at this time of year.
Taman added he hoped the students who took part got a taste of different cultures and religions along with a taste of food.
He began his remarks with a verse from the Quran that said God made people into nations and tribes, “that you may know each other,
not that you may despise each other.”
Giffey can be reached at 833-9205, (800) 236-7077 or tom.giffey@ecpc.com.
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