“An extraordinary evening at temple Isaiah”

On Saturday, March 29th members from my Ahmadiyya Muslim community mosque in Silver Spring and I spent an evening celebrating food and songs of the Christian, Jewish, and Muslim communities at the Temple Isaiah in Fulton. This was a unique and memorable experience for all the participants because the warmth everyone felt there and contributed to cannot be described in words. The feeling of sitting together with members of the other faiths, learning about their traditions by listening to their songs, eating the numerous and delicious foods prepared by them, and witnessing the young and old of all the faiths getting together to participate, especially in the end to sing the “If I had a hammer” song, was very appealing. It was very picturesque to see how individuals from the Christian, Jewish, and Muslim communities showed gratefulness to each other and thanked each other for their efforts while they appreciated the foods prepared by all. It was also fun to see the interest of the ladies and children in choosing favorite bangles from the box that we had provided and desperately waiting in line to get henna tattoos that were being applied by some of our members. It almost appeared as if there was just one large family indeed celebrating something- perhaps their uniqueness. The beautiful voices of the children’s choir from the Church of Latter-day Saints Olney 1st Ward, the melodious voice of soloist Ms. Doller and the musical performances by Rabbi Axler and his family were also outstanding and are still vivid in my memory. Certainly, this event not only exemplified that people of all faiths can co-exsit in harmony and peace, but also provided a pleasant opportunity to get away from the frustrations of our daily lives. I enjoyed the ‘Celebration of Food and Song’ so much that I eagerly look forward to attending more of such interfaith events. Meanwhile, I also hope that we can all come together everyday like we did that Saturday.