WASHINGTON (JTA) — Free medical screenings and a clean-up day were part of a U.S. bridge-building group’s third season of Muslim-Jewish "twinning" events.
Over the weekend, Jewish and Muslim doctors in the Detroit area joined under the auspices of their respective umbrella bodies to provide the medical screenings for the poor, and in the Maryland suburbs of Washington, mosque and synagogue youth groups organized a clean-up and mulching day.
The Foundation for Ethnic Understanding said this year’s events will feature more than 100 mosques and 100 synagogues. The events will be held through the end of 2010.
This weekend, Jewish and Muslim groups in the New York City borough of Queens will jointly lobby municipal officials for improvements in services, including security for synagogues and mosques.
"The targeting this summer of Muslim communities in New York, Tennessee and elsewhere demonstrate that we as a country have a long way to go until all men and women are accepted as equals," Rabbi Marc Schneier, the foundation’s president, said in a statement.
The twinning events began on the weekend of Oct. 31, when participants from Israel and a number of Muslim, European and North American nations went online to share information on Jewish-Muslim activities.
