Andrew Rehfeld, Jewish Federation of St. Louis President and CEO, did not initially publicly thank the Muslim organization that raised funds to help repair a local Jewish cemetery because he and others had not yet been able to verify that the campaign was legitimate, he explained during an event with a Muslim activist on March 8 at Washington University. 

It had nothing to do with the fact that it was a Muslim campaign. It was just that sometimes in crisis fundraising, people create false charities, Rehfeld said.

The effort did turn out to be legitimate and the morning after the panel discussion at Graham Memorial Chapel, Tarek El-Messidi, who organized the campaign, delivered a $40,000 check to Chesed Shel Emeth Cemetery in University City, where 154 headstones were vandalized last month. 

The campaign has raised $160,000 and the remainder of the money will be used to help in repairs at a vandalized Jewish cemetery in Philadelphia and to upgrade security around the burial grounds of these cemeteries and other Jewish institutions.

The lack of immediate acknowledgement about the Muslim fundraising campaign proved to be a relatively small matter and there has been much goodwill between the Jewish and Muslim communities amidst the continued bomb threats against Jewish community centers and the destruction of mosques and Jewish cemeteries around the country. 

But still, the focus of the panel discussion, which was sponsored by the Danforth Center on Religion and Politics, was on how to build lasting cooperation among the American Jews and Muslims despite differences between the two groups.

“I don’t want to see this die down, I don’t want to see this beautiful moment of collaboration go away,” said El-Messidi, the founding director of Celebrate Mercy, a Muslim advocacy organization. “Let’s say, God forbid, that there another huge escalation overseas (in) Israel-Palestine, I hope that (we can) have honest dialogue because of the trust that we are building now.”

There have been a number of interfaith gatherings — in addition to the vigil after the cemetery vandalism attended by Gov. Eric Greitens and more than 1,000 other people —  in recent years, in part because of the number of terrorist attacks. After terrorists affiliated with the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) killed 130 people in Paris in November 2015, Christian, Jewish and Muslim clergy gathered at Eden Theological Seminary in Webster Groves for a service.

And for the last six years, Jews and Muslims have volunteered together on Christmas at locations throughout St. Louis

But is it possible to build deeper, wider partnerships rather than just periodic events?

“How do you build that trust, because It seems that the relationships we have between the Muslim, Christian and Jewish communities are delicate because we are also grappling with real geopolitical issues that affect people,” said Mohamed Gabir, the president of Muslim Student Association at Washington U. who was one of about 200 people in the audience, listing Israeli settlements and wars as challenges.

Rehfeld suggested “starting with a meal before you begin that dialogue (on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict). Start with something where you are put face to face with the other.” Rehfeld suggested a kosher restaurant (it’s unclear whether he was meaning Kohn’s Kosher Deli or Gokul, the vegetarian Indian restaurant), to which El-Messidi responded, “it’s very good.”

Still, El-Messidi organized the cemetery fundraising campaign with Linda Sarsour, a Muslim activist who has criticized Israel and expressed support for the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement. There were some people in the Jewish community who would not publicly thank Sarsour for the campaign because of her actions towards Israel, Rehfeld said.

El-Messidi suggested that the two faith groups could focus on domestic issues, where “we have so much in common” and said that work could translate to peace abroad. 

But in the United States, there have been concerns among Muslims, Jews and other opponents of President Donald Trump about how he and other members of the administration treat the two faith groups. El-Messidi contrasted Trump’s travel ban and talk of “radical Islamic terrorists” with President George W. Bush, who after the 9/11 attacks said of Islam, “its teachings are good and peaceful, and those who commit evil in the name of Allah blaspheme the name of Allah.”

Rehfeld also said that the Trump’s delay in condemning anti-Semitic attacks has created problems for the Jewish community. He said he had heard little condemnation from the administration until he stood in the back of a pick-up truck with Vice President Mike Pence at the cemetery. (Rehfeld said some people criticized him for appearing with Pence. But he said he wondered what the response would have been if he had turned down the vice president.)

Rather than focus on the often toxic rhetoric, Rehfeld said, “don’t demonize the other and more importantly, don’t fall prey to the demonization of the other.” 

El-Messidi spoke about enjoying kosher meat and the commonalities between the two religions. He suggested that a synagogue could host a meal during Ramadan  — the month in which Muslims fast from sunrise to sunset — or that a mosque could host a meal after a Jewish fast day.

He said other people have suggested that they start a joint fund to combat Islamophobia and anti-Semitism. After an attempted arson at a mosque in Florida on Feb. 24, a campaign to help in repairs started to receive donations in multiples of 18, a number that in Hebrew symbolizes “chai” and is meant to wish the recipient a good life. The Muslim activist said that he did not initially know the significance of that number.

 “We’re starting to see reciprocation,” El Messidi, who lives in Philadelphia and has received emails from Jewish donors asking how they can help. “There was no expectation of reciprocation.”

Myra Ekram, a 19-year-old student at Maryville University, attended the panel discussion with a friend from her mosque in Ballwin. She also attended the cemetery cleanup after the vandalism. Participating in such events, she said, “can open people’s eyes who only saw the conflict between Muslims and Jews…. To see people at the cemetery, (it showed) that it’s not just about religion, it was kind of just a big family thing.”

But there are still barriers to interfaith work, said Ekram’s friend, Mariam Hashimi, a graduate student at Washington University.

“From my participation with interfaith work, we have always talked about the benefits of collaboration but people haven’t really been fully honest about the barriers that there are,” said Hashimi, 24. 

She said that in interfaith work, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is an issue that “people don’t want to bring up and I appreciated them addressing that and showing ways to collaborate in spite of those elephants in the room.”