Bill Livingston was ready for the iftar.
Livingston, who is Jewish, was a participant in a traditional Ramadan fast-breaking dinner on Tuesday, March 5, at Congregation Shaare Emeth where he is a member. The congregation was the host for an interfaith iftar dinner that included members of Parkway United Church of Christ (PUCC) and the Turkish American Society of Missouri (TASOM).
“I attended a few years ago and they had a curried lentil soup,” Livingston said. “It was unbelievable. I would have had that as my whole dinner if I could have.”
Food was the theme of the evening, and it was an abundant spread of Turkish delights, prepared by TASOM. The real goal of the event was understanding of people from different cultures and faiths. Livingston said it was a worthy objective.
“Anytime you can talk and listen to people with different beliefs is beneficial,” he said. “You don’t have to agree, but it helps you understand.”
More than 200 guests attended the interfaith iftar. The timing of the dinner was intentional, according to Rabbi Andrea Goldstein from Shaare Emeth.
“Ramadan will overlap with Passover and Easter,” Goldstein said. “We chose to look at themes of renewal this year. This is what it looks like when different communities come together. This is definitely a group that embraces that.”
Intertwine Interfaith Initiative origins
Eleven years ago, PUCC developed an interfaith youth program and reached out to Shaare Emeth, its neighbor two miles north on New Ballas Road. The church and synagogue then brought in TASOM to create a tri-faith partnership. The result is the Intertwine Interfaith Initiative, a group that gets together on a regular basis.
“We work on social justice projects,” Goldstein said. “Sometimes it’s for social events, like a coffee at Parkway Church a couple of months ago. The three communities even worked together and sponsored a new immigrant family from Afghanistan. For several years, the Turkish American Muslim Society has wanted to share with the whole group the beautiful tradition of the iftar dinner. It is the daily fast meal at the end of each day of Ramadan.”
The program began with three prayers offered by each group’s leader, then the customary but simple fast-breaking tradition in Muslim culture at sunset during Ramadan: eating dates and drinking water. There is a practical reason for this tradition, explained a Muslim guest at one table. Dates are rich in vitamins and antioxidants. They also provide a quick energy boost after fasting all day.
Each table at the iftar consisted of Jews, Christians and Muslims. They all ate dates together. Along with the dinner to follow, food was the common denominator that brought together people from different faiths, according to Ekrem Bel of TASOM.
“It’s a great way to actually build connections,” Bel said. “We all eat, right? It’s a human thing. We all enjoy it, and it starts from there.”
Pastor Kevin Cameron from PUCC said he was looking forward to the event—and baklava, one of his Turkish food favorites. The decade-plus history of the Intertwine Interfaith Initiative was a good example of diverse groups working together and creating understanding.
“We’ve worked on fellowship events, we’ve done study events, we’ve done outreach mission events,” Cameron said. “Part of the beauty of it is that, when difficult things happen here or in the world, we already have strong relationships. It can be hard to build those relationships as a reaction to something, but if you do it proactively, and if you do it because you know it’s important and you recognize that we belong to each other, then you’re there for the rough spots that happen.”
Interfaith communities can only benefit from building bridges and creating dialogue, according to Rabbi Jim Bennett from Shaare Emeth.
“At this moment in history, when there is so much misinformation, stereotyping, prejudices, tension, and even hatred between people in the Jewish community and the Muslim community and the Christian community, that the only way we can possibly overcome that is by getting to know one another,” Bennett said. “For the Muslim community to invite people of other faiths into their sacred time of Ramadan, with this ancient tradition of iftar dinner, to me is a role model for the whole community. It’s what we should be doing, which is breaking bread together, literally, and eating together.”
