For the First Time: Jewish and Muslim Religious Figures, a Druze Historian and a Christian

For the First Time: Jewish and Muslim Religious Figures, A Druze Historian and a Christian Student Pray Together in Poland

Warsaw, Poland: In a precedent-setting joint prayer meeting, Muslim, Druze, and Christian representatives, together with a Jewish Rabbi, prayed together on Sunday May 15 in Warsaw for the souls of Jewish Holocaust victims.

The ceremony was held in the framework of a joint Jewish-Arab delegation to the Nazi death camps in Poland, itself part of the “Jewish-Arab Coexistence Program” sponsored by the dean of students at Bar-Ilan University, together with the Children of Abraham Association.

Prayers were held on Heroism Route close to 18 Mila Street, the site of the bunker of Mordechai Anilewitz , leader of the Warsaw Ghetto uprising.

The delegation, headed by Dr. Daniella Gurevitch, head of communications at Bar-Ilan University, and including 60 students and Jewish, Arab, Muslim, Christian and Druze figures, left on May 15 for a five-day official visit to the death camps and historic Jewish sites in Poland, taking with them a message of reconciliation, tolerance and education for peace.

At the prayer meeting, Bhajath Barhum, a senior Muslim member of the Children of Abraham Association, expressed identification with the Jewish people.

Dr. Salah Shakiv, a representative of the Druze community, prayed for the souls of the victims and that they would reach paradise.

Rabbi Shmuel Weiner, founder of the joint religious study center for Jews and Arabs in Kibbutz Ma’aleh Gilboa, recited the “El Maleh Rahamim” prayer and Kaddish, and Hela Ayov, a Christian student from Gush Haleav in the Galilee, recited “Our Father”.

The rest of the delegation’s timetable is as follows:

Monday, 13:00-16:00 – Maideneck March with the delegation flags, culminating in a ceremony at “The Mount of Ashes.”

Tuesday 8:00 – Ceremony in the large and magnificent Temple synagogue in Krakow.

Wednesday 9:00 – Meeting with Polish students at Jagiellonian University, Krakow, and a meeting with a Professor who is the grandson of a Righteous Gentile, and who will show the delegates around a reconstructed synagogue and an exhibition of pictures by Polish Jews.

Thursday – Auschwitz. At 18:00 a ceremony together with a delegation from the IDF, including the Chief of Staff and with a delegation from the Israel Police.

Delegation members can be contacted for interviews by means of the director of the Children of Abraham Association, Mr. Amir Tadmor, 00-48-6086-81735 or Dr. Daniella Gurevitch +972 54 490 0409