Note the similarities between Easter, Passover, and Ramadan. The most obvious is the sharing of a meal together with family and friends. What better way for people to get to better know and understand each other than to talk over dinner.
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“That which unites us is greater than that which divides us.” We have all heard this saying before, in one way or another, and though we may take it for granted, there is much wisdom in that adage.
As New Yorkers, we often do not realize just how much commonality we all share, especially when it comes to celebrating each other’s faiths. At no time of the year is this more apparent than in spring, when the world’s major religions each observe a renewal of spirit in their own way.
Tonight, for instance, Jewish New Yorkers will gather around the dinner table for the Seder on the first night of Passover. A few days later, on Easter Sunday, Christians will break bread together to celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ. (Orthodox Christians will celebrate Easter a week later, on April 12.)
Passover commemorates the liberation of the Jewish people from their captors in Egypt, who enslaved them. Easter celebrates what many Christians believe is the moment of liberation from spiritual death.
Both holidays were preceded this year by the observance of Ramadan in the Muslim community, which marks the first revelation of the Quran. For weeks, Muslim New Yorkers fasted and prayed from sunrise to sunset, then came together for Iftar dinners to nourish their bodies and souls.
Note the similarities between Easter, Passover, and Ramadan. The most obvious is the sharing of a meal together with family and friends. What better way for people to get to better know and understand each other than to talk over dinner.
But beyond food, there is the common celebration of freedom and spiritual renewal between the faiths. This celebration is preceded or accompanied by periods of fasting and other forms of sacrifice, with the intention of helping all who observe better appreciate and understand the meaning of these holy days.
And that is only a fraction of the greater commonalities shared among the Jewish, Christian and Muslim faiths, all of which were founded in the Middle East centuries ago. All three faiths believe in the common principles of compassion, charity, and justice. They also each espouse the “golden rule” of “doing unto others that which you would have done unto you.”
How wonderful it is that we live in a city where so many people share these faiths and values. We ought to recognize and celebrate what we all share as New Yorkers, and let no one let our differences tear us asunder.
The adage is indeed true: That which unites us is greater than that which divides us.
A joyous Passover and Easter to you and your families.