By: Rebecca Levin, Kehillah Chadashah Member
“God chooses what we go through; we choose how we go through it.” –John Wooden
As a member of Kehillah Chadashah, we talk on a regular basis about tikkun olam – repairing the world – and how we all have the responsibility to be active in this pursuit. I took this with me to FSU where I started college this summer. I went without choosing a roommate and couldn’t be luckier than with the roommate I ended up with. She is Muslim. Besides English, she speaks Irdu. Her name is Maham Ahmed or Mahi for short. I am Jewish and pray in Hebrew. I go by Becca for short.
Neither of us had any idea what to expect, considering historically, Jews and Muslims are seen as COMPLETELY different and not always getting along. Every night, we talk about our cultures and backgrounds. We discuss our differences and our similarities. I have learned that there are more similarities between us than there are differences. The Islamic religion and culture and the Jewish religion and culture, historically developed around the same time period. We both follow similar special dietary laws (I keep Kosher and Mahi keeps Halal), we are both minorities which are all too often discriminated against and we both have observances where we fast.
Even when religion is taken out of the picture, we are still so similar. We are after all Florida State Seminoles! Other similarities between Mahi and me include that she and I both collect dolls and both our sisters collect snow globes and neither of us are real “partiers” – no drinking, no drugs. We just have a good time laughing! But most importantly and more deeply, we understand each other. We’ve both been faced with social and peer pressures and racism.
We respect our differences and our similarities, staying up late learning about each other and our cultures that make us each special. We have learned many things together: to know what is important in life, to understand what it means to be different, to accept and learn about our differences, and to love the things that make us different. She showed me how to wrap the hijab around my head. The hijab is a scarf that Muslim women use to cover their heads when praying. I taught her about the Mezuzah on our dorm door. We also discovered that many of our culture’s morals are similar: the level of modesty, our perspective on making good choices, the amount of self-respect, and many other things as well. We both boost each other’s confidence. Although we have known each other for just a short three weeks, I can honestly say that my roommate and I will be friends forever. We even bought a beta fish together and gave it three names: a Seminole name (for FSU), a Hebrew name and a Muslim name.
Learning about our differences, or better yet, our similarities, has increased our respect for not just each other, but for the greater world of religions around us. We both feel that people in the world need to increase their understanding, appreciation and respect for others because everyone can learn something new. If people are constantly fighting over differences, they will miss out on opportunities to learn and share, like the ones Mahi and I have been blessed to have. Respect and tolerance, or lack thereof, is the cause of world issues and problems. But why can’t the rest of the world see things the way Mahi and I see them? The answer is that people are focused on hating their differences rather than learning from them and accepting them. People are blocking their ability to be open to new things and ideas. I love my roommate and have realized that there would be a great deal of peace in the world if everyone could see our similarities and respect our differences the way we do. Now we look forward to taking a class together in the fall – Middle East Religions. Thank you Kehillah Chadashah for creating an environment that taught me tikkun olam, inclusivity, openness and respect. And thank you Mahi for bringing these lessons to life!
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