Canadian shul welcomes Muslim worshipers of mosque hit by arson
‘As Canadians, we have to stick together,’ says president of Beth Israel Synagogue in Peterborough, Ontario
A Canadian synagogue opened its doors to Muslim worshipers from a mosque set ablaze earlier this month in what police increasingly believe was an arson attack.
Heads of the Beth Israel Synagogue in Peterborough, Ontario invited members of the destroyed mosque to hold services on the premises of the synagogue.
“As Canadians we have to stick together,” said Larry Gillman, president of the synagogue, in an interview with CBC. “It’s not about religion, it’s not about race. Canadians do this.”
The Masjid al-Salaam mosque was the only one in the relatively small town of just over 100,000 people. In a firebomb attack on November 14, some $80,000 in damages was caused to the building. No one was hurt in the incident.
Police say it is unclear whether the fire was connected to the attacks in Paris on November 13, which left 130 people dead.
The mosque was set ablaze at 11 p.m., about a half hour after members of Kawartha Muslim Religious Association were in the building celebrating the birth of a baby, the association’s president Kenzu Abdella said at the time.
On Saturday, the synagogue is set to host two prayer sessions for the Muslim worshipers and a potluck dinner.
Abdella told CBC that he wasn’t sure what to think of the synagogue’s invitation at first. “Can we be here?” he remembered thinking.
“We have more similarities than differences,” he said. “We have so much in common, the details of worship and the ceremonies. Even the stories we hear are similar,” he said.
“At the end of the day, it’s a house of God.”
The previous building that housed the community was vandalized once before shortly after the 9/11 terror attacks in New York and Washington, Abdella said.
