Dan Fleshler, a Jewish resident of Jackson Heights, proudly identifies with his Queens neighborhood, one that is by many measures the nation’s most diverse. But he also recognizes the limitations of his day-to-day life.
“I really don’t have a whole lot of contact with my Muslim neighbors,” Fleshler said. He added that, outside of a monthly open-mic night he takes part in at local coffee shop Espresso 77, “it’s incidental contact.”
Fleshler, as a partial remedy, said he plans to attend a Jewish-Muslim gathering on Sunday that, in the multicultural spirit of Jackson Heights, is taking place in the garden of St. Marks, an Episcopal church.
The event, “Finding shelter in each other,” is being hosted by Malkhut, a 10-year-old organization whose stated purpose is to build “a creative, progressive, intergenerational Jewish community in Western Queens.” The event will be held in the organization’s sukkah, a temporary outdoor structure built for the Jewish holiday of Sukkot.
Malkhut founder Rabbi Rachel Goldenberg said the event, which is at capacity, grew out of the relationship she has forged with Imam Shamsi Ali, the director of the Jamaica Muslim Center in Queens.
“It has been sort of a fraught thing, I think, for Jews and Muslims to share space with each other,” Goldenberg said. “ There are various, powerful interests who would probably rather us not be in relationship with each other.”
She said this was particularly the case since the Hamas attacks against Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, “and then the subsequent genocide carried out by the Israeli army against the people of Gaza.”
Participants in the afternoon event, she said, would enjoy snacks and tea as well as sweets from a nearby Indian shop. They would also sit in small groups around tables and discuss Jewish and Islamic texts together.
Ali noted that the event would take place in the wake of a peace deal between Israel and Hamas.
“We pray and hope that that will be truly implemented in the field,” he said.
Ali said he encountered people within the community who scoffed at interfaith gatherings, arguing that the pursuit of justice in the Middle East was more important than symbolic gestures. Ali said he understood that sentiment, but added, "Justice doesn't mean hating others.”
“It's not easy to watch what is taking place in the Middle East,” he said, “but I think we have to move beyond that to see that we are all on the same board.”
For Fleshler, the social gathering is an extension of his activism. In addition to being a member of Malkhut, he’s also part of Jewish groups that seek to “stop the occupation of the Palestinian people.”
But he said the complexities of addressing politics and inter-religious tensions in the Middle East can’t happen without taking smaller steps.
“It takes a while to get to where we can have that conversation and dialogue,” he said. “But it has to start with just knowing each other as human beings.”
