A pot lucky day
To celebrate Palm Sunday, the local mosque invited everyone from our synagogue to a pot luck lunch at their place. There was so much good food. There was naan and a bunch of Pakistani dishes plus a bunch of Middle Eastern salads and three different koogles. I made Brussel sprouts which went like hotcakes despite being Brussel sprouts. It must have been because of the shallots, hot pepper flakes, and maple syrup I sauteed them with. I ate way too much and now feel a little uncomfortable. God, I love potluck.
After we all finished gorging ourselves, the imam have us a tour of the place. They began construction in 2017, moved in in 2018, and are still putting on the finishing touches. It's a very lovely building with an enormous dining hall in the basement and an elegantly understated sanctuary decorated with calligraphy of Koran quotes. One of the things a lot of the folks from our temple were struck by were the small rooms in both the men's and women's side where a parent could take a noisy child so as not to disturb everyone while still getting to pray with the congregation.
The imam was incredibly patient answering everyone's questions and made an impassioned speech about the importance of inter-faith get to togethers and understanding, especially in this day and age. They recently installed a new safety locks on their doors and had an extended debate on whether they should keep people from entering the sanctuary once prayers had begun. Our temple had a similar debate following Pittsburgh and even considered asking congregants with weapons permits and military experience to act as guards. We ultimately came down on the side of not doing that and the mosque opted to keep their doors open during services to welcome any stragglers. It breaks my heart that these are conversations congregations need to have.
After we all finished gorging ourselves, the imam have us a tour of the place. They began construction in 2017, moved in in 2018, and are still putting on the finishing touches. It's a very lovely building with an enormous dining hall in the basement and an elegantly understated sanctuary decorated with calligraphy of Koran quotes. One of the things a lot of the folks from our temple were struck by were the small rooms in both the men's and women's side where a parent could take a noisy child so as not to disturb everyone while still getting to pray with the congregation.
The imam was incredibly patient answering everyone's questions and made an impassioned speech about the importance of inter-faith get to togethers and understanding, especially in this day and age. They recently installed a new safety locks on their doors and had an extended debate on whether they should keep people from entering the sanctuary once prayers had begun. Our temple had a similar debate following Pittsburgh and even considered asking congregants with weapons permits and military experience to act as guards. We ultimately came down on the side of not doing that and the mosque opted to keep their doors open during services to welcome any stragglers. It breaks my heart that these are conversations congregations need to have.