Day 28: One Small Step

Each year I try and host an interfaith iftaar with friends and neighbors. It’s a time to share our traditions with friends of different faiths, and a chance for them to ask questions and celebrate with us. This year, I hosted an ‘interfaith MoverMoms book club and iftaar’ in our new home. And my dear friend Rebecca, of the Jewish faith, fasted with me that day.We discussed the book “I Am Malala”, and talked about her tenacity, feistiness, and the immense responsibility resting on her young shoulders; she had just gotten back from Nigeria trying to negotiate the return of the young girls who were kidnapped. I remember when I went to hear her and her father speak last year. So many of us wanted to know what made Malala so brave. Her father said, “Don’t ask me what I did for my daughter. Ask me what I did not do. I did not clip her wings.”At 8:34pm, we paused. I passed around a plate of dates, which my aunt had brought from Medina. We sipped ice tea, had samosas, cholay, fruit salad, hummus and mitahi. My friends asked me about the meaning of Ramadan, if kids are required to fast, how prayers are said, fasting in their own faith traditions, and the recipe for the samosas. A simple celebration of faith, of understanding, of respect. With all that is happening in the world today, one small step …Day 28, Tradition 28: Interfaith Iftaar