On Monday December 10th, the inaugural Jewish Student Union (JSU) and Muslim Student Association (MSA) dinner was held at Dominion High School. This dinner represented the beginning of a friendship between the two clubs that will hopefully lead to working together on future events. Both clubs said they hope to do a charity event together that is able to get the whole school involved. At the dinner, each club brought food unique to their cultures. Anwar Khan, the President of the Islamic Relief USA Organization, spoke to the students about his experiences of bridging the gap between people of different religions.

Khan, who travels to places which have been affected by tragedy, spoke about  actions and events that he has seen throughout his twenty-five years of being involved in Islamic Relief USA. Khan said, “My heart has been broken many times and my heart has been uplifted many, many, many, more times, I’ve seen the most beautiful parts of human nature and conflict and I’ve seen the poverties as well.” He stressed the concept that people of all different faiths need to work together, “We don’t have a choice, we either come together or we go against each other, we build bridges or we build wars,” Khan said.

Nicole Korsen, the sponsor of JSU, felt very passionate about the importance of the two clubs coming together, Korsen said, “I think that we can get a lot of things done together. I think that we are both groups who are kind of marginalized minorities of discrimination and I think that we can be an example to other groups of the power of working together.” Genna Wolinsky, co-president of JSU, agreed with the idea of the necessity of bridging the gap. Wolinsky said, “I think it’s great that we can share our traditions and foods between both clubs and that we can collaborate to try to make the community a better place.”

During the dinner, Mrs. Korsen asked the question, “How many of you have seen kids discriminated against at Dominion?” Immediately nearly everyone in the room raised their hand, Mrs. Korsen responded saying, “I think people are afraid to talk about that and when you stay within your own group you are very insulated and isolated and I think this is such a great way to build the bridge.” Both clubs feel very strongly about working together in the future, Mariam Qureshi, co-president of MSA, stated, “Unfortunately in America there’s a lot of hatred and animosity towards different minority religions like Judaism and Islam, and none of that is well deserved so I think it’s very important to have solidarity with each other.”

Both clubs are planning to attend a field trip next Monday to the Holocaust Museum. This is just the beginning of what both clubs are hoping to be a strong interfaith relationship that can be an example to others about the strength of coming together despite differences. Anwar Khan said of the importance of these students working together,, “Young people are the ones to change the world, you’re not the future, you’re the present.”