These longtime North Jersey friends — a rabbi and an imam — call for unity

They stop and chat during walks to the park. They break bread at monthly meetings. They pray side by side.

Longtime friends and neighbors, a Ridgewood imam and rabbi are also interfaith partners, men of faith who talk about shared Abrahamic traditions in person and in the synagogue.

As the devastating war rages in the Middle East, igniting tensions across New Jersey communities of both faiths, the yearslong friendship that Rabbi David Fine and Imam Mahmoud Hamza share could have been tested. But instead, the bonds of friendship, empathy and community have triumphed, while setting an example of unity they hope other communities will follow.

On Friday, Fine and Mahmoud joined other clergy, elected officials and community leaders at Van Neste Park in Ridgewood, to publicly call for mutual respect, understanding and support.

“Here in Ridgewood, we are one community. There isn’t your community or my community. There is only our community,” they read from a statement they crafted, that has been endorsed by local clergy.

“We recognize the pain and suffering of all those affected in our community by the crisis in the Middle East; We the community and faith leaders, of Muslim, Jewish, and other faiths urge respect during these tragic times in the Middle East,” they read aloud.

About two dozen people who had gathered at the park linked hands for a moment in silence and lined up to sign the statement, among them Christian clergy, school board members and Asian American community leaders.

The public plea for mutual support and respect was born out of a conversation and friendship. A week after the outbreak of fighting, Hamza and Fine were trying to reach one another by phone amid busy schedules.

Their first words to one another were apologies: “I’m sorry I didn’t call you sooner.”

“We were both overwhelmed with work in our own communities, so we immediately apologized to each other that we were not in touch with each other right away,” explained Fine, spiritual leader at Temple Israel in Ridgewood.

“It was a natural thing for us to speak on the phone and express with one another our feelings during such a difficult time in our communities. Our friendship allowed us to bridge that gap and see what we could do together.”

Read here: Ridgewood Jewish-Muslim Solidarity Statement

Fine and Hamza described that conversation, and the ones that followed. They understood they would not agree on all matters, but they were united in key principles, like respect for human rights, sorrow for innocent people suffering, condemnation of terrorism and belief in self-determination for Israelis and Palestinians.

Seeing heated protests, words of anger and divisive council meetings that gripped nearby towns, they wanted to take their message public.

“We are letting people know that we want to work together, to have peace within our community,” said Hamza, who leads the Muslim Society of Ridgewood, a local faith group. “We understand emotions are high and there is anger and grief and anguish. We are telling our community we are one and we have empathy with each other.”

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Their statement also denounces violence, Islamophobia and antisemitism and calls for Ridgewood “to set an example for our community and nation in civil discourse.”

“God forbid there should be another tragedy like what happened to that innocent boy outside Chicago,” Fine said, referring to a 6-year-old Muslim boy killed in an alleged hate crime by a man who said he was enraged over the Israel-Hamas conflict.

“We didn't want to be in a situation where we had to say we could have said something, or done something and we didn't, you know,” Fine said. “That's why we felt by this responsibility as community leaders … to be able to make the statement that we're not fighting here. We're not fighting each other, and we have deep concerns for what's going on and the other side of the world. But we are friends here.”

Ridgewood Mayor Paul Vagianos said the imam and rabbi came to him with the statement and that he was glad to support their effort, noting the conflict had sparked strong feelings and tensions in local communities. "We had two goals in mind," he said. "The first was do no harm. We didn’t want to create a controversy. The second was that we can’t solve this crisis in the Middle East here and to ensure that the crisis does not spill over into our community."

For Fine and Hamza, who have watched one another's children grow up in Ridgewood, their friendship is something to be cherished.

"We understand we are not going to agree on everything, but some of these things are much above us, so I'm really, really very grateful to have a friend like him," Hamza said, putting his arm around Fine's shoulder and calling him a "wonderful guy."

"Friendship is about being able to talk about things that are painful," Fine said. "There are things we don't see eye to eye on, but being able to hear each other, to talk with each other, to not to yell at each other −that was the message we wanted to get across today."

This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: Hamas-Israel war: This North Jersey town has interfaith advocates