Jew, Muslim and Christian unite to get temple built
Posted on Sunday, September 28, 2008
FAYETTEVILLE — When Rabbi Jacob Adler broke bread with the Rev. Lowell Grisham at his right and Fadil Bayyari at his left last weekend, those attending bore witness to how far the congregation of Temple Shalom has come, and how far it still has to go.
St. Paul’s Episcopal Church opened its doors for a fundraising dinner Sunday, drawing nearly 200 supporters of Temple Shalom’s synagogue project. The event raised about $ 40, 000 from ticket sales and silent and live auctions. In the keynote address, University of Arkansas Chancellor Dave Gearhart said Fayetteville plays home to “extraordinary acts of interfaith understanding,” and that he looks forward to the new synergy Temple Shalom will foster.
“The important thing to me is what most religions have in common,” he said. “They help us enjoy and define our relationship with God and with other humans.”
The money raised is a fraction of the anticipated $ 1. 3 million construction tab. The skeleton of the building has been erected, and the group of Jews who first organized in the early 1980 s will walk through the doors of their temple next year.
“We’ve been wandering around for 27 years looking for a home,” said Jeremy Hess, one of the congregation’s founding members. “So, I guess we’re a little more efficient than the Jews of the Bible.”
In 2006, Bayyari, a Springdale contractor and Palestinian Muslim, committed to building a permanent home at cost. Project planners say it’s the first time a Muslim man has built a synagogue. The act is more profound still because Muslims in the area are without a mosque or an imam.
“We don’t have enough come together for daily prayer [to warrant an ] imam. Hopefully, one day, we’ll have a big enough congregation,” Bayyari said.
Hess is quick to remind people that building the new synagogue is only half of the mission. The other, the Faith to Faith Initiative, aims to create interfaith experiences that promote understanding and disarm hostility.
“The Faith to Faith Initiative,” he says, “is a pretty lofty goal, which is to effect world peace.”
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