NYPD Muslim Officers Society plays crucial role in Brooklyn's massive hanukkiah lighting - Hannah Sarisohn

 

by Hannah Sarisohn

"There's a place for love and unity. There's mutual respect, especially religiously," NYPD detective Amen said.

 

The massive menorah at Grand Army Plaza in Manhattan.

(photo credit: ALEXI ROSENFELD/GETTY IMAGES/JTA)

NEW YORK – Brooklyn Chabad Rabbi Shimon Hecht will light New York’s largest hanukkiah in Park Slope on Wednesday night, the 60-foot lift raising him in the air once again sponsored by the New York Police Department Muslim Officers Society.

The group has sponsored the hanukkiah lift for at least the past six years, Mohamed Amen, NYPD Clergy Outreach Unit Detective and member of the Muslim Officers Society told The Jerusalem Post on Wednesday afternoon.

The society’s outreach began as a gesture of solidarity following a spike in antisemitic hate crimes across New York, Amen said.

The sponsorship continued as Amen said the group tries to show that there’s light at the end of the tunnel.

“There’s a place for love and unity. There’s mutual respect, especially religiously,” Amen, who is Egyptian, said. “We don’t get involved in politics, as much as I would love to fix the Middle East. But it’s not my thing. At least here as New Yorkers, we coexist together.”

THE 2020 National Menorah is lit near the White House last December. (credit: ERIN SCOTT/REUTERS)

Not talking is not the answer, he added.

“You could sit down and disagree, but talking is better than fighting, so you have to have this line of communication,” Amen said. “You have to bring humanity to it.”

Involvement with the hanukkiah lighting

Amen acknowledged the varying opinions from the Muslim Officers Society on their involvement with the hanukkiah lighting, while explaining how the small gesture of sponsoring the lift reinforces the greater goal of unity.

Rabbi Moshe Hecht, Shimon’s son and executive coordinator of the lighting, told the Post that after October 7, he was initially concerned the Muslim Officers Society would discontinue their support.

“But thank God, no, they came through. And we’re going to continue working together,” Hecht said.

While Hecht also spoke of the wide array of opinions within the Jewish community, no one has questioned his interfaith work with the Muslim Officers Society.

The first night’s lighting could draw up to 4,000 New Yorkers, the following night could garner crowds of several hundred, Hecht said.

The Muslim Officers Society’s providing of the rabbi’s lift shows Jews and Muslims in Brooklyn and New York are trying to focus on the things they have in common, Hecht said.

Hecht also noted the importance of interfaith respect this year as the first night of Hanukkah falls on Christmas.

“That sort of tells us that we have to celebrate and respect each other. You have your holiday, we have our holidays,” he said. “And there’s areas where we can come together and respect each other.”

Hannah Sarisohn

Source: https://www.jpost.com/diaspora/article-834905

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