Islamophobia? Not in This Quiet Neighborhood
In Pennsylvania an Islamic center/mosque and a Jewish center/shul happily share adjacent property. Everyone gets along fine with the members of the Baptist church across the street as well.
Despite the incessant doomsday screeching of the Islamophobes, decent folks still manage to go about living their daily lives, worshiping peacefully, and treating each other with courtesy & respect without any problems. Imagine that.
External ImageThe cars slowly turn onto the long driveway, their wheels occasionally crunching the adjacent ground frozen from the night before and speckled with the merest dusting of snow. Rabbi Yossi Kaplan and Mohammad Aziz walk side by side in the direction of the oncoming line of traffic. Several young, professional-looking Muslim men pass them in the opposite direction, pausing to shake the rabbi’s hand and wish him a hearty “Shabbat Shalom.”
It’s Friday, right before afternoon prayers, and hundreds of worshippers are making their way to the mosque on North Valley Forge Road, in Devon, in the easternmost part of Chester County. Aziz soon turns to join them, and Kaplan heads next door to gather his van and pick his children up from school.
For a moment, the 15-vehicle-capacity lot in front of the Chabad Jewish Center of Chester County sits empty. But not for long — within 10 minutes, nearly every spot is taken by those headed to the mosque next door.
The shul and the mosque not only share parking space, but a symbiotic relationship. It’s based on their proximity, of course — they are direct neighbors, land practically spilling upon land — but it also owes to the fact that the two men have forged an obvious respect for one another, as well as a solid friendship.
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“There have been no problems at all. We’re normal neighbors having nice relationships; we’re two religious centers,” he said. “People like to make a big deal out of things; they’re always looking for the man-bites-dog story. But it makes no sense not to get along. We’re both believers.”
So, too, are members of the old Baptist Church in the Great Valley, directly across the street. That building was erected in 1805; the congregation was formed nearly a century earlier, in 1711, by Welsh families. A historical marker out front says it’s the third oldest Baptist church in the state of Pennsylvania.
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