Chief Rabbi: ‘Unprecedented level of inter-faith collaboration during pandemic’

The pandemic has caused an unprecedented collaboration between faith groups, according to faith leaders.

Near Neighbours, a project which aims to bring together people from different backgrounds for the good of their community, runs the Community Champions ‘Surge’ programme.

The programme is giving out more than £450,000 in grants to community groups to support their work during the pandemic.

“The determined efforts of religious groups working together through the Near Neighbours Community Champions Surge programme, protecting those most vulnerable and hardest to reach in communities right across our society, has never been more essential,” said the Chief Rabbi, Ephraim Mirvis.

“These initiatives have created some unique moments demonstrating the tangible, life-saving contribution that faith communities are able to make when working together in common cause.”

Among the projects funded by the interfaith initiative is Peninim, which runs craft workshops for disabled Jewish women in Hackney.

The online workshops are for both disabled and non-disabled people, to bring together two groups who may not normally interact.

Another is the One Voice Blackburn project, which is dispelling myths around the coronavirus vaccine by making videos in languages of hard-to-reach groups.

Nazia Khan, health lead at the project, said: “We felt it was the right time to offer some real facts about the programme from the safety of the COVID jabs, to the religious clearance being provided by scholars.

“We have been pleasantly surprised by the amount of knowledgeable and articulate individuals coming forward to promote the vaccine to our communities.”