JW3 hosts community Iftar bringing Jewish and Muslim partners together
Jewish community centre revives interfaith Ramadan gathering with Nisa-Nashim and New Citizens’ Gateway
JW3 has hosted a community Iftar in partnership with Nisa-Nashim and New Citizens’ Gateway, bringing Jewish and Muslim leaders together for an evening of shared food, conversation and connection.
The event marked the return of the initiative after a pause of several years and saw guests gather at the north London Jewish community centre to break the Ramadan fast together.
JW3 said the evening reflected its wider commitment to interfaith engagement and to creating spaces where people from different faiths and backgrounds can meet on equal footing. As the UK’s only Jewish community centre and arts venue of its kind, the organisation has increasingly positioned itself as a hub for dialogue and partnership across communities.
Speaking at the event, JW3 chief executive Raymond Simonson said: “Whilst this is not JW3’s first Iftar, it is our first for a couple of years, and we are really honoured to host it together with our wonderful partners, Nisa-Nashim and New Citizens’ Gateway.
“Both organisations remind us that partnership is not only an idea. It is a practice. Something you build through small acts, repeated over time. Across different traditions, we understand that sharing a meal together can be a sacred act.
“We may disagree on theology. We may disagree on politics. But we can still agree that nobody should eat alone; and that nobody should go without food.
“What I hope we create tonight is a room that feels comfortable and safe. Where conversation is natural. Where curiosity is welcome. Where nobody has to represent an entire people or faith. Just themselves.”
The Iftar brought together representatives from across faith and civic life, with organisers describing it as a practical expression of coexistence at a time of heightened communal tension.
Nisa-Nashim, a Jewish and Muslim women’s network, and New Citizens’ Gateway, which works to support refugees and migrants, both have a long history of grassroots partnership with Jewish institutions.
JW3 said it hopes the event will become a regular fixture once again, reinforcing the idea that interfaith work is built not through statements, but through shared experiences.
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