Voice of the Jewish News: Faith restored

This week's editorial reflects on an initiative run by young Jews and Muslims for victims of the Grenfell tragedy

Almost every week we cover an interfaith story, and almost every week it feels like the faiths came together at least in part to be seen to come together – interfaith for interfaith’s sake. Sometimes – as in the case of Golders Green mosque being forced to scrap its exhibition honouring Muslims who helped Jews in the Holocaust – even this can be a bridge too far.

Seldom do we have the pleasure of covering a story of Jews and Muslims working together to do good simply because they can, but that’s what we saw last week, at a mosque-based day camp for children traumatised by the Grenfell Tower fire.

These young Jews and Muslims have worked together for so long now on so many issues that their combination simply felt like the natural extension of a now-deep relationship, their reason for coming together nothing whatsoever to do with the need to come together, but because they can do more together than separately, and because they – whisper it – actually like each other.

That’s what true interfaith should feel like. This shul and mosque have shown us a model for future relations. We hope others take note.