Judeus compartilham sinagoga com Muçulmanos

No início deste mês o Victoria Islamic Centre, no Texas (Estados Unidos), foi incendiado - o caso está sendo investigado. Mas a população muçulmana da pequena cidade não ficará sem um lugar para as suas orações, pois os vizinhos judeus ofereceram a chave da sua sinagoga. "Somos 25 a 30 judeus em Victoria, enquanto os muçulmanos são por volta de 100. Temos muito espaço para uma pequena comunidade", disse Robert Loeb, presidente do Temple Bnai Israel. 
Leia a história completa abaixo, retirada do jornal "The Jerusalem Post".

(Link para matéria sobre o mesmo assunto no jornal inglês Independent: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/victoria-islamic-centre-mosque-fire-texas-jews-give-key-synagogue-muslims-worship-gofundme-a7556331.html)

#coexist

Texas Jews share synagogue with Muslim peers after mosque destroyed

By Jerusalem Post  February 4, 2017 

The Jewish community of Victoria, Texas, has stepped up to aid the town's Muslim community after their mosque was destroyed in a fire last weekend, reportado pela CNN.

Dr. Shahid Hashmi, the president of the Victoria Islamic Center, told CNN that Dr. Gary Branfman, a friend of his and a member of Victoria's Temple B'nai Israel, stopped by his home to give him the keys to the synagogue so they could use it for their services."I never doubted the support that we were going to get," said Hashmi. "We've always had a good relationship with the community here."

According to Haaretz ( http://www.haaretz.com/us-news/1.769100 ) in the small Gulf Coast city of Victoria (town of about 65,000 ) in Texas, there are several churches, but just one synagogue, and one mosque — at least, until the mosque mysteriously burned down on Saturday, according to the New York Times.

Now, in a sense, the synagogue has become a mosque: the Jews of Victoria handed the Muslims the key to the building, so they would a place to worship while rebuilding.

“Everyone knows everybody, I know several members of the mosque, and we felt for them,” said Robert Loeb, the president of Bnai Israel, which affiliates with the Reform movement."This is sad for everyone in the community and as Jews we especially have to feel for the Muslim community. When a calamity like this happens, we have to stand together,” Loeb said, and he added: " Sharing the space just made sense: We have probably 25 to 30 Jewish people in Victoria, and they probably have 100 Muslims. We got a lot of building for a small amount of Jews.” 

The causes of the fire are unknown, according to the New York Times.