Ramadan Kareem

“There is no way that Ramadan is that hard”. That is the sentence that I spurted in a moment of stupid snobbism. Back in January I was still an Atkin Fellow at King’s College London. Manar Faraj was my counterpart in the fellowship, a Palestinian woman from Daheisha refugee camp near Bethlehem. The conversation that followed that statement is the reason for my decision to fast during the coming Ramadan. I’m without doubt that it will challenge me, I’m dearly hoping that this journey will teach me about my Muslim neighbours and friends.

The context for the original conversation was comparing Ramadan and Yom Kippur. The context for my decision is my personal quest to try and create relationships between Israel and the Arab world. When I came back from London I was a little wary of how I could keep up with this quest. Fasting for a month will give me plenty of time to think of how I can go about it. Aside from that it will remind everyone around me that Israel has neighbours and that they are going through an important time in their lives.

Islam, similar to Judaism, has many interpretations and Ramadan is thus observed differently by different muslims. Also similar to Judaism modern day muslims have made adjustments so as to fit it to their modern spiritual worlds. I have also made my choices of how to observe Ramadan. I hope to write more about this over the coming month.

Ramadan Kareem!