Succahinthemosque
A SUCCAH in the grounds of the AlKhoei mosque in Brondesbury — once a synagogue building — has united Jews and Muslims.
Brondesbury Park Synagogue congregants joined mosque members in building the succah and more than 100 people from the two communities had breakfast there on Sunday.
“When we called up both communities, they said yes immediately,” said Rabbi Natan Levy of the Strengthening Faith Institutions project.
“Around 25 people came to build the succah originally. And about halfway through Succot, the succah fell down.
“The mosque leadership said: ‘This is so important.’ And they rebuilt it, so the breakfast event could happen.”
Julia Marcuson, the shul’s joint interfaith co-ordinator, said the atmosphere was “very warm and friendly” and that everyone was invited us into the mosque afterwards.
“One of the amazing things for me was that it used to be a synagogue, Brondesbury Synagogue. My grandparents were married in that synagogue,” she added. “And it’s still got the ladies’ gallery. They use it as an overflow area for the women when they have a lot of people there.
“The current Brondesbury congregation is a merger of three communities — Walm Lane, Brondesbury and Brondesbury Park.
“So it was quite interesting for the oldermembersof ourcommunitywho remember it as a synagogue to go in and see how it’s being used now.”
Rabbi Levy added: “Because we worked on this together, cared about it together, wanted it to happen so much, it was quite a different kind of education project to just getting together and having bagels and ghee. At the end of it, manypeopleaskedme:‘Wheredowego from here?’ That’s a successful project.”