Religious institutions [temple and mosque] form unlikely partnership to aid Syrian refugees

Good to see initiatives like this:

For years, the Temple Har Zion and the Imam Mahdi Islamic Centre (IMIC) have been neighbours, even sharing a parking lot, in Thornhill, Ont. Now, the unlikely partners are about to share a major responsibility – sponsoring a group of Syrian refugees.

The religious institutions have united to privately sponsor Syrian refugees to resettle in Canada. Together, they are pooling their resources to raise a target of $60,000 in the next couple of months.

Temple Har Zion Rabbi Cory Weiss says the co-operation is “groundbreaking” for both organizations.

“It brought us together in a way that nothing else has,” Mr. Weiss told The Globe. “The more we learn about each other’s religion, the more we realize we have in common.”

Alireza Torabian, who is leading the sponsorship efforts at the mosque, says the partnership sets a good example for other Canadians.

“We are very proud that we can start a project and show Canadians that different cultural groups and religions can work together in Canada on the same common cause,” he said.

Given their proximity to one another, there has always been a relationship between the synagogue and the mosque, but last fall, Mr. Weiss and the imam of the IMIC, Seyed Reza Hosseini-Nasab, met to get to know one another better.

In December, the synagogue decided it wanted to sponsor Syrian refugees and reached out to the mosque, which happened to be considering refugee sponsorship too.

The organizations teamed up and are now working with their refugee sponsorship agreement holder, Jewish Immigrant Aid Services (JIAS) in Toronto, which will help with the process once enough money is raised.

JIAS language and settlement director Lia Kisel said this is the first time she has worked with two religious institutions on refugee sponsorship.

“It makes you feel very proud because bridges are being built,” Ms. Kisel said.

Source: Religious institutions form unlikely partnership to aid Syrian refugees – The Globe and Mail