feature: diversity
by Josh Morof
face to faith
Teen launches new program that bridges gaps between our differences.
rabbi, a priest and an imam
walk in to a room. It sounds
like the beginning of a joke,
but that is exactly what happened on
March 24 during Face to Faith, an in-
terfaith program that brought togeth-
er almost 100 Jewish, Christian and
Muslim teens at the Jewish Commu-
nity Center in West Bloomfield.
The idea for Face to Faith came
to me in a fairly odd place — ceram-
ics class. I go to a school with a very
large Jewish population, so being as-
signed to a table with one Muslim,
one Christian and no other Jews was
a first for me. However, this seating
arrangement would soon become the
birthplace of Face to Faith.
At first, it was extremely uncom-
fortable sitting at this table; besides
a few words about our projects, we
didn't say too much. The obvious
differences between us, like religion,
skin color, accents, etc., seemed to
create a barrier between all of us.
With so many differences and such
few similarities, there was no way we
would ever become friends, or so we
thought.
As the semester progressed, we
slowly started to learn about one an-
other through our ceramic pieces, and
broke down the barriers between us,
piece by piece. For example, I learned
Muslims cannot draw or sculpt faces.
I learned about Christianity through a
poem etched on a piece of clay, and I
taught everyone at my table the He-
brew alphabet while working on my
clay mezuzah.
As the barriers between all of us
came crashing down, and the friend-
ships began to blossom, I knew ex-
actly what I needed to do.
When the planning process for
Face to Faith began, I asked Ilana
Woronoff, a friend and fellow student,
to help. We decided to have a panel
of both a religious leader and a teen
from the Jewish, Christian and Is-
lamic faiths. However, we both knew
that limiting teens to just listening to
others talk about religion would not
be enough to break down the barriers
that seem to divide us in our schools
and our communities.
"Having interaction between the
teens from all of the different faiths
was essential to the long-term success
of this program," said Woronoff. "To
have teens create the friendships that
we hoped would stem from Face to
Teen panelists: students Tahas Khalil, Sean Mueller and Josh Morof
Faith, we gave everyone a different
colored bracelet, which correspond-
ed to a certain table, and mixed all
of the teens together." On each table
were some mixer questions, such as
"Where does your name come from?"
and "How has your religion impacted
your high school years?"
Before long, the conversations
at each table were going strong and
when we moved down to the Teen
Center, teens were already talking
about the need for a second interfaith
event in the near future, the need to
continue breaking down the barriers
between us, the need to look at all
of the similarities that we share. Jew-
ish, Christian and Muslim teens alike
recognized the need to look Face to
Faith. i }
Josh Morof, 16, is a
junior at Bloomfield
Hills Andover High
School. Last
October, he took part
in a panel of Jewish
and Chaldean teens
from Bloomfield Hills
schools at an event sponsored by the
Jewish News and the Chaldean News. He
also is an active member of BBYO, which
took an active role in the event.
commentary
by Talia Schechet
What does it take?
the world's indifference to terror in Israel should be challenged.
Family in Laredo, Texas, massacred in their
sleep; bomb hits bus #74 outside D.C. conven-
tion center injuring dozens and killing at least
one; over 50 rockets and missiles continue fall-
ing in Fairfax, Va. Do I have your attention? Is
this completely insane and far-fetched? Then
why is it allowed to be commonplace in Israel?
If you agree, post as your status.
I
E
TT2 teen2teen April 14.2011
f you
afore-
are a frequent Facebook user, chances are the
mentioned paragraph is familiar to you. In an attempt to
±_ illustrate the world's indifference to recent events of terror
that have taken place in Israel, one clever Facebook user con-
jured this status.
Of course, the family mentioned above was not slain in Tex-
as, but in the city of Itamar. The bomb did not explode in D.C,
but in D.C.'s Israeli equivalent, Jerusalem. And it was Ashdod
-
visit JNt2t.com