Jewish, Muslim Students Connect at Temple
By Rasheed Oluwa

Muslim and Jewish students gathered for food, games and other Hanukkah-inspired fun at the Vassar Temple in the City of Poughkeepsie Sunday.
The event was part of the third annual Salaam-Shalom Series, a collaborative effort between Vassar Temple and the Town of Wappinger's Masjid Al-Noor. It is designed to foster understanding between the two religions.
More than 35 students from the temple and the mosque attended. ''It's important because it opens up the dialogue between two religions and two communities,'' said Rafiq Majeed, the newly elected president of the Mid-Hudson Islamic Association. ''It proves that there is no good excuse for other religions not to reach out to each other. You can learn a lot from other religions.''
Sunday night marked the sixth night of Hanukkah, which commemorates the rededication of the temple in Jerusalem in the second century BC. After reclaiming the sacked temple from their Greek-Syrian oppressors, the Jewish Maccabee warriors found just enough oil to relight the holy erpetual light for one night, but according to legend, the oil burned for eight days - the exact amount of time required to make more.
http://www.poughkeepsiejournal.com/today/localnews/stories/lo121304s3.shtml
(Courtesy Poughkeepsie Journal, 12/13/04)

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