A quick check in before the last Tishrei holy days:
I am incredibly proud of our congregation, Temple Beth Abraham in Nashua. Yesterday we hosted Imam Muhammad Musri from Orlando, who was visiting the nearby mosque in Lowell, for a talk on the basics of Islam. At least sixty congregants attended. People asked questions about the faith and there was the beginning of conversation about Islam in the world and the U.S. today, and the role of its leaders here. We plan to follow up, with a visit by me to the local mosques to talk about Judaism, and now we know the nearest imam so we can continue these conversations and build relationships.
Big thanks to the Southern New Hampshire Jewish Men's Club for hosting a (calm!) candidate forum today with Sen. Kelly Ayotte and Gov. Maggie Hassan, running for Senate; Rep. Ann McLane Kuster and Jim Lawrence, running for Congress; Executive Councillors Chris Sununu and Colin Van Ostern, running for Governor.
As moderator, I mostly asked questions submitted by the 100 or so people in attendance, plus a few of my own. I got a commitment from both Sen. Ayotte and Gov. Hassan to meet with me and Rev. Allison Palm of the Unitarian Universalist Church of Nashua on Thursday, Nov. 10. One day to rest after the election, but only one. They will meet us together, regardless of who wins their election. At the end of an acrimonious election at the national level, after which large minorities may doubt the new president, we will be talking about how to get active Democrats and Republicans to move forward with the fact of a new president, and to reach out personally to people they know in the other party in order to change the divisive climate starting right away.
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