The Canadian Jewish News:

A new weekly course is bringing together Jewish and Muslim women to study each other’s spiritual texts and the roles of women in these religions.

Shari Golberg and Nevin Reda lead the course, which focuses on different aspects of the religions each week. Golberg is a PhD student and Reda teaches Muslim studies at Emmanuel College at the University of Toronto’s downtown campus. Together, they teach students about various aspects of Judaism and Islam.

“I’ve always loved the experience of reading texts in this type of environment where Muslims, Jews and occasionally Christians come together to read the text,” Reda said, explaining that these types of classes bring texts to life.

To emphasize the course’s goal, the classes are held in three different venues. The first three take place at the Miles Nadal Jewish Community Centre. The next three bring the group to the Noor Cultural Centre in Don Mills. The final class will be at U of T’s Multi-Faith Centre for Spiritual Study and Practice.

“The rotation was done on purpose so people can get a sense of what the inside of one another’s houses look like,” Golberg said.

………… Some of the topics to be covered include female leadership, modesty laws, marriage and divorce, and depictions of each other’s religions in their respective texts.

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