Salaam-Shalom to offer tools for interfaith advocates

The Sisterhood of Salaam-Shalom’s annual Muslim and Jewish Women’s Leadership Conference will be held on Dec. 6, 8:30 a.m.-5 p.m., at McCosh Hall on the Princeton University campus. The national gathering, said SOSS executive director Sheryl Olitzky of North Brunswick, will give participants the opportunity to learn about each and “will provide Muslim and Jewish women with the skills and resources to become interfaith advocates.”

SOSS is the only national network of Muslim-Jewish women’s chapters across the United States, and now in Britain, in partnership with the Bobst Center for Peace and Justice, the Foundation for Ethnic Understanding, and Princeton University’s Center for Jewish Life/Hillel and Muslim Life Center. The conference is also the eighth Annual Women’s Weekend of Twinning, an FFEU-sponsored event held yearly through which thousands of Muslims and Jews in more than 30 countries participate in joint events. This year’s theme is “We Refuse To Be Enemies.”

“Women tend to navigate the world through building relationships,” said Olitzky. “Muslim and Jewish women play an important lead role to building trust and respect between our two faith communities. Together these women change the cycle of prejudice and hate that is growing.” 

Renowned interfaith scholars and activists are slated to present at the Dec. 6 conference, among them Ruth Messinger, Sarah Sayeed, Rori Picker Neiss, Mehnaz Afridi, Nancy Fuchs Kreimer, Julie Siddiqi, and Laura Marks. Topics to be covered will include deepening spirituality through interfaith connection, gender-based inclusion in houses of worship, and tools to counter negative narratives in the media.

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To register, visit sosspeace.org or contact Olitzky at 609-306-1221 or sheryl@sosspeace.org.