The Rabbi, The Imam and The Power of Dialogue

Since October 7th many Muslims and Jews the world over have stopped talking and in some cases turned on each other.

Amid this turmoil a Rabbi and an Imam managed to keep their friendship alive and have launched this podcast to show the power of dialogue in bridging divides between the two communities.

This bi-weekly podcast will explore how Imam Nasser Kurdy and Rabbi Dovid Lewis have, despite their many disagreements, managed to stay friends while war rages thousands of miles away.

They are two men of faith who speak to each other in 'good faith.'

Imam Nasser Kurdy, originally from Jordan, is a Manchester-based surgeon and lay Imam.

Rabbi Dovid Lewis, is a native Mancunion and has led the south Manchester Jewish Community since 2011.

They’ve been friends since 2012, but became closer after Nasser was stabbed in his neck outside his mosque (as reported in The Guardian) in South Manchester in 2017.

Together, they’ve championed dozens of interfaith initiatives across schools and premiership football clubs in the north west of England since October 7th. For example, they recently co-led an assembly for teenagers on navigating difficult conversations about Israel-Palestine.

Imam Nasser Kurdy: "The Israeli-Palestinian conflict affects relationships within our local communities. Jews and Muslims are having great difficulty speaking to each other. There's no dialogue. Hence this podcast, it's about dialogue."

Rabbi Dovid Lewis: "In our own communities, we might like to think we are influential: Nasser leads the mosque, I lead the synagogue. However, neither of us are able to make a direct difference to what's happening in Israel, Palestine, Gaza, the West Bank. But what is our responsibility? It is to make sure that it doesn't spill over into our communities, into the friendships that we have made with one another."

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This is a Mark Schweiger and Larchmont Productions co-production.

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