After the hate-shooting in San Diego, California, in which Lori Gilbert Kaye was killed on April 27, I’m re-posting my article from The Times of Israel about these two 83-year-old friends, one Muslim and one Jewish, who still meet every Monday morning at a coffee shop in the Western Galilee.
It’s important to remind ourselves that there are people who respect one another’s beliefs and rise above religious differences. People who practice tolerance and acceptance.
Their friendship is also a reminder of the daily reality within Israel, where people live in peace and relative harmony. In spite of everything that goes on around us.
May Lori Gilbert Kaye’s act of bravery – she stood up to save the rabbi – continue to inspire us and give us the courage we need to act in these difficult times.
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About dianabletter
Diana Bletter is the author of several books, including The Invisible Thread: A Portrait of Jewish American Women (with photographs by Lori Grinker), shortlisted for a National Jewish Book Award. Her novel, A Remarkable Kindness, (HarperCollins) was published in 2015. She is the First Prize Winner of Moment Magazine's 2019 Fiction Contest. Her work has appeared in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Commentary, tabletmag, Glamour, The Forward, The North American Review, Times of Israel, and is a reporter for Israel21C, and many other publications. She is author of Big Up Yourself: It's About Time You Like Being You and The Mom Who Took off On Her Motorcycle, a memoir of her 10,000-mile motorcycle trip to Alaska and back to New York. She lives in a small beach village in Western Galilee, Israel, with her husband and family. She is a member of the local hevra kadisha, the burial circle, and a Muslim-Jewish-Christian-Druze women's group in the nearby town of Akko. And, she likes snowboarding and climbing trees.
DIANA BLETTER 
What a great story to start my day. Two old friends for life looking beyond their differences in faith and loving one another. Thank you Diana.
Thank you Tom for your kind words. I hope that tolerance will win out…and our belief that we follow different paths to the same source of strength and hope! All the best, Diana
Thank you Diana! Love this story of old friends looking past their different faiths and loving one another.
Tom
Tom Scott For G-d so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. John 3:16
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Diana, this is a wonderful story if hope. It shows what mankind can accomplish by rising above our differences and embracing our common humanity. The senseless killing that going on around the world is baffling and heartbreaking.
XO, jackie
Sent from my iPad
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Thank you, Jackie!