Hillel at Binghamton and the Muslim Student Association (MSA) held a special interfaith shabbat dinner, “A Shabbat of Dialogue,” which was attended by about 200 people.

This dinner took place at 7 p.m. on Friday, Feb. 24 in the Old University Union’s Susquehanna Room. It was held in the name of Avi Schaefer, an American who volunteered to join Israel’s Defense Forces and was later struck and killed by a drunk driver upon his arrival home.

There is a fund set up in Schaefer’s name to promote interfaith dialogues, and Hillel was awarded a small grant from this fund to hold Friday’s event, according to Matthew Sackett, president of Hillel and a senior majoring in management.

Featured speakers included Randy Friedman, professor of philosophy and Judaic studies, and Haroon Moghul, associate editor of Religion Dispatches and a contributor to The Huffington Post. President Harvey Stenger was a special guest at the event.

Sackett said that the event was an attempt to bring different faiths together.

“The event on Friday was an initial push to rebuild our relationship with MSA,” Sackett said. “We think of it not as a program, but as an initiative. Dialogue amongst different religious is important as there can be so many similarities we don’t realize.”

Rabbi Shalom Kantor, KOACH-Hillel campus rabbi, said the group in attendance was diverse.

“It’s kind of miraculous that there’s so many people, from so many different backgrounds, here tonight,” Kantor said.

When Moghul spoke, he said that Jews and Muslims have similar faith traditions.

“Focus on getting to know each other,” Moghul said. “A lot of the problems we face as communities are very similar.”

Stenger said he was able to attend because it fit his schedule and he was interested in both the event’s theme and the speakers who were chosen by Hillel and MSA.

“This was a great event to participate in,” Stenger said. “It was interesting. I met Farhoon and got to talk to him. What professor Friedman said about pluralism makes sense and I would love for him to speak about it more at another event like this. It would be rewarding.”

Madeline Stolow, Hillel’s director of student group outreach and a senior double-majoring in religious studies and biology, said that Hillel hopes to have other events like this in the future.

“We were always interested in interfaith and intercultural events and this just fell into place,” Stolow said. “MSA held an event earlier today and their banquet is tomorrow, so it happened to be on the same weekend.”

Stolow said the dinner was all about dialogue.

“We want to promote communication between communities,” Stolow said.

Tanveer Shah, MSA’s public relations officer and a sophomore majoring in chemistry, said MSA was interested in doing events similar to this one.

“We’ve had events with Hillel in the past, but this is the first in years,” Shah said. “We want to most definitely have events like this again, and not just Hillel and MSA, but other organizations too.”

Robert Babin, an attendee and a junior majoring in political science, said he thought the dinner was a great event.

“It was very culturally diverse,” Babin said. “It was nice seeing people from different backgrounds and religions, especially from two religions that usually butt heads. It was a promising move forward.”

Sholom Gable, a junior majoring in accounting, was also pleased with the event and hopes similar events can be held.

“I thought it was a great opportunity for different faiths to get together and set aside their differences, yet enjoy their similarities,” Gable said. “Hopefully they do an event like this again. It’s a great opportunity, don’t let it slide by.”