A well-spent hour

This afternoon Melissa & I attended an event at a local Conservative synagogue: bringing Jewish & Muslim kids together to make a "peace" quilt.
The rabbi began the event by explaining some things about Judaism, and mentioning similarities between Judaism & Islam - not the least of which being the languages in which the two faiths are rooted: Hebrew and Arabic are near cognates, both Semitic.

Parents of both faiths attended with their kids.
Everyone seemed to be enjoying the spirit of the event.

(A pointless aside: At the end of the introductory remarks, I was unofficially tasked with putting a couple of prayer books back on the shelf.
This minor duty pretty much trapped me as a stream of kids exited the hall.
Mistaking my "duties" and my extravagant beard for signs of authority, many of the kids bade me a formal "good-bye" as they exited.
'Twas amusing.)

Anyway, both Melissa & I were delighted to have participated, however briefly, in this inter-faith community exercise.
We did NOT stick around to help sew the quilts!

Here's me with extravagant beard: