London’s first Muslim mayor, Sadiq Khan, will be synagogue hopping in Chicago this weekend.
For Shabbat services he will be joining Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel at Anshe Sholom B’nai Israel, a modern Orthodox synagogue in the northern part of the city, Jewish News reported.
Khan will also attend the Reform Temple Sholom, one of Chicago’s oldest synagogues and also located on the city’s North Side, for a youth interfaith gathering.
The English politician won’t have too much time to schmooze with the congregants — his North American visit, which he started off today by visiting Montreal, is only five days long, and New York is next on his itinerary after Chicago.
Khan hopes to learn some lessons about interfaith relations during his visit.
“London is an incredibly diverse and tolerant city, but improving social integration is still one of the big challenges we face. That’s why I’m keen to hear from people of many different faiths here in the U.S. to learn from their experiences and to share ideas on how we can bring communities together and strengthen the social fabric that underpins any successful city,” he said, according to Jewish News.
Khan has pledged to root out anti-Semitism in London — and though he is Muslim, he has been targeted with anti-Jewish harassment.
He attended a ceremony commemorating the Holocaust as his first official public engagement as mayor.
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