Synagogue houses Muslim school

PHILADELPHIA, Dec. 9 — In an unusual instance of Muslim-Jewish cooperation, a synagogue in the Philadelphia area is serving as a home for a local Muslim private school. So far, things are going well, say those involved since the school year began Sept. 8. “It’s been wonderful,” said Nikkita Shoatz-Ahmad, owner and principal of the Muslim school, NSA Educational Learning Center. The school operates out of classroom space at Congregation Beth T’fillah of Overbrook Park. “The community’s been accepting us very well.” In its second year of existence, Shoatz-Ahmad’s school has 65 students in grades kindergarten through eight. The Educational Learning Center has two locations: the synagogue and a storefront nearby. The synagogue’s board “was 100 percent in agreement” to grant the Muslim school the space, Shoatz-Ahmad said. She said she heard about the empty space for rent in an advertisement in a local newspaper. Albert Romm, president of Beth T’fillah, said, “We’ve had no problems whatsoever.” Beth T’fillah, which for decades has leased the same classrooms to the nearby Robert E. Lamberton Elementary School, at one time “had a large Hebrew school which went by the wayside,” Romm said. Since Lamberton’s departure, the synagogue has had extra space on its hands. Then the Muslim school turned to the synagogue. Both parties say the arrangement is working well. “These kids are more disciplined,” the synagogue president said of the Muslim students, comparing them to the Lamberton pupils. “They’re well-trained. We get along fine.” Shoatz-Ahmad said her students are taught to respect all religious beliefs. “I tell them, you don’t disrespect anyone else’s belief,” she related. “How would you feel if somebody came in and stepped on your prayer rug?” Nowadays, prayer is not the only thing going on in the synagogue’s classrooms. The school day includes classes in Arabic, French, math, language arts and religious studies. The school also makes time for the three Islamic prayer times that fall during school hours. Romm said that while Muslim prayer in a synagogue may upset some Jewish community members, “what goes on in a classroom behind closed doors, we don’t have any control over.” “As long as it’s out of sight, out of mind, we don’t have a problem,” Romm said. As far as the ongoing conflict in the Middle East, Shoatz-Ahmad said, “We haven’t at the present moment gotten into too much discussion.” She noted that pictures portraying Judaism are all around the synagogue, and those images help foster an atmosphere of tolerance. A lifelong Muslim, Shoatz-Ahmad, 31, has been an educator for 10 years. A native of the Philadelphia area, she earned a bachelor’s degree from Cheney University of Pennsylvania and a master’s at Marygrove College, in Detroit. Her administrative certification comes from the University of Pennsylvania, where Shoatz-Ahmad is hoping to earn a doctorate. Shoatz-Ahmad said she sees the school as a possible bridge between local Muslims and Jews. This may be “the first time in history where you’ll see Jews and Muslims working so well, especially with things going on in the Middle East,” she said. Burt Siegel, executive director of the Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Philadelphia, was equally enthusiastic. “If people can look beyond our strong feelings in the Middle East, the potential is clearly there” for future cooperation, Siegel said. “What’s interesting is that the synagogue was interested in doing this, because I know there are people in the community,” he said, who would be hesitant to allow a Muslim group to learn and pray in a synagogue building. “Any issue is going to have a range of reactions. I’m sure here, too, there are a range of reactions,” acknowledged Beth T’fillah’s Rabbi Robert Rubin, who characterized the lease purely as a business arrangement. Students attend classes Monday through Friday, and school is closed for public and Muslim holidays. To ensure that the school and the synagogue don’t conflict over their need for the classroom space, classes on Jewish holidays either are canceled or held in an upstairs auditorium. “I believe that at the end of the day,” Shoatz-Ahmad said, “we’re all going to meet one God, and we’re going to be questioned about why we can’t get along. So why not start now?”