Muslim Man Sponsors Synagogue Kiddush To Honor His Late Doctor
By Aiden Pink October 15, 2017
A British Muslim man sponsored a synagogue Kiddush luncheon to honor the late Jewish doctor who treated him, The Jewish Chronicle reported.
The Muslim man, who asked to remain anonymous, paid for the post-prayer spread at the Kingston, Surbiton & District Synagogue in south London to honor Dr. Tim Heymann, his gastroenterologist.
The Muslim man first contacted the synagogue earlier this year in order to reconnect with Heymann, only to discover that the doctor had died of a brain tumor a few months prior.
Since then, The Jewish Chronicle reported, the Muslim man “has become a regular at Shabbat and festival services and is studying Hebrew so he can better understand them.”
“My father taught me to respect anyone who did good things for me,” he explained. “And I believe in toleration and coexistence among all peoples and religions.”
He said that he found the community “warm and friendly” and enjoyed the sound of the Hebrew prayers.
This is the first time a non-Jew has sponsored a Kiddush, synagogue chair Sheila Mann said.
“He comes to shul every Shabbat and often says how much he loves attending our services,” she said. “He joined us for the whole of the Yom Kippur service and fasted all day. We are delighted to treat him as part of the communal family.”
Contact Aiden Pink at [email protected] or on Twitter, @aidenpink
A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you move on, I wanted to ask you to support the Forward’s award-winning journalism during our High Holiday Monthly Donor Drive.
If you’ve turned to the Forward in the past 12 months to better understand the world around you, we hope you will support us with a gift now. Your support has a direct impact, giving us the resources we need to report from Israel and around the U.S., across college campuses, and wherever there is news of importance to American Jews.
Make a monthly or one-time gift and support Jewish journalism throughout 5785. The first six months of your monthly gift will be matched for twice the investment in independent Jewish journalism.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
