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Muslim & Jewish COVID-19 Responders Pray Together in Display of Tolerance & Brotherhood
The photo is still going viral.
In an iconic show of unity and brotherhood, a Muslim and a Jew, paramedic partners in Israel, paused during one particularly busy day to pray—the Muslim kneeling on his prayer rug facing Mecca; the Jew donning his prayer shawl, facing Jerusalem. The photo, snapped by a coworker, garnered thousands of likes within hours. One twitter user wrote: “One fight! One victory! Let’s unite.”
For the two men, Zoher Abu Jama, a devout Muslim and Avraham Mintz, a religious Jew, the occasion for prayer is nothing out of the ordinary. The two work closely together several times a week responding to the increasing emergency calls spawned by the coronavirus pandemic, and prayer is simply part of the job.
“I believe that God will help us and we will get through this.”
“Everyone is afraid of the virus,” said Mintz. “So are we, but we have the belief that everything is under the control of God, blessed be He.”
His partner, Abu Jama, agreed. “I believe that God will help us and we will get through this.”
Then, after 15 minutes of prayer, it was back to work.
