Heads of school, Abdelnasser Hussein and Adam Tilove formed Partners in Peace in 2015.
Partners in Peace was forged in 2015 between the Islamic School of Rhode Island (ISRI) and the Jewish Community Day School of Rhode Island (JCDSRI). Each year, the two communities plan a day of service for Martin Luther King Day. Then their fifth graders meet weekly for three months of learning and hands on activities. Follow the story below.
February 15, 2015
A day after holding a vigil for Deah Shaddy Barakat, Yusor Mohammad Abu-Salha, and Razan Mohammad Abu-Salha, the three Muslim students who were killed in the Chapel Hill shooting in North Carolina, the Islamic School of Rhode Island (ISRI) was vandalized with hateful graffiti. Racial slurs were spray painted over the main entrance of the school building.
February 16, 2015
In the wake of the ISRI vandalism, fifth grade students from the Jewish Community Day School of Rhode Island (JCDSRI) wrote letters of support to their Muslim peers. The head of JCDSRI, Adam Tilove, delivered the letters to the head of ISRI, Abdelnasser Hussein.
February 15, 2015
A day after holding a vigil for Deah Shaddy Barakat, Yusor Mohammad Abu-Salha, and Razan Mohammad Abu-Salha, the three Muslim students who were killed in the Chapel Hill shooting in North Carolina, the Islamic School of Rhode Island (ISRI) was vandalized with hateful graffiti. Racial slurs were spray painted over the main entrance of the school building.
February 16, 2015
In the wake of the ISRI vandalism, fifth grade students from the Jewish Community Day School of Rhode Island (JCDSRI) wrote letters of support to their Muslim peers. The head of JCDSRI, Adam Tilove, delivered the letters to the head of ISRI, Abdelnasser Hussein.
The two schools formed Partners in Peace, an initiative to bring their communities together. Grounded in the conviction that understanding comes through building relationships in the real world, the partnership focuses on fifth graders in both schools.
JCDSRI and ISRI hosted an all school event on Martin Luther King day. This day of service and learning launched their program to deepen relationships between the fifth graders at both schools. During the first year, these students got to know each other through a twelve week theater program facilitated by the Center for Dynamic Learning.
JCDSRI and ISRI hosted an all school event on Martin Luther King day. This day of service and learning launched their program to deepen relationships between the fifth graders at both schools. During the first year, these students got to know each other through a twelve week theater program facilitated by the Center for Dynamic Learning.
March 7th, 2017
JCDS Rhode Island received a threat from a caller claiming to have an assault rifle on the school’s roof. Mayor Jorge Elorza addressed the threat: “Yet again another anti-semitic act in our city. We denounce it in every which way. There is no room for hate in our community.” Read full article here.
March 8th, 2017
The President of the Board of Trustees, Hilmi Bakri, and the Head of School, Abdelnasser Hussein responded with two strong letters of support to JCDS from the Islamic School of Rhode Island.
Letter from Board of trustees at isri
Yesterday our friends at the Jewish Community Day School (JCDS Rhode Island (ASDS) received a threat by a man who was going to begin shooting at children from the school from a nearby building.
We want to make it loud and clear that any threats against the life of a child is one of the most vile acts any person can make.
JCDS has been our closest friends and they were one of the first people to show their support when the Islamic School of Rhode Island school building was vandalized with racial and xenophobic slurs about our religion and us as persons in 2015.
We felt the love from the community around us and we want to extend our support to our friends at JCDS Rhode Island (ASDS) to let them know that we're with them and to let their parents know that we can not allow threats to continue to push us away. We believe the character and the integrity of our children are vitally important and we must show support and strength to our community and our institutions.
We are behind you JCDS Rhode Island (ASDS) and may God protect our children.
Hilmy Bakri
President of the Board of Trustees
We want to make it loud and clear that any threats against the life of a child is one of the most vile acts any person can make.
JCDS has been our closest friends and they were one of the first people to show their support when the Islamic School of Rhode Island school building was vandalized with racial and xenophobic slurs about our religion and us as persons in 2015.
We felt the love from the community around us and we want to extend our support to our friends at JCDS Rhode Island (ASDS) to let them know that we're with them and to let their parents know that we can not allow threats to continue to push us away. We believe the character and the integrity of our children are vitally important and we must show support and strength to our community and our institutions.
We are behind you JCDS Rhode Island (ASDS) and may God protect our children.
Hilmy Bakri
President of the Board of Trustees
Letter from abdelnasser hussein, head of school
April 20, 2017
Inspired by the work of Partners in Peace, Brown Muslim and Jewish students on campus, Ilana Brandes-Krug, Junaid Malik and Becki Marcus, worked together with Heads of School, Abdelnasser Hussein and Adam Tilove, with support from Professor Ian Gonsher to host an event at Brown. Open to the fifth graders and their families and the Brown community, the event showcased the work of Partners in Peace and marked the beginning of the collaboration with Brown Muslim and Jewish students that would become BRIJ.
Summer, 2017
Summer 2017 marked the formal creation of BRIJ (Building Relationships: Islam & Judaism).
Fall, 2017
Andrea Katzman took over as new head of JCDSRI and continued to build and deepen the partnership between JCDS and ISRI. BRIJ student leaders met with Andrea and Abdelnasser to plan for BRIJ 2018. They welcomed Nimo Ismail, Class of 2021, to the BRIJ team and together they developed the new curriculum in collaboration with teachers at JCDSRI and ISRI, and consultation with Brown University professors and chaplains.