Can Jews and Muslims be friends? We asked Nogah and Miriam from Berlin this question. The two 17-year-olds met in kindergarten and their families are also friends. Nogah is Israeli and Jewish, Miriam is half Palestinian, and Muslim. Their faith in God unites them and is the most important thing in their lives. But they also have some disagreements in their friendship.
Their common interest in religion brought Ben Salomo and Ahmad Mansour together through project work. Even though they do not meet up regularly, they have been friends for years and appreciate and understand each other. Ben Salomo is a practicing Jew whose real name is Jonathan Kalmanovich. Ahmad Mansour is an Israeli-Palestinian psychologist and author. He is a practicing Muslim, but also enjoys critically examining his own faith.
For journalists Sarah Cohen-Fantl and Celal Cakar, their religion has never been an issue, either at work or in their friendship. "We just respect each other for who we are," says Sarah. Sarah is a German-Israeli journalist with Czech roots. Celal is the child of a Turkish guest worker family, was born in Osnabrück and is also a journalist.
Ender Cetin and Igor Iktin met through the organization "meet2respect". Together they go to schools and teach students tolerance and understanding for other religions. For a joint project, the two traveled through Berlin on a tandem. Ender is an imam and works as a prison chaplain. Igor is a rabbi with Ukrainian roots and is involved in the digitization of Jewish-German writings.