Jewish Bagel Bakery tradition kept alive...by two muslim brothers.

[YellowRubberDuckie]

So, one day on Huffington Post, I read an article about Shariah Law and decided to put the author on my twitter feed. The author was a guy named Qasim Rashid. (Twitter ID is @muslimIQ. This is the first story I found on twitter that he posted. There's this bakery on Coney Island called Coney Island Bialys and Bagels. Apparently after 92 years, they just weren't able to keep it open, so the son of the original owner sold it to a couple of Muslim brothers. Their story is here.
God I love stories like this.
http://articles.cnn.com/2011-11-04/world/world_new-york-muslim-kosher-bakery_1_bagels-steve-ross-business-partner?_s=PM:WORLD
SNIP
Ali and Shah are keeping everything the same -- ingredients, equipment, recipes -- all used when it was a kosher store under Jewish management. Ali is now on the hunt for a rabbi to come and give the store an official kosher certification.

They even have some of the same staff, like Ernie Devivo, a semi-retired baker who is still helping out around the shop.

"I'm glad we opened up again," Devivo said. "It's good for everybody."

Asked about seeing the store open again, after a short closure, one customer said, "It's good. It's beautiful."
End SNIP

After all the hateful crap we read everyday, it is so nice to see people living together and keeping traditions they normally wouldn't want any part of alive and thriving.
Duckie

[elleng]

1. Daughter sent me text message Friday:

'Muslim cab drivers save one of NYCs oldest Jewish bakeries from closing --- and keep it Kosher. Channel 4 News.'
Was very happy to hear the story + that she sent it, as my best friend is Pakistani.

Thanks for this 'follow-up.'
:hi:

[YellowRubberDuckie]

5. Oh, I'm so glad you enjoyed it!

Honestly, I've gotten onto this kick where instead of being ignorant of things, if I catch a blurb of something and I don't get it, I Google it. And lately, my topic of interest has been Islam. It started with the new show All American Muslim that comes on next week on TLC. I already love one of the girls in it. She's a spitfire and she just has personality for days.
Anyway, it started with an article on an Islamic banking institution that failed that serviced loans for Muslims that first had me Googling. Did you know Shariah law prohibits interest in any form of transaction, so they have to have different banking institutions set up? Either they buy with cash or the bank buys the property, marks it up and then they sell it to the family, allowing them to pay it back over a set period of time. It is fascinating.
So, then I found this editorial on Shariah law on Huffington Post: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/qasim-rashid/shariah-law-the-five-things-every-non-muslim_b_1068569.html?ref=religion
So, I've learned that true Islam is not hateful, it is not anti-woman and it is not evil like I've been told my whole life. I'm very excited about this.
Duckie

[elleng]

8. Thanks, Duckie.

Yes, I've known something about Shariah law and banking/loans for a while, just because it was written up somewhere w/in the last 1-2 years. Very interesting how they get around it.

I wrote to daughter telling her that Kosher and Muslim Halal are very similar; my friend says 'identical.'

[iris27]

11. Not quite. Halal doesn't observe the separation of milk from meat. But they are quite close.

And good on the brothers for keeping this business alive!

[madrchsod]

2. well they are people of the book....

[TomClash]

3. Cool

Very cool. A fine post. :thumbsup: :hi:

[YellowRubberDuckie]

6. Thank you!

[democracy1st]

4. thats great

[rucky]

7. Who doesn't like bagels?

[scarletwoman]

9. Your remark made me think of these old posters:

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_PZ5CL8gE2dk/TCncz3lthwI/AAAAAAAABsY/jKvYZzoZpeU/s1600/You+Don%27t+Have+to+be+Jewish.jpg


There are several more, but these are enough to get the idea. :)

[Karenina]

12. One of the most frequently stolen posters

from subway cars EVAH!!! Thanks for that blast from the past!

[scarletwoman]

13. You're welcome! I've never been to NYC, I remember these posters from a head shop in Mpls circa '67.

They had those Levy's posters all over their walls - I just loved them! It was fun to see them again when I did a google search. A blast from my past, too! :)

[redqueen]

10. K&R