Poetry Friday: "My Best Friend Is Jewish"

Happy Poetry Friday, friends and readers.Next Tuesday, August 11, Saadia Faruqi and I celebrate the launch of our co-authored middle grade novel, A PLACE AT THE TABLE.During one of our *many* conversations about the book (before, during, and after we wrote it), Saadia and I discussed a poem called "My Best Friend Is Jewish." This piece, by Briana Naseer, appears online at Blue Minaret, the literary journal that Saadia edits.There are so many overlaps and echoes between this poem and the friendship story at the heart of A PLACE AT THE TABLE. The book is about two girls, one Muslim, the other Jewish, both first generation American. They are not friends when they first meet in an after school cooking club. They are both dealing with typical middle school issues, and with issues that are specific to having immigrant parents. While the two of them begin to open up about their cultures, they never make a big deal about how Muslims and Jews are "supposed to" dislike each other.  In this way, they are just like the friends in the poem.I hope you enjoy it. If you teach A PLACE AT THE TABLE, consider pairing it with "My Best Friend Is Jewish". That would make for a fascinating discussion with kids.

My Best Friend is Jewish

By Briana NaseerMy best friend and I meetat freshman band campwhere we are bothwholly unawarethat one of us is Muslimand one of us is Jewish.Our history teacher sees uslaughing together,boasts that he has solvedall of the tensionsin the Middle Eastand I am too youngand too naïveto realizewhat he means.When Rosh Hashanahand Eid Al-Fitr fallon the same daythat year,we end up comparingthe lunar calendarsin our respective religions.We both get teasedby white boyswho tell us we’re goingto hell, in the nameof Jesus, of course.We both findeach other’s eyeswhen the coaches praya Christian prayerat all the football games.We both lamentat playing Sleigh Bellsfor four years in a rowat the Christmas concert,heaven forbidwe say “holiday”or “winter.”Read the rest at Blue Minaret.One of *my* best friends is Muslim, thanks to our work together on this book.