March 25, 2010
com T Page 45
Students learn about different faiths
By RITA POLIAKOV
Staff Reporter
“You’re the only Jew I’ve ever met” is a
phrase Alicia Krumholz has heard often at the
University of Western Ontario (UWO).
This is one of the reasons that she partici-
pated in the university’s third annual Abraha-
mic road trip last week. The road trip, which
is hosted by the Centre for Catholic-Jewish
Learning at King’s University College at
UWO, takes students to a Jewish, Muslim and
Catholic centre, where they hear from repre-
sentatives of each community.
The trip, which was free to all students and
had more than 35 participants, was created to
help dispel religious stereotypes and educate
students about different cultures and faiths.
For Krumholz, a fourth-year religious
studies and geography student, the event is a
chance to both ask and answer questions.
“There are a lot of things out there to
believe [about Judaism]. If you take ev-
erything at face value… that’s danger-
ous,” she said.
“This is my second year going… I feel
like this is a great thing. What I’ve learned
in religion is that there are really more simi-
larities [than differences] between the three
Abrahamic religions,” she said, adding that
the trip helped explain some Jewish values
and misconceptions.
From left, Bianca Canave, Hanaa Alaubaid and Alicia Krumholz participated in
the third annual Abrahamic road trip in London, which teaches participants about
Judaism, Christianity and Islam.
Participants of the Abrahamic road trip listen to Sister Farah Al-Dhaher, a professor
of sociology at Fanshawe College in London, Ont. The road trip was designed to teach
students about Judaism, Christianity and Islam.
THE CANADIAN JEWISH NEWS
On Campus
“History teaches us that Jews have suffered
a lot of persecution. It’s important to get an
accurate portrayal of what a Jew is like.”
This is one of the Centre for Catholic-Jew-
ish Learning’s goals, said Andrea Rector, the
centre’s secretary.
“I think everyone’s recognizing that we’re
living in an increasingly globalized society
and it’s becoming more and more difficult to
live in our isolated societies,” she said, adding
that the centre will be changing its name to
the Centre for Catholic, Jewish and Muslim
Learning in September.
“It’s very important to us that people
don’t use religion… as a reason for conflict,
and particularly for discriminating against
one another. The goal is to increase people’s
knowledge, compassion and understanding,”
she said.
This year, the theme of the trip was women
and faith, meaning that participants spoke to
female leaders in the three religions, said
Bianca Canave, one of the event’s founders
and a fourth-year religious studies student.
“We knew that… it would be best if we
had women in the faith speak… because there
are a lot of misconceptions about women in
most orthodox religions, [such as] that they
don’t have as much of a role,” she said.
Canave, who is Roman Catholic, sees the
road trip as a unique learning experience.
“Students have lectures five times a week.
cjnews.
The good thing about this is that it’s fun and we participant, agrees.
only spend about 40 minutes at each place. Stu- “I feel like there’s a lot of misconceptions
dents leave wanting to hear more,” she said. about Islam and Judaism where people are
For Canave, interfaith events like the road mixing the cultures with religion,” Alaubaid,
trip are crucial for university students. who is Muslim and a fourth year religious
“I think it’s important for everyone to learn studies and English student, said, adding that
about the people that you interact with every a road trip is a good forum for interfaith in-
day. There are a lot of students who went to teraction.
[Jewish day schools] and only had Jewish “You get on a school bus with random
friends. It’s really nice to see how much they people… and you’re taught [about] reli-
learn about [other religions],” she said. gion. It’s a completely different experi-
Hanaa Alaubaid, another trip founder and ence,” she said.
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