MAUTHAUSEN, Austria — Nearly 140 of us stood in a loose circle inside a concrete room on the last day of the week-long Muslim Jewish Conference — a platform where young Muslim and Jewish leaders from around the globe get together to promote dialogue, encourage coalition building and foster lifelong friendships — held this August for the fifth time in Vienna, Austria. The room with its plain walls, wooden benches, harsh fluorescent lighting and metal and stone fixtures was oddly representative of this place. Somber. Silent. Reverent. Some stood with their arms folded and heads bowed while others held hands, offered a supportive shoulder or leaned against the walls. Each one of us was stunned at what we had witnessed over the past few days. The silence was pierced by Samuel’s voice, a Moroccan Jew, as he recited a prayer for the deceased in Hebrew. Once he finished and stepped back, Bashar Ibrahim, a Serbian Muslim came forth and recited a prayer, in Arabic this time. As Muslims and Jews prayed together for the departed souls, united by the sheer scale of the tragedy that transpired here, only one thing was clear — no matter what religion, cast, creed or ...      Read more