CHARLOTTE – Seeking to assure their Muslim neighbors, Charlotte Rabbi Judy Schindler is encouraging non-Muslim women to show their solidarity with Muslim women on Wednesday by donning hijabs for World Hijab Day.

“As a Jew, I feel it is my obligation to speak out in support of other minorities,” Schindler, who now directs the Stan Greenspon Center for Peace and Social Justice at Queens University of Charlotte, told Charlotte Observer.

“My father was a refugee (from Germany), fleeing the Holocaust. Jews were clearly turned away (from the United States) in the 1940s. They heard much of the same rhetoric then that we are hearing now.”

Schindler was echoing message of support sent to the Muslim community in Charlotte after a tough week.

On Saturday morning, a Texas mosque was burned to the ground. On Sunday night, gunmen killed six Muslims and wounded eight during prayers at a Canadian mosque.

During the same weekend, US President Donald Trump signed an executive order banning refugees from seven Muslim-majority countries.

On February 1, millions Muslim and non-Muslim women wearing a traditional Islamic hijab mark the fifth anniversary of World Hijab Day.

The World Hijab Day, held for the fifth consecutive year, is the brain child of a New York resident, Nazma Khan, who came up with the idea as a means to foster religious tolerance and understanding.

Support

Melba Evans (left) and Vera Hough were among the women who attended a get-acquainted gathering for Muslim and non-Muslim women at Amelie’s bakery in NoDa. Hough is Muslim; Evans is not. The event was sponsored by Muslim Women of the Carolinas. Courtesy of Melba Evans.

Sharing the Muslim event, Schindler, rabbi emerita at Charlotte’s Temple Beth El, has posted a photo of herself wearing a hijab on her website and on Facebook and has urged others to wear the head scarf on World Hijab Day.

Among the responses from her Facebook friends: Two Jewish friends who are traveling Wednesday “reflecting on what it would mean to travel (wearing a hijab),” Schindler said. “That could be more fearful.”

Earlier on Monday, Rose Hamid, president of Muslim Women of the Carolinas, posted the photo of Schindler wearing a hijab on her Facebook page.

“Yes, there are awful things happening in the world,” Hamid wrote.

“But these are the things that bring me joy. … My dear friend Rabbi Judy Schindler supporting World Hijab Day.”

Two days earlier, Hamid’s group sponsored a “Muslim Connection” get-together that drew many more non-Muslim women than expected.

The event at Amelie’s French Baker and Cafe in NoDa was designed to forge “a heart-to-heart connection” between Muslim women and non-Muslim women, Hamid said on Facebook.

“I thought maybe 30 people would show up. We had over 100.”

One non-Muslim woman passed out yard signs that read: “We Support Our Muslim Sisters & Brothers.”