Bringing People of All Faiths Together

Julia Friedman, the granddaughter of a Holocaust survivor from Hungary, is president of Hillel, the Jewish student group. Sophomore Noran Elzarka, a Muslim whose family hails from Egypt, is president of the Middle Eastern Student Association. Unbelievably, these two students are best friends.

“I think the basis of our friendship is we’re both passionate people who care about our community, our roots, our people,” Friedman says. “And we want to share that with others.”

Elzarka has traveled many times to Egypt to visit family. Friedman spent three weeks in Israel in 2011 at an international seminar, then spent the Spring 2012 semester studying in Tel Aviv. And while they do talk about more than just the Middle Eastern conflict, the topic is never far away. Partners in the Junior Fellows program in Drew’s Center for Religion, Culture and Conflict, they also take part in events sponsored by each other’s campus cultural groups. “We’re able to use our friendship and learn from different student activities we’re involved in,” Elzarka says.

You might say they became friends in prison. Last fall Friedman and Elzarka enrolled in a sociology course that associate professor Caitlin Killian taught at New Jersey’s only state prison for women. Once a week they’d share a ride to the Edna Mahan Correctional Center in Hunterdon County and they’d often use the time to discuss the legal, racial and cultural issues that the course inspired.

“No one else had this emotional reaction we had,” Friedman says. “We both kind of bonded in that we both were very struck by this profound experience.