I had two impresive evenings last week. On Wednesday Kathleen and I were invited to an interfaith Iftar. For Muslims the Iftar is the daily meal breaking the fast during Ramadan. The event was held in the Legislative Office Building and we were a few minutes late. When we came in on the third floor we could hear the chanting of the Koran echoing through the five story open atrium in the LOB. We had addresses by the president of the Harmony Foundation, a Muslim group dedicated to interfaith understanding and by Dr. Reza Monsor. They and everyone who spoke were intent on explaining that they represented the mainstream of Islam, that the terrorists and insurgents were not representative of what Islam stands for. There were prayers by Jewish and Christian leaders from Hartford Seminary as well as Muslim prayers. As the sun was setting we saw people placing table cloths and prayer rugs on the floor behind the speakers and near the food buffet that was being set out. Kathleen at first thought we were going to eat picnic style on the floor, and then we realized that they were for the traditional prayers for breaking the fast and all the Muslims assembled in this area for the prayers, then delicious Turkish food was served.

I certainly learned more about Islam, and Remadam in particular. They had some beautiful slides of Islamic architecture, mostly Mosques, as well as people at prayer in some of the holy places. It seems traditional during Ramadan for Muslims to often have the Iftar as a communal meal rather than to break the fast family by family at their homes. We also discovered that there were many more to which non Muslims were being invited as well; and that different groups sponsored these meals each featuring different cusine, while we ate Turkish food another would feature African food, another Asian.

The second event was the big ICEJ event promoting a state Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC). There were hundreds of people assembled at the First Church of the Living God. We heard moving testimonies from Luz Santana, Yairaliz Arroyo and Dorothy DelValle about how the federal EITC has made their lives easier and why taking the next step to enact a state EITC will continue to uplift the working poor.

Ned Lamont, Mary Glassman and Mayor Perez added their voices of support for a state EITC. But the highlight of the evening was the very spirited and passionate address by Rev. James B. Walker who brought the audience to their feet.

We collected hundreds of signatures on our petition and forged relationships with our many co-sponsors. It was probably the most inspiring meeting that ICEJ has sponsored in its history.

On Thursday we are traveling to Mount Laurel, NJ to see Sabrena and Arthie and our now 8 month old granddaughter Hannah.