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Youth of three religions come together to reforest Meadowood Regional Park By Maayan Jaffe ow many Jewish, Muslim and Catholic children does it take to plant three trees? Nine, if they work together, which is exactly what they did last month at an interfaith tree planting, held from 2 to 4 p.m. at Meadowood Regional Park, located at Falls and Greenspring Valley roads. e event was organized by Ted Chaskelson, a Jewish member of the local United Religions Initiative cooperation circle. Chaskelson of Reisterstown, a member of Moses Montefiore Anshe Emunah, got the idea for the planting from a URI programming email. He said he was intrigued, so he contacted the Maryland Forest Service, which in turn reached out to the Baltimore County Department of Recreation and Parks. Once the logistics were settled, he set out in search of planters. “I was able to obtain participation by three Jewish children by going to two synagogues, Moses Montefiore and Beth El,” explained Chaskelson. “I readily obtained the cooperation of Rabbi Yerachmiel Shapiro and Rabbi Steven Schwartz.” Next, Chaskelson talked with Dr.
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Agha S. Khan, the Muslim head of the Ahmadiyya mosque, located on Slade Avenue. Finally, he spoke with a URI colleague from St. Vincent de Paul of Baltimore. Both eagerly supported the endeavor. Ultimately, on Nov. 11, Muslims Atya Noor, 12, Hussein Amar, 10, and Sarmud Jamil, 12, Catholics Tom Potts, 11, Emily Potts, 15, and Nick Hershfeld, 12, and Jews Liam Sperr, 15, Joseph Abramovitz, 13, and Cameron Sandbank, 15, participated. The youth were divided into three groups of three to plant one tree per group. Cameron said it was challenging — the ground was very rocky. But the children succeeded, and they said they learned a lot in the process. Emily called it a “very rewarding experience.” “I loved the initial idea of helping with reforestation, but it was really great to meet and work with kids from other faiths,” Emily said. “It reinforced in my mind that despite our individual beliefs and traditions, we’re still just kids and very alike in many ways.” See Seeds Of Faith on page 24
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From left: Cameron Sandbank, Emily Potts and Sarmud Jamil formed an interfaith team to plant a tree at Meadowood Regional Park.
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