Today is the eve of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan and the Jewish New Year—Rosh Hashanah.
 
Muslims will be fasting from sunrise to sunset to commemorate God’s revealing the Quran to the prophet Muhammad.
 
Jews will celebrate the start of the High Holy Days by eating apples and honey to usher in a sweet new year.

It’s a stroke of timing that brings members of these two religions to celebrate a holy holiday concurrently.

But Interfaith leader Eboo Patel says we should be finding more opportunities to draw parallels between the various faiths.

Patel has written a new book about religious pluralism in America titled Acts of Faith: The Story of an American Muslim--the Struggle for the Soul of a Generation.
 
Chicago Public Radio's Jason DeRose recently spoke with Patel who says high school and food taught him lessons about living side by side with people who had different beliefs from him. 

Eboo Patel will be speaking at the Chicago Council on Global Affairs September 20.