Muslim and Jewish life in Minnesota

Islam is a world religion, and Muslim Minnesotans include Somali, Oromo and other Ethiopian, Arab, South Asian, West African, Bosniak, African American and white convert communities, among others. Most are Sunni, and there are also Shia Muslims, Ahmadi Muslims and people whose families have roots in Black American Muslim movements; these are not interchangeable. Practice varies widely. Daily prayer, Friday congregational prayer, fasting during Ramadan, halal food and modesty in dress shape the working day for some Muslims and not for others. Arabic is a language of worship and is not automatically the language a person wants for an interview. Do not send someone to a Somali community resource because they are Muslim, and do not assume a Somali Minnesotan is observant.

Jewish Minnesota has deep roots in Minneapolis, Saint Paul, Duluth and the Iron Range, and includes Orthodox, Conservative, Reform, Reconstructionist and secular Jews, Israelis, and families who came from the former Soviet Union. Being Jewish is both a religion and a peoplehood; many Jews who do not practice religiously are still fully Jewish. Shabbat runs from Friday sundown to Saturday nightfall, and observant Jews may not use phones, drive or sign documents during it or during holidays such as Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur and Passover. Kosher food rules and mourning customs such as sitting shiva can affect meetings and visits. A Russian-speaking Jewish family is not described by a Russian-language resource alone.

For services, the practical rule is to plan around practice when a person tells you it matters. Offer an appointment time that avoids prayer or Sabbath. Move a visit during Ramadan when a family asks. Honor a request for a same-gender interpreter or worker for intimate personal care when you can. Record these as scheduling and service facts, not as a religious profile.

Antisemitism and anti-Muslim hostility are real in Minnesota, from vandalism to threats against houses of worship to harassment at work. Organizations such as the Jewish Community Relations Council of Minnesota and the Dakotas and the Minnesota chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations offer education and track incidents. They are resources, not spokespeople for any individual, and imams and rabbis are not part of a case plan unless a person asks. Staff who are Muslim or Jewish are colleagues, not the curriculum; do not ask them to explain their religion on behalf of everyone.

Fictional case: Rachel manages a contract review with a provider agency. The on-site review is set for a Friday afternoon in late autumn and is expected to run past five. The agency director, Yosef, emails to say he must leave by three to be home before Shabbat, and asks whether a colleague can finish the review. Rachel's supervisor, Tom, suggests the director is trying to avoid scrutiny. Rachel checks and sees that nothing in the review requires the director personally after three.

Add a reputable interfaith calendar to your team's shared planning resources, and before your next major meeting or deadline, check it for dates that could conflict with common observances.

Which religious holidays or practices are built into your team's default calendar, and which ones do you have to look up? What does that tell you about whose schedule is treated as normal?