Mr. Hameeduddin goes to Washington

Thomas Jefferson held an iftar dinner for the first Muslim ambassador to the United States (from Tunisia) over two centuries ago. I can only assume he didn't invite the Mayor of Teaneck because the town had not yet been incorporated.

But that's no longer the case and Teaneck was in the (White) house on Friday as President Obama held a White House iftar dinner to break the daily Ramadan fast.

The President took some time during his speech to talk about the Mosque in the Ground Zero neighborhood. Regardless of your position on this issue I wanted to bring up another point about religious observance and tolerance in this Country.

Last year, Nathan Diament, the director of the Orthodox Union’s Institute for Public Affairs sat with Israeli ambassador Michael Oren, Religious Action Center director David Saperstein and a long list of diplomats and politicians at President Obama’s interfaith dinner celebrating Ramadan. But this year, it fell on Friday night -- and although they were invited again to the White House, they declined due to religious observance.

Mr. Diament said in a blog post:

Thus, with appreciation to the President for his kind invitation, I will be making kiddush at home.

It's a wonderful testament to the freedom we enjoy in the United States that one can be invited to a dinner event with the President and decline on the grounds of one's own religious commitments and receive complete understanding.

Well put Mr. Diament.
Congratulation Mr. Mayor -- sounds like a night to remember.