Tough times call for increasing moments of tenderness — or, as recently experienced by mosques and other Muslim centers in the Bay Area, packages of Hershey Kisses.
Zoe Sokatch, 11, and her father, Daniel Sokatch, CEO of the New Israel Fund, spent two weekends in November leaving small bags of chocolate, with handmade cards decorated with hearts, at mosques and Muslim community centers around San Francisco.
They plan to continue leaving the treats through the end of the year — including a trip to the Evergreen Islamic Center in San Jose, which recently made headlines for receiving hate mail that said, “We will do to you Muslims what Hitler did to the Jews.”
Daniel Sokatch said in an email interview that he has been “sad and worried” since the presidential election “because of the terrible things Donald Trump and his proxies have said about Muslim Americans. Their rhetoric reminds me of all the times Jews and others have been scapegoated and marginalized.”
Since Trump’s election win three weeks ago, an increase in incidents of hate and harassment have been reported in many places across the country. So Daniel Sokatch decided to stop at a CVS after work to buy a bag of chocolates for the Masjid al-Tawheed on Sutter Street.
“I wondered what I could do to let Muslim Americans know that there are many Americans who support them,” he said.
After he told his daughter about his efforts, she decided she wanted to help. The two spent an evening drawing cards with comforting messages to leave with the candy, such as “We Stand With You” and “Your Jewish Neighbors Stand With You.”
“We feel it’s about doing the right thing for people feeling scared and alone,” Daniel Sokatch said. “This seemed like a simple, quiet, personal way to start.” — hannah rubin