The remembrance service inside Lorain City Council Chambers on Oct. 7 may have been the only one in America with both Jews and Muslims reflecting on the tragedy.

That comes as no surprise to Arnie Milner, president of Agudath B’nai Israel Synagogue in Lorain, who said that Lorain may be the most forward-thinking city in the country when it comes to Jewish-Muslim dialogue.

The longtime friend of Lorain Mayor Jack W. Bradley has been committed to building an interfaith community in the city for some time.

Local Imam Paul Hasan, president of the Lorain Interfaith Association, also took part in the ceremony.

Milner told the Cleveland Jewish News that Bradley called him a few weeks earlier and said he was thinking of the victims of Oct. 7, and for the first time, wanted to present a proclamation to Lorain’s Jewish community on behalf of the city.

“He wanted me to come get it in his office,” Milner said.

The remembrance ceremony and proclamation presentation were set for 2 p.m., with Milner accompanied by about a dozen synagogue members.

Then at the last minute, it changed.

Attorney Robert Gary, author of the 2025 book, “I Am the Other: Debating the Role of Islam in a Divided America,” heard about the ceremony and wanted to be part of it. He had been so moved by a portion of his book written by its co-author and nationally known Imam Azhar Subedar, who was part of President Joe Biden’s 2021 inauguration, that he sent Bradley a copy and asked that it be read at the ceremony.

Gary said that according to Subedar, Hamas, which carried out the surprise attacks against Israelis at the Nova music festival on Oct. 7, 2023, doesn’t represent Islam, and that both sides are suffering because of it.

“He basically wrote that, OK, Gaza is going on, and Oct. 7 happened, and Jews and Muslims need to talk at this time of rising white nationalism in America,” Gary told the CJN. “So, when I heard that the mayor was going to make the presentation, I asked if I could read the statement from the co-author because it was coming from a Muslim.”

Gary said that after requesting to see the statement, Bradley said he found it “so incredible’ that he asked not only that it be read at the ceremony, but invited Hasan, a good friend and “imam of Lorain,” to attend with the Muslim community.

The statement read, in part, “We are Americans. And as Americans, our responsibility is to help build the solution. That solution will not come from avoiding our differences; it will come from having the courage to address them ... We don’t have to agree. But we do have to recognize one another’s humanity ... Let us mourn Israeli lives lost, let us mourn the Palestinian lives lost, and let us stand unequivocally against terrorism, antisemitism and Islamophobia.”

Bradley remarked at the ceremony that Lorain is a city of humanity, that “we believe in each other, that we work together, and if we don’t do that, then we’re doomed.”

He also said that the “growing amount of antisemitism and anti-Muslim hate in this country” has to stop.

Then he presented Milner the proclamation “for the city of Lorain to remember the victims, honor the survivors, and families, and stand with our Jewish neighbors against antisemitism and hate.”

Bradley passed out challenge coins he had made to mark the occasion. One side read “Lorain: an international city,” and the other noted the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence.

“At the top of the coin it says that Lorain stands together,” Bradley said. “Today is an example of how Lorain stands together.”

Milner called it a “great ceremony.”

“It was more than a ceremony about a proclamation,” he told the CJN. “Very emotional. Different from what I thought. I’m very grateful to the mayor for stepping up.”

Milner, who was a member of the CJN class of 2025 18 Difference Makers said it’s important to start a dialogue between Muslims and Jews.

“It has to start somewhere, so why not in Lorain, Ohio?,” he said. “I hope we’re a pebble in a pond with triple effect.”

Gary told the CJN that while no one can change Oct. 7, they can look forward.

“There’s a lot of craziness, but we have to get some dialogue going,” he said.