Chicago Tribune

Nearly a year after photo went viral, Jewish and Muslim families form lasting friendship

CHICAGO - A year ago, these two families could not have predicted they would be together this week lighting candles on a menorah.

The Bendat-Appells of Deerfield, Ill., are a Jewish rabbi and his wife, who works full-time for a Jewish organization, and their three children, who all attend a Jewish Day school on the North Shore.

The Yildirims, who live in Schaumburg, Ill., are a Muslim husband and wife and their four children, who have never set foot in a synagogue and before this year had no Jewish friends.

Yet their

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