If it's Monday, it's the First Day of Ramadan! Ramadan Kareem!

 Click image, gets bigger.

Okay, so I filched the calligraphy for "Ramadan Kareem," the universal greeting which means "a generous Ramadan." Look, I don't speak, read or write Arabic. So to wish my Muslim neighbors a fine Ramadan, I am forced to filch. Please forgive me. I would credit the artist, but the website I filched it from did not credit the artist. If she/he recognizes her/his work, Vleeptron owes the artist a pizza.

This is a little downer-and-dirtier than other Vleeptron Ramadan and Eid greetings, because (as happens from time to time) Ramadan snuck up on me, I just realized it was upon me a few hours ago. When I was in Quebec a couple of years ago, there also weren't a lot of screaming neon signs that it was Ramadan.

Muhammad received the Holy Quran during the month of Ramadan. Muslims fast from morning to sundown each day of Ramadan. The month requires acts of charity and generosity, and services at mosques feature a reading of a thirtieth of the Quran, so a Muslim can read the entire Holy Book during Ramadan.

Tawdry and ignorant though this Vleeptron greeting is, I'd like to dedicate it to two young men in Orthodox Muslim garb who (after I had wished them Ramadan Kareem) had a very hard time getting across the US-Canadian border. I sincerely hope they managed to wriggle out of their troubles in a very brief time and continue on their journey.

This greeting -- Vleeptron hardly ever misses a year -- is part of the Vleeptron project to reduce hate, suspicion and interfaith ignorance on Planet Earth. The word "neighbor" does not specify how close a neighbor has to be. A neighbor could be just over my back fence. Or a neighbor could be in Jakarta while I am in Massachusetts. 

But we're all neighbors on Planet Earth, and being Jewish or Christian or Hindu or Muslim or  Swedenborgian or atheist does not relieve us from our bonds of neighborhood.

Ramadan Kareem!