Coney Island Bialys and Bagels, Jewish Bagel Shop, Rescued By Muslim Cab Drivers

A 91-year-old New York Jewish bagel shop about to go under was saved by two former Muslim cab drivers who vowed to keep it kosher.

Coney Island Bialys and Bagels was set to close its doors in September, with longtime owner Steve Ross citing a bad economy as the culprit, the Jewish Daily Forward first reported.

But Peerzada Shah and Zafaryab Ali couldn't let that happen, so the two former New York cab drivers and one-time roommates bought the store together.

Ali had worked at the shop for about 10 years and didn't want to see the iconic neighborhood store shut down. Shah went to culinary school in Manhattan and was knowledgeable about ovens and baking equipment, the Jewish Daily explains. Both men immigrated to the U.S. from Pakistan.

Ross' grandfather, Morris Rosenzweig immigrated from Poland and opened the shop in 1920.

Some might wonder whether the "geopolitics that divide Muslims and Jews" pose a problem, but all three men say it doesn't factor in anywhere.

"It doesn't matter," Ali told the New York Daily News. "I make the food for everyone."

A longtime customer also told WPIX he didn't have any issues with the religion of the two men.

The new business partners are renovating certain parts of the shop, but plan to use the same recipes, equipment and the kosher menu, MSNBC points out.

Joseph Jackson has worked at the shop for 30 years and decided to stay with the new owners.

"The two men are very, very good-natured, well-intentioned and just good people," Jackson told MSNBC. "They want to keep the bakery kosher and I want to help them succeed."

And he's not the only one who wishes them well.

"I'd like to see them flourish because they're making a product that my grandfather brought to this country," Ross told the New York Daily News.

Comments

[Cassandra Velasco]

04:11 AM on 12/30/2011

I hope the ulta-orthodox members of both these religions will support this iconic bagel shop. It may be their only chance to stop viewing everybody else as infidels or goyim and sit down and have a bite together.

[hawaiianstile]

10:34 AM on 11/16/2011

kinda like that story of the muslim guy saving the jewish guy from christian attackers.

[Tracy Kline]

07:08 PM on 11/12/2011

This is great. Let this be a role model to middle east Muslims. It's this type of tolerance that is needed. Western values have a way of eroding poisonous religious dogma.

[hawaiianstile]

10:35 AM on 11/16/2011

lol that has to be the most ignorant statement i will hear today.

[ladywiccan]

02:48 PM on 11/08/2011

this is a great story why can't the middle east get along like this?

[moflard]

02:00 PM on 11/08/2011

YAY! A good story about Muslims and Jews. We´re all people, just a pity the whack-jobs can´t see it.

[nobodobodon]

12:19 PM on 11/08/2011

This story makes me smile.

But more than that, it makes me hungry. It seems like there are no good bagel places anywhere else.

[Wookiee1972]

11:39 AM on 11/08/2011

This actually reminds me of the great movie Monsieur Ibrahim, in which the situation is reversed; a young Jewish man helps out an older Turkish Sufi man. And for everyone who says "only in America," this one takes place in Paris.

[peter010908]

11:44 PM on 11/07/2011

Is it just me or do those bagels look like krispy kreme donuts

[storeysound]

04:00 PM on 11/11/2011

Can't say I've ever seen a Krispy Kreme with poppy seeds or without glaze.

[paulabflat]

04:07 PM on 11/11/2011

they look good. sure. the seeds are something new, though. i'd need a sample, to be definite. with cream cheese and figs. yeah.

listen. i live less than 1/2 mile from the krispy kreme, so, i'm going to say that i am a krispy kreme expert. when they're making HOT DONUTS NOW! they pump the smell out on the wind.

damn them.

[Json]

05:14 PM on 11/07/2011

Everyone loves bagels!

[Ayoub Madamba]

01:10 PM on 11/07/2011

Reading the comments: when something good happens, atheist automatically blame it on the goodness of humanity and disregard their religion, but whenever humans start wars and conflict, atheist blame religion and not the greed and racism of humanity.

[schnauzergirl]

03:44 PM on 11/07/2011

Since religion is one of the greatest things to divide people into "us" and "them" and its is that same "us" and "them" that allows people to jsutify that their "us" is better and more deserving of what ever resource or ideology is being faught over, then it is very easy to see that if there was no religion to cause that divide, there would not be as much fighting.

[sol313]

10:02 AM on 11/08/2011

Or maybe it's not so "easy to see." For one thing, in many cases religion is not the cause of the divide, but a reflection of it, and if religion went away the underlying ethnic, linguistic, and tribal divisions might cause just as much division.
For another thing, religion has also functioned to unite many divided groups and give them a shared identity; if you're going to hold it responsible for divisions, you should also give it credit for removing them.

[TooLooze]

10:05 AM on 11/08/2011

The reason this is a headline and is unusual is despite religion. If Muslims and Jews were arguing, it wouldn't be news.

[sherstone212]

12:27 PM on 11/07/2011

I'm not seeing how this is a story anything more than a couple of people seizing an opportunity at someone else's expense. It seems that the Religious orientation of these people was simply a way for AOL to get us to click on the link... nothing phenomenal here.

[TooLooze]

10:07 AM on 11/08/2011

That's too bad; it made me smile for humanity, compassion and the wonderful diversity that is America.

[eelisabethsmith]

12:03 PM on 11/07/2011

I was happy enough just to read this beautiful story, but to scroll down to the comments section and not see a bunch of nutjobs bickering about religion and politics -- now that is a beautiful thing. :-)

[provgrays1]

08:38 AM on 11/07/2011

Another example of good people leading by example.

[cheechazteca]

11:33 PM on 11/06/2011

Nice to see positive stories showing that religion should not be what determines what kind of man someone is. Good folk exist regardless of how and who they pray to.

[Jake Thomas]

05:12 PM on 11/06/2011

This is what Islam is truly about. We are all children of Abraham and of God. We need to stick together.