Ever hear the one about the Egyptian Muslim who owns the Kosher deli?

In the Middle East, Israeli Jews and Christian and Muslim Arabs are at loggerheads. Even when there’s peace between Israel and its neighbors, the peace is cold. Israeli tourists who visit Petra fear for their lives; Egyptians who decide to head to Tel Aviv to sample the local nightlife can expect a discreet visit from the mukhabarat (secret police).

But in New York, things are different. Ever hear the story about the Muslim who bought a Kosher deli?

Mohamed Salem, 49-years-old, grew up in Egypt and worked as an archaeologist. He emigrated to America and traded the life of an archaeologist for a cooking gig at Adelman’s Kosher Deli in the heavily Jewish neighborhood of Midwood, Booklyn.

In 2006, after 20 years of working at the deli and learning a fair bit of Yiddish behind the counter, he bought the deli:

“I forgot about archaeology and got to know more the corned beef and pastrami,” he said. Salem pays a rabbi to inspect the kitchen to make sure everything is kosher. [...] Over the years, Salem picked up the lingo of his Jewish clientele. He’ll wish his elderly Yiddish-speaking customers “sei gezunt” — Yiddish for “be healthy” — when they leave. And his Arabic comes in handy when he chats with Syrian Jewish patrons. “I always thought he was Jewish!” Fred Kalman, 60, said as he sat with his 96-year-old mother, Gladys, eating matzo ball soup and brisket. “I thought he might have been a Sephardic Jew.”

Midwood is a multi-ethnic neighborhood where Jews of multiple stripes rub shoulders with Italians, Irish, Russians, Arabs, Turks, Bengalis, Pakistanis and a host of other neighborhoods. It is where my grandmother lived until her dying day and where I spent a good deal of my childhood. When I was growing up, the neighborhood was a mix of Jewish-Americans (mostly older immigrants or seculars, with a sprinkling of ultra-Orthodox), Italians and Irish. Now the ultra-Orthodox Jews and insular Syrian Jews have the upper hand, with other ethnicities taking up the other 50%. It’s okay; times change.

I’ve eaten at Adelman’s plenty of times myself, and will gladly vouch for the awesomeness of their oversized, heart-attack inducing sandwiches.

In the ultimate tribute to New York’s ethnic mix, this Muslim-owned Kosher deli also serves… Chinese food. Adelman’s menu includes “hot Oriental veal on garlic bread,” one of those amazing 1960s indigenous Brooklyn Kosher Chinese dishes that cannot be found west of Edison, New Jersey.

For peace in the Middle East, it appears one just has to move to Brooklyn.