PASADENA - For Mostafa El-harizi, Tuesday's interfaith concert at Weizmann Day School was like having "a whole world all together in one room."

Photo Gallery: Daniel Pearl World Music Days in Pasadena

El-harizi, a seventh-grader from New Horizon School in Pasadena, was one of more than 130 children that participated in the seventh annual interfaith Daniel Pearl "Harmony for Humanity" concert held at the Weizmann campus.

The annual concert is part of the ninth annual Daniel Pearl World Music Days honoring the Wall Street Journal journalist and accomplished musician who was killed by terrorists in 2002 while working in Pakistan.

"I feel like it's a very peaceful day, because we get to connect with all the different religions, to remember this man who wanted peace for the world," El-harizi said.

Children from Weizmann, a Jewish school, New Horizon School, a Muslim school in Pasadena, and St. Mark's (Episcopal) School in Altadena sang songs of peace and understanding at the day school's synagogue.

From Michael Jackson's "Man in the Mirror" to "Ode to Peace" and "One Earth, One Sky," students from each school took turns performing, capping off the hour-long concert with a joint performance of Woody Guthrie's "This Land is Your Land."

"In music, there are no boundaries," said Louise Harris, a sixth-grade teacher at St. Mark's School. "We are the same."
Lisa Feldman, the head of Weizmann Day School, said she started the interfaith concert seven years ago to bring together "the children of Abraham - the three faith communities."

But the connections between the schools don't stop there.

Weizmann and New Horizon School students have a pen pal program, she said. Students from the Jewish Day School have attended religious services at St. Mark's School and vice versa. Upper-grade students have also taken a joint trip to the Museum of Tolerance, she said.

"What happens is when children leave Weizmann and they are in their other secondary school setting, they run into their friends from here and isn't that what this is all about?" she said.

The Daniel Pearl Foundation launched the first Daniel Pearl World Music Days on Oct. 10, 2002, which would have been Pearl's 39th birthday. The event was launched "in the spirit of Danny's love of music and commitment to dialogue," according to the foundation's Web site.

Since 2002, more than 6,000 Daniel Pearl World Music Days performances in 109 countries have been held, said Christina Wilson, the foundation's program coordinator.

The Weizmann school event is the only multi-cultural, multi-elementary school performance registered with the foundation, Wilson said.

Meanwhile, Weizmann seventh-grader Sheldon Donnenberg said he enjoyed the collaboration between peers of different faiths.

"I think it's a really good movement, and that there can be peace between religions," he said.

Haley Harris, a sixth-grader from St. Mark's School, enjoyed the experience for another reason.

"It will be exciting and interesting to see how a bunch of different people with a bunch of different religions can sing," she said before the concert.