Shannon Levitt | Staff Writer
Oct 16, 2024
Temple Beth Shalom of the West Valley hosted interfaith clergy at its Monday, Oct. 7 commemoration event in Sun City. About 200 congregants gathered with Rabbi Dana Evan Kaplan, Cantor Baruch Koritan and leaders from Jewish, Christian and Buddhist communities to show solidarity with Israel on the anniversary of the horrific Hamas attack, which left nearly 1,200 people dead and more than 250 held captive in Gaza.
Kaplan strongly believes in the importance of interfaith dialogue, which interfaith services help to create. It helps build understanding and trust, something that is more critical than ever.
“We live in a country where we Jews are a small minority, and therefore interacting with other religious groups is of critical importance. We want to understand what they are thinking and feeling and convey the same to them,” Kaplan told Jewish News in an email.
This type of discussion does not mean people will agree, but Kaplan believes that “there are ways to discuss who we are and what we stand for in a respectful manner that acknowledges these differences while seeking to build bridges between our communities,” he said.
On Monday, people of different faiths prayed and sang together in memory of Oct. 7’s victims.
“It was so gratifying to see the outpouring of support from so many ministers and clergy and their congregations,” Kaplan said. Kaplan and Koritan were joined by two rabbis, 11 Christian ministers and one Buddhist leader.
Each clergyperson chose a text to read with no restriction on religious content.
“We were coming together as representatives of different religions to support Israel and so it would be perfectly legitimate to speak in the name of that religion,” Kaplan said.
Reverend Bruce Scott, the director of program ministries for the Friends of Israel Gospel Ministry, gave the keynote speech. He spoke of the difficulty of commemorating something as tragic as Oct. 7. Scott took volunteers with him to Israel a few months ago to show support to the country. He recounted many of the stories he heard from Israelis on the ground.
At Monday’s event, Scott talked about the group’s volunteer service at the Kaplan Medical Center in Rehovot, where they heard tragic and heroic tales from people.
He stressed how important it is to keep the memory of what happened alive, just as it is critical to offer support and solidarity with the victims.
Pastor James Rausch prays with his hands while Rabbi Dana Evan Kaplan holds the microphone for him.
First Presbyterian Church Pastor, Jim Rausch, was unable to adequately express what he was feeling in words. Instead, he shared a prayer that is done using hand movements without words.
He stood in front of the crowd and put his hands together with the palms up. He told those gathered that he envisions a symbol representing something he wanted to lift up to God and slowly lifted his hands above his head. He waited until he felt that God had taken the symbolic object before slowly putting his arms down. Then he repeated the action.
He would usually do this in silence, but on Oct. 7, he talked through the movements so those in the audience could follow along if they wanted to.
“We lifted up a representative vision of the faces of those many who were brutally murdered a year ago on that date. Next, we lifted those many who were injured physically, mentally and emotionally. We repeated with visions of those who were taken captive, grieving loved ones, first responders, caregivers, protectors and defenders, and then a vision of hope for an end to vicious inhumanity and enmity among peoples,” he told Jewish News in an email.
As this prayer drew to a close, Rausch admitted the difficulty of praying for one’s enemies, something his faith tells him to do.
“Trying to envision one’s enemies in the palms of our hands stirs up deep emotion, and it takes fortitude to lift them to God. However, when God takes them from our hands, it is a relief to know that God will take it from there,” he said..
Rausch called becoming acquainted with Kaplan and the Sun City congregation “a privilege.”
Kaplan acknowledged that organizing the service amid the High Holidays was “not an easy task” to org and thanked Patty Weiner and Helene Fox, members of his congregation, for their “crucial role,” as well as many other volunteers.
Clergy represented First Presbyterian Church in Sun City, Living Word Pentecostal Church in Sun City, First Presbyterian Church in Peoria, Saint Haven Ministry in Surprise, Shepherd of the Desert Evangelical Lutheran Church in Sun City, Grace Bible Church in Sun City, First Baptist Church in Sun City West, St. John Vianney Catholic Church in Goodyear, Embassy Church, Faith Presbyterian Church in Sun City, Friends of Israel Gospel Ministry, Soka Gakkai International Nichiren Buddhist Community in Phoenix, and Avista Hospice at the Palazzo Senior Living Center.
“On the first anniversary of the terrible atrocities committed by Hamas, other groups and individuals from Gaza, it was gratifying to see and feel how so many people in the West Valley want to share their support for the State of Israel and the local Jewish community,” Kaplan said. JN
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