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Rev. James Lyons battled prejudice while urging religious understanding.
the shared heritage of faith of the
Jewish and Christian communities,"
said Rabbi Irwin Groner of
Congregation Shaarey Zedek and a
he Rev. James Lyons, then
winner of the institute's 1997 Dove
minister of Pine Hill
Award. "He built btidges of under-
Congregational Church in
standing by the strength of his com-
West Bloomfield, awoke
mitments to brotherhood. He was
sweating one night in 1982, agitated
by a story he heard hours earlier about very informed not only about the
Jewish religion but also the issues that
a rabbi's 3-year-old granddaughter
reflect the Jewish perspective on our
who had died in the Holocaust.
society."
"Jim was a friend of the rabbi
Michlin, a past president of the
through Wayne State University and
institute,
said Lyons "was ebullient,
also had a 3-year-old granddaughter,"
warm and endearing after the first
said Arnold Michlin of Congregation
minute. You wanted to drink at his
Shaarey Zedek. "He had projected his
fountain."
granddaughter into the rabbi's story.
Michlin said Lyons would "go into
He imagined her being treated the
Bible Belt churches in southern Ohio
same way and was determined to do
and Indiana with
something about the
his booming voice
hate still alive in the
and talk about
world."
Israel, anti-
The next day, Lyons
Semitism and
resigned from Pine
Judaism. He would
Hill and devoted the
try to clear the air
rest of his life to fight-
of stereotypes and
ing hatred and preju-
prejudice by quot-
dice. Soon after the
ing what he called
Rev. Lyons' dream,
the First (Old) and
Richard Lobenthal,
Second (New)
then executive director
Testaments. He
of the Anti-
would say anti-
Defamation League,
Semitism wasn't a
Michigan Region,
Jewish problem but
helped him land a
a Christian prob-
three-year Friedman
lem, which only
Foundation grant to
Christians could
start the Ecumenical
solve. At the same
Institute for Jewish-
time, he would tell
Christian Studies.
The Rev. James Lyons is fondly
Jews to learn more
The now 15-year-
remembered as "the Protestant
about Christianity
old, not-for-profit edu- minister who taught about the
to dispel stereotypes
cational clearinghouse Holocaust."
they held."
calls on people of all
To help break
faiths to mutually
accept, not merely tolerate, one anoth- down barriers, Lyons urged Jews and
gentiles alike to visit houses of wor-
er.
ship other than their own.
Founder and executive director of
A fervent supporter of Israel's right
the Southfield-based institute, Lyons,
to exist, Lyons visited the Holy Land
60, died March 19 at William
some 40 times.
Beaumont Hospital in Royal Oak
Rabbi Harold Loss of Temple Israel
from complications of diabetes.
said Lyons "kept the issue of Jewish-
A native Detroiter with degrees in
Christian relations on the front burn-
speech and Near Eastern languages
er. He raised the kinds of questions
and literature from Wayne State
that continually need to be raised, not
University, he was known as "the
just in times of crisis."
Protestant minister who taught about
Housed for 10 years at North
the Holocaust."
Congregational Church in Southfield,
"He was a dedicated spokesman for
ROBERT A. SKLAR
Editor
T
the institute struggled to stay afloat
despite yearly stipends from the
church and the Archdiocese of
Detroit.
"A different angel would come
along whenever it looked like we
might go under," Michlin said.
Groner said Lyons had a special
kinship with young people.
"It was his hope they would learn
about the vision of human brother-
hood that is cherished by the Judeo-
Christian heritage," he said.
Barbara Yuhas, Lyons' development
director for 11 years, echoed those
sentiments. She said Lyons would tell
his young charges that "as a
Christian, I wasn't responsible for the
Holocaust, but I am responsible for it
never happening again."
The institute will continue its
work, including the 1998 Dove
Dinner on April 28.
Michlin said a Christian minister
will be sought to replace Lyons.
Lyons was a member of the execu-
tive committees of the National
Christian Leadership Conference for
Israel and Bridges for Peace, both
Christian groups that strive to
improve Christian relations with
Israel.
He served on the scholars commit-
tee of the Holocaust Memorial Center
in West Bloomfield and the advisory
board of the Anti-Defamation
League's International Center for
Holocaust Studies.
A regular contributor to The Jewish
News and The Congregationalist, Lyons
presented "Remembering for the
Future: The Impact of the Holocaust
and Genocide on Jews and Christians"
at a world forum in Oxford, England.
He held faculty posts at the
University of Detroit-Mercy, Michigan
State University and Marygrove
College.
Survivors include his wife
-
Christine, daughters Sherri Williams
and Shelli Lyons, sons Charles and
David and three granddaughters, as
well as his mother Lola and sister
Patricia Zimmerman.
A memorial service was held
Sunday at First Congregational
Church in Royal Oak, where he once
served. ❑