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Spirituality

and blended so well. Rabbi Syme, joined by members of his
congregation, gave a sermon last Thanksgiving at the Detroit
church. And the Rev. Flowers gave the benediction at the
temple's Glazer Institute on Judaism for the Catholic,
Eastern Orthodox, Muslim and Protestant clergy.
But there is a special connection the congregations share
in the story of Passover. The Jews' flight from slavery has a
particular ring to African Americans, the Rev. Flowers
explains. His people take their faith from the Jewish experi-
ence. As God liberated the Jews from Egypt, the pastor says,
"so He will deliver us from slavery.
Before the gospel seder, the Rev. Flowers said, "Our Jewish
brothers and sisters get to hear the gospel music that has sus-
tained and inspired us during slavery, the time of Jim Crow
laws and segregation days... "Go Down Moses" is our rally-
ing cry for freedom."
Rabbi Syme requested the church choir, the Mighty
Voices of Thunder, sing gospel because the music is central
to their faith.
"The music is not meant to offend or to convert people,"
the pastor adds.
Both rabbi and pastor agree that the gospel seder spot-
lights two peoples who've been oppressed. "The Jews share
the same story as the members of the African American com-
munity; and therefore the same destiny," says Rabbi Syme.
"It gives us all a chalice to reflect on our history," adds the
Rev. Flowers.
The next day, seder guests talked about building bridges
between the communities, about commonalities rather than
differences.
"Our lives have taken a different turn, we with slavery, the
Jews and the Holocaust," says church and choir member
Bernice Smith of Detroit, a seder co-chair. "But last night we
all felt the same, not Jewish or gentile, black or white. We
felt love." ❑

"

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Crosswinds Plaza • Next to Kroger
Orchard Lake and Lone Pine
West Bloomfield

248-538-2100

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Memories
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Applegate Center
Northwestern Hwy.
350-2420

Clockwise from top: Rabbi Syme and the
Rev. Flowers, telling the story of Passover together.

Eric Sircus, 10, Franklin; Lauren Miller, 15, Detroit; and
Hilary Sircus, 9, Franklin, share information on the gospel seder.

Cantor Stephen Dubov with the Mighty Voices of Thunder choir
of the Greater New Mt. Moriah Missionary Baptist Church.

Breaking matzah
together, members of Temple Beth El and Greater New Mt.
Moriah Missionary Baptist Church.

4/20

2001

58

Murray Goldenberg

