Spirituality

500 synagogue and church members
come together for Temple
Beth El's gospel seder.

SHARON LT JCKERMAN
Editorial Assistant

a

nticipation hangs in the air. Rabbis Daniel Syme
and David Castiglione hand the microphone to
the Rev. Kenneth J. Flowers. It's his turn to con-
tinue a story they've heard before — the Jews'
exodus from Egypt.
In a clear voice, the pastor takes the audience back to
the Red Sea as the Jews begin to cross. The excitement
builds. So does the pastor's passion. His words, says Rabbi
Syme later, are on fire.
Before he finishes, the audience of 500 spontaneously
rise to their feet, clapping and crying out, "Hallelujah"
and "Amen."
"We were all walking across that sea," says Brenda

Rosenberg, co-chair of Temple Beth El's third gospel seder
on April 9 done with its sister congregation, the Rev.
Flower's Greater New Mt. Moriah Missionary Baptist
Church in Detroit. "There wasn't anyone in that room
whose spirit wasn't touched."
Participants — half from the Bloomfield Township syn-
agogue and half from the Detroit church — sit together at
tables in the temple social hall, each with a seder plate.
They seem equally moved by the service.
"It was a transcendent experience," Rabbi Syme says. "I
had a clear sense of God's presence, and it moved me to
tears."
Visiting church members agree that this seder was the
most moving of the three. Says church co-chair Betty
Miller of Detroit. "It reached the heart."
This isn't the only occasion the congregations have met

The Mighty Voices
of Thunder at
Temple Beth El's
Passover gospel
seder.

4/20
2001

57