Cover Story

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I

n PillaYer

Diverse worshippers join
together to pray for peace
and healing of our nation.

KERI GUTEN COHEN

Story Development Editor

T

he Spiritual Day Tricentennial Choir, more than
100 strong, set the tone for an interfaith prayer
service Sunday, Sept. 23, at Fort Street
Presbyterian Church in downtown Detroit.
The powerful voices uplifted the spirits of more than
1,000 people of all faiths, races and ethnic groups gathered
as Americans united in efforts to heal our nation in the wake
of the Sept. 11 terror attacks on the United States.
Organized primarily by the Detroit office of the National
Conference of Community and Justice (NCCJ), the service
featured readings and remarks by leaders from Christian,
Jewish and Moslem religions.
Rabbi Daniel Syme of Temple Beth El showed the crowd a
kippah he always wears at the Detroit office of the High
Holidays that his son Josh had made at age 5; Josh is now
22.
"We can't stand idly by to let those in his generation and
future generations grow up in fear," said Rabbi Syme, who
participated in the service though his mother was dying in
the hospital.
"We are here today
Jews, Christians, Muslims — unit-
ed as citizens of the United States, the greatest democracy in
the world. We have joined hands and hearts in pain and sor-
row to participate in a memorial, but we're also here at a
moment of truth in human history Each of us must declare
no more rationalizing, no more murder
that's enough."
Rabbi Marla Feldman, director of the Michigan Board of
Rabbis, read a psalm during the service. She observed that
the crowd was "tremendously diverse, with more faiths than
those represented on the program."

UNITED IN PRAYER on page16

9/28
2001

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