Torah Portion .
World Sabbath service brings together
worshippers of many religions.
Above left: The Rev. Kenneth Flowers ofDetroit's Greater New Mt.
Moriah Baptist Church speaks at the 2001 World Sabbath prayer service.
Above: The Rev. Edward Mullins of Christ Church Cranbrook in
SHELLI LIEBMAN DORFMAN
Staff-Writer
VIT
hen the Rev. Rodney Reinhart found-
ed the World Sabbath of Religious
Reconciliation two years ago, his hope
was to gather leaders of all faiths in
prayer for justice and peace.
"In light of the recent terrorist attacks, this year's
event takes on more meaning," says the Rev.
Reinhart of Nativity Episcopal Church in Plymouth.
"The Sept. 11 attacks on Washington and New York
brought home to us the horror of religious intoler-
Bloomfield Hills and the Rev. Rodney Reinhart of Nativity Episcopal
ante, terrorism and war."
Church in Plymouth sign a proclamation establishing the first World
The third annual worship service, led
Sabbath in 2000.
by members of various religious faiths,
will take place 7 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 26,
at Christ Church Cranbrook in
dent of the Council of Islamic Organizations of
Bloomfield Hills.
Michigan; and the Rev. Kenneth Flowers of Detroit's
"We came to understand that we, as religious leaders, Greater New Mt. Moriah Baptist Church.
have a great responsibility to work for justice and peace
With the memory of the Sept. 11 attacks fresh in his
in the world," the Rev. Reinhart says.
mind, the Rev. Flowers will speak to the future.
Faith responses to the Sept. 11 attacks will be given
"What happened Sept. 11 is truly one great tragedy
by Rabbi Herbert Yoskowitz of Adat Shalom Synagogue in the history of humankind," he says. "We recognize
in Farmington Hills; Victor Begg of the Unity Center
that the Holocaust and slavery were other great
Muslim Center of Bloomfield Hills, who is also presi-
tragedies in the world, but this is one in which a terror-
a r litt i lgork.
e-..iyitatioa tospea. at he
World Sabbath of
tgeiis Reconciliation came.at.an ideal time for Rabbi
rbeit Y6skOwitz.
'tUrning..from Israel just days befote the interfaith
s service , the AdatShalotn Synagogue rabbi will
7.%.-ti esh
5 000fa:t
.-tart the event *and then share with the
acted
PartiCiPallts exPeriences of insPitation from
his nine-day triP- .
The rabbi's travels included
visits to Detroit's Partnership
2000 region in the Central
Galilee as part of a hospice team.
"There, I visited a 25-year-old
Arab-Christian woman who was
in the end stage of colon cancer,"
he says. "My part in helping her
was to speak of spiritual matters,
helping her reckon with her own
maker, helping her see what she
could leave her family.
"I wanted her to live, even
though we may disagree about politics. And what I
learned from this young woman from Nazareth was that
she was taught to accept help from everyone."
In meeting with his cousin, the chair of surgery at
Shaarey Zedek Hospital in Jerusalem, Rabbi Yoskowitz
says, "I was inspired by our Jewish value system of help-
ing people regardless of what community they come
from. My cousin told me that when patients are brought
into the hospital, terrorists with more serious wounds are
treated before Jews with lesser maladies."
Reflecting on his trip, Rabbi Yoskowitz says, "I came
away thinking about how we as Jews have so much to
teach the people of the world about how everybody
should act toward all human beings."
At the service, the rabbi hopes to speak of the purpose
of the event. He'll tell the group that "each Shabbat Jews
say the words, shavat vyenafash, God rested on the
Sabbath day and gave us all the potential for new souls.
"A lot of people need new souls — like people who
not only kill other people's children, but delight in
killing, sacrificing their own. Shabbat is an ideal
it is a
time to receive a new soul."
— Shelli Liebman Dorfman, staff writer
—
❑
ist attack affected an entire nation
on one given day."
The Rev. Flowers wants to "bring
about a sense of hope and under-
standing and resolve to go forward
in peace in a non-violent way." But
he says, "we recognize 'we must let
justice roll down like water, right-
eousness like a mighty stream
(Amos, 5:21-24).'"
Begg says, "Sept. 11 resulted
because everything in the world
revolves around religion somehow"
He sees the World Sabbath service
as part of a non-violent solution.
"We need a mechanism for people
to show disagreement through dia-
logue," he says. "We need people to
talk and to listen."
Prayer, Music, Information
The service will include a prayer
for peace by Imam Hassan
Qazwini of the Islamic Center of
1/25
2002
37