DON'T MISS OUT.

IT'S THE TRIP YOU'VE BEEN
PROMISING YOURSELF.
TIME IS RUNNING OUT.

MICHIGAN
MIRACLE
MISSION'?

April 18-28, 2004

OVER

600 ARE SIGNED UP TO GO!

Join us to learn more.

Recruitment Meeting
Monday, November 24
7:30 pm

Guest Speaker: Israeli Tour Guide Eliezer Ayalon

Max M. Fisher Federation Building
6735 Telegraph Road, Bloomfield Hills

To respond, contact Lizzy Cohen at
(248)642-4260 ext. 305 or email: cohen@jfmd.org

Peter Alter Richard Krugel

Chairs

Scott Kaufman Lisa Lis Beverly Liss John Marx

Associate Chairs

— Co-sponsored by —

arr

DATUM AMISH NNW

1/21
2003

62

The Michigan Board of Rabbis

40,

from page 61

efforts for decades, those ties have
declined recently, and in "many corn-
munities, little survives beyond
Thanksgiving services and model
seders," he said.
While Temple Beth El does host an
annual interfaith Thanksgiving service
and Passover seder, the synagogue's
relationship with members of other
religions goes far beyond the two
events.
"We know the importance of dia-
loguing and building bridges between
the Jewish and non-Jewish communi-
ties," Lockman said. "It is critically
important, today more so than ever,
because of the need for Jewish agen-
cies to be supported by a wider coali
tion.
Beth El is ready to expand their
ongoing programming with Rev.
Kenneth Flowers and members of the
Greater New Mt. Moriah Missionary
Baptist Church. "We have already vis-
ited each other's places of worship but
now we are ready to do programming
together that will be of common inter-
est to our members," 'Lockman said _ .
Connections are solid between
Beth El congregants and members of
the Arab and Christian communities.
"We are always looking for ways in
which Jews can come together with
other religious groups and be a part of
each other's lives," he said. "It is per-
sonal contacts and personal experi-
ences that move us to the next level of
common causes that Rabbi Yoffie is
talking about."
Strong ongoing commitment to
interfaith efforts also has made a differ-
ence to those involved in Temple Israel
programming. "There is no better way
to create a sense of communal life
together, than by talking to our neigh-
bors and breaking barriers of faith,"
Rabbi Bennett said.
Rabbi Yoffie urged synagogue lead-
ers to invite neighboring churches to
join in studying a seven-session course
on biblical texts and the religious and
political issues surrounding Israel.
Whether synagogues can forge those
ties remains to be seen — but his call
came with joint endorsements by the
major Protestant group, the National
Council of Churches of Christ, the
Presbyterian Church; the Evangelical
Lutheran Church, the United
Methodist Church and the U.S.
Conference of Catholic Bishops.
"Reform Jews know that our com-
munity is ill served by the embrace of
narrow tribalism," Rabbi Yoffie said.

F E D E R ATION'S

7

TIES THAT BIND

❑

This is Federation

JN StaffWriter Shelli Liebman
Dorfman contributed to this story.

Visit us online: www.thisisfederation.org -

780310