World
Counter-clockwise from
top left: Rabbi Daniel
Nevins in Rome with the
Great Synagogue in the
background
Monsignor Edward
Baldwin ,of Detroit's
Sacred Heart Major
Seminary in a Jerusalem
park
Brother Olivier Debois of
Abu Ghosh monastery
with the Rev. Ma g E.
Biedron of North
Congregational Church
in Farmington Hills
Rev. Kurt Stutz of
Botsford Hospital at Yad
VaShern's Valley of the
Communities
Standing In The Breach
Clergy's journey from Farmington Hills to Italy
and Israel strengthens resolve for unity.
MARY E. BIEDRON
DANIEL NEVINS AND
MARK L. SPRINGER
Special to the Jewish News
A
bout 2,600 years ago, in a
time of social tension, war and
pervasive despair, the prophet
Ezekiel announced that God sought a
person to stand in the breach — to
prevent the land from being destroyed
— yet could not find him. We, too,
live in a time of tension, war and per-
vasive despair. Will anyone stand in
the breach today?
Protestant, Catholic and Jew. Pastor,
tives. Yet we knew that even such reg-
deacon and rabbi. The three of us
ular meetings could not uncover the
recently traveled with a group of 15
ripples within our souls, the tensions
Christian and Jewish clergy from
within our communities and our com-
Michigan to Rome and Israel to
mon quest to understand the will of
explore the roots of our respective
God.
faiths. We sought to understand each
Like other pilgrims before us, we
other as complex religious seekers, and
designed an external jour-
to repair the breach
ney to stimulate an inter-
in civilization evi-
nal odyssey into the realm
dent in the every-
of God's love.
day mayhem that
Our goal was not to
mars our world.
demolish
boundaries but
Each month, our
to
respect
them.
It
was
important
for us
Farmington Area Interfaith
Association meets to study an aspect
of religious life from various perspec- . STANDING IN THE BREACH on page 44
COMMENTARY
6/ 2
2005
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