Spirituality

FAITHFUL BONDS

Seeking Wisdom

New book explores stories of friendship and faith.

the AVISD()I\ cyl women
creating alliances for Peace
By the Women of WISDOM

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I proposed a book of our personal
stories of how we built bridges
across religious and cultural
divides.

I

n Metro Detroit, a mostly segregated area of iso-
lated and sometimes hostile communities, with
almost every person affected by the failing econ-

A Journey
Outward
And Inward

A

s an interfaith activist, I'm often
asked where my ideas and my
energy for this work originated.
I have to trace my long journey back to
my years growing up in a post-war secu-
lar Jewish family. I spent my early child-
hood and my elementary school years in
Silver Spring, Md., in a mostly non-Jewish
neighborhood. I was one of a few Jewish
children in my school.
I started each morning bowing my
head with all the other children and say-

36 ,

omy, a devastated auto industry, skyrocketing unem-
strengthen relationships between women and create
ployment, an area where homes have been devalued by
innovative projects for the future.
as much as 50 percent, I saw a spark of hope.
To deepen our reflections that weekend, we divided
A spark ignited with my friends from WISDOM
into pairs — I teamed up with Gigi Salka, a Muslim
(Women's Interfaith Solutions for Dialogue and
friend and board member of the Muslim Unity Center.
Outreach in MetroDetroit), women who share my
Our first exercise was to draw the bridge that con-
passion for opening hearts and opening minds,
nected us. Our bridge was a beautiful rainbow of col-
women who dare to cross boundaries to make friends.
ors; filled with many of the interfaith and educational
Together, we created FRIENDSHIP and
projects we had worked on together, includ-
FAITH; the WISDOM of women creating
ing placing a mini Jewish library, a gift of the
alliances for peace, a book that offers hope
Farbman family, at the Muslim Unity Center.
and the possibility of how we can create
I wanted to share not only our bridge-
peace if we are willing to extend our hands
building efforts, but also all the stories in the
in friendship and formulate meaningful
room. I proposed a book of our personal sto-
connections.
ries of how we built bridges across religious
Twenty-nine of us, ages 20 to 80 from
and cultural divides, with the hope to inspire
eight different faiths — Jewish, Christian,
others to reach out and to expand the circle
Muslim, Hindu, Baha'i, Sikh, Jain and
of WISDOM.
Buddhist --collaborated for a year to pro-
The group's enthusiastic response led to
Brenda Naomi
duce a collection of inspiring stories, sto-
a
task
force focused on gathering stories
Rosenberg
ries of creating friendships across religious
from
dozens
of women from diverse back-
Special to the
and cultural divides. Stories that describe
grounds.
Our
task force included WISDOM
Jewish News
everything from surviving flat-out hatred
board members Padma Kuppa, (Hindu)
— to the far simpler challenge of making
Sheri Schiff (Jewish), President Gail Katz
friends with someone of a different religion and race
(Jewish) and me. We turned to another friend: David
when you share a hospital room; stories that describe
Crumm, founding editor of Read The Spirit (www.
making friends at school, overcoming misunder-
ReadtheSpirit.com ), an online magazine, and publisher
standings with colleagues at work and even daring
of ReadTheSpirit Books. Crumm not only published
to establish friendships that circle the globe; stories
our book, but also helped us expand our creative
that will lift spirits — perhaps even inspire people to
circle. We invited writers from a similarly wide range
spark a new friendship wherever they live.
of backgrounds to help us. Some of the writers are still
Our journey to create FRIENDSHIP and FAITH
in college — and some are veteran, nationally known
began on Jan. 24, 2009, when 14 WISDOM leaders
writers.
gathered for a retreat at the Muslim Unity Center
As you open the book, you'll meet my three dear
in Bloomfield Hills, led by the Rev. Sharon Buttry,
friends; Gail Katz, Trish Harris, (Catholic) and Shahina
whose story appears in the book. The retreat was
Begg, (Muslim) who will invite you to sit down with
called "Building Bridges"; the leaders explored ways to
them around a kitchen table. They'll tell you about the

ing the Lord's Prayer in my
My Judaism mostly revolved
public school classroom,
around holidays. We would go
and even in my sleep today
to the synagogue on the High
I can recite, "Our Father,
Holy Days and my memories
who art in Heaven, hallowed
were again about feeling differ-
be thy name ..." I knew,
ent and uncomfortable. Girls
deep inside me, that this
were not expected back then
was really not my prayer.
to get any real Jewish educa-
At Christmastime, we
tion and so I felt conspicuous
had Christmas plays and
for not knowing how to read
Gail K atz
sang Silent Night, Oh Come
or recite the Hebrew prayers.
Special t o the
All Ye Faithful and Joy
I would sit next to my father,
Jewish News
to the World. Although I
playing with the tsitsit on his
sang along, I knew that
tallit, waiting impatiently to
these were not my songs.
leave. There was always this
Every year I had to bring in my family
sense of anger inside me that I didn't fit
menorah and explain the meaning of
in anywhere!
Chanukah, and I hated being singled out
When I was 12 years old, we moved
as different.
to Oak Park. My junior high school

years were difficult ones because I still
felt different, even though I was now in
classes with many Jewish students. I was
a target for bullying as the new, shy, all-
A student. My sense of outrage at not
being given respect for being different
from the "cool" kids laid the foundation
for my later passion in helping students
to organize diversity clubs.
During the early 1960s, my mother's
father came from New York to live with
us. I learned from my grandfather about
his world of Eastern European Jewry,
his love for the Torah, his need to keep
kosher, his davening and laying tefillin
every morning. Our Passover seders
became very traditional, and to this day,
we sing out my grandfather's Eastern
European prayers from the Haggadah.

