world

An Interfaith Journey To India

Sharing my Judaism with my Jain friends at a synagogue in their hometown.

Gail Katz and Bhavna Mehta

Jayeesh and Bhavna Mehta listen to Johnny Pingle in the

A friendship that transcends differences in faith

synagogue.

Gail Katz
Special to the Jewish News

M

y husband and I spent a delight-
ful two weeks in February tour-
ing India with 30 other people
from all over the world with Tauck Tours.
We visited Delhi, Agra, Jaipur, Udaipur,
Khajuraho and Veranassi. We ate lots of
wonderful Indian food, visited many tem-
ples and ancient sites, observed religious
rituals and stayed in beautiful hotels.
The highlight of this trip came after the
tour. We said goodbye to our newly made
friends and got ready to be picked up to
go to Ahmedabad in western India to see
some old friends. The three days I spent
there turned out to be an interfaith jour-
ney and incredible spiritual experience.
I have been involved in Interfaith initia-
tives for many years. As a teacher of English
as a Second Language in the Berkley
Schools, I worked with students who had
different faith traditions, ethnic back-
grounds and languages. I also chaired many
of my district's diversity initiatives and ran
the diversity club at my school.
I was one of the founders of the Religious
Diversity Journeys for Seventh Graders
— a program that is still flourishing and
impacting Oakland County middle school
students after 11 years. I am one of the co-
founders of WISDOM (Women's Interfaith
Solutions for Dialogue and Outreach in
Metro Detroit), the education co-chair
of the Interfaith Leadership Council of
Metropolitan Detroit and the chair of the
annual World Sabbath, which brings our
youth together to offer interfaith prayers for
World Peace. Interfaith work is my passion.
Due to my interfaith activism, I had got-
ten to know Bhavna and Jayeesh Mehta,
members of the Jain Society of Greater
Detroit. They came from India but had
been living in Farmington Hills for many
years. Bhavna was my link to the Jain

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April 10 • 2014

Temple, where I planned visits to educate
adults and teens about the Jain faith tradi-
tion. And over the years, Bhavna and I
bonded as friends.
When the Mehtas moved back to India
two years ago, I promised I would come
and visit. I got to keep that promise this
year.
Bhavna sent her driver to pick us up
at our last tour stop at the Udaipur hotel.
Four and a half hours later, driving through
traffic with no traffic lights, stop signs or
traffic police, we arrived at Bhavna's home
in Ahmedabad. For three days and nights, I
experienced firsthand how a devout woman
of the Jain faith lives her life.

Non Violent Living
Bhavna lives in a rather modern town-
house of three levels, complete with an
elevator. But the top of the townhouse is
special. It contains her Jain temple — her
place to go and pray to her guru, whose
photograph adorns her living room.
Meals with Bhavna were fascinating.
The main tenet of Jainism is "Ahimsa"
or non-violence. Devout Jains will make
every effort not to kill any living thing —
and that includes plants, animals, insects
and even bacteria. Bhavna is a vegetarian,
but will eat no root vegetables (carrots,
garlic, potatoes, onions) because that
involves destroying the entire plant and
killing the insects living in the soil around
the plant.
When we went to a restaurant, Bhavna
showed me the green symbol next to
some of the food choices on the menu,
which verifies that the dishes are suitable
for Jains. Only restaurants in the state of
Gujarat (where Ahmdabad is located) will
do this because the majority of the Jains in
India live in Gujarat. When I brought my
leftovers back to the Mehtas for lunch the
next day, Bhavna explained to me that she
will not eat any leftovers, because keeping

-

the food longer only increases the levels
of bacteria in the food — and she will not
kill any living thing.
Bhavna brought me to her Jain Temple
in Ahmedabad, and I got a firsthand look
at the holiness of her place of worship.
She introduced me to some of the Jain
nuns and monks. I was astonished to learn
that these Jain clergy are ascetics and do
not have a home or any possessions. They
wander barefoot from place to place, so
they do not get attached to anything. They
do not use basic services like telephones
and electricity, and they don't prepare their
own food. They live only on what people
offer them. They will not take all their food
from one place, but take only a little at one
place and a little at another. The cooking
process involves violence in the form of fire,
chopping vegetables and water consump-
tion, and they do not want to be part of any
of this to meet their needs.
After learning so much about my dear
friend's faith and spirituality, I wanted to
share my faith with her. The two of us felt
so much spiritual energy in our friendship.

Sharing Jewish Traditions
I knew that Ahmedabad currently had the
second largest Jewish community in India
after Mumbai. I wanted to learn more
about this and share it with Bhavna and
Jayeesh.
One morning, I met the teenage daugh-
ter of one of their Jain friends. After find-
ing out I was Jewish, she told me that she
had gone to the best school in the state of
Gujarat, which was run by a Jewish family.
She told me that the most popular and
most respected junior high schools in
Ahmedabad were administered by Bene
Israel Jews. Muslim, Sikh, Hindu and Jain
students attend, in addition to Jewish stu-
dents. She knew how to get in touch with
the Hebrew teacher who had the key to the
Magen Abraham synagogue. The teacher,

Johnny Pingle, agreed to meet us at the
synagogue the next day.
The next day, Johnny met us at the door
of the synagogue and ushered us into the
sanctuary. This synagogue of Bene Israel
Jews follows the Sephardic tradition, and
the pulpit is in the center of the sanctuary.
Johnny is the main chazzan and leads the
services by himself. He opened the ark,
and I was so proud and emotional to be
able to share the sacred Torah scrolls with
my Jain friends.
I opened one of their prayer books
and found the prayers written in Hebrew
on the right-hand side, and Marathi (an
Indian language) on the left. The Bene
Israel Jews trace their history to 1840.
Many arrived as employees of the British
services and worked in the railways, post
offices, textile mills, factories and army.
Magen Abraham was built in 1933,
when there were 800 Jews in Ahmedabad.
The numbers are more like 100 now.
As we were about leave, I noticed the
word "Shalom" on the wall, and I gave
Bhavna a hug, feeling the radiant peace
of this moment that was highlighting our
interfaith friendship.
As we left, we looked through the
locked fence outside the synagogue and
saw Muslim women in hijabs selling their
wares right in front of the only synagogue
in the state of Gujarat.
Passing by on foot, in cars, rickshaws
and motorcycles were many Hindu women
in saris and Sikh men wearing turbans.
The Jewish community had been wel-
comed in India, where there has been no
anti-Semitism. I breathed in the interfaith
aura of India and mentally prepared to go
home to Detroit the next day.
My days in Ahmedabad and my dear
friend Bhavna have a special place in my
heart. I am fortunate to have been able to
share in her Jainism and to experience my
Judaism in her presence.

❑

