V

V

B'nai David Cemetery

Care G Preservation Project

L'Dor V'Dor

Caringfor Past Generations

Community clean up day
Sunday, September 14th,
10am - 3pm

The Cemetery will be
open for Community
Visitation on Sunday,
September 21st,
10am - 3pm

Sharing The Bimah

Song and Spirit Institute for Peace
builds interfaith harmony.

Lou Soverinsky stands between his
grandparents' stones

B'nai David Cemetery was
founded in 1898 and
is the resting place
to more than 1,200
Jewish Detroiters. No
synagogue perpetual care
fund or caretaker exists.
The responsibility is
ours, the Detroit Jewish
Community, to care for and
respect those who came
before us.
Help us preserve
this sacred and historic place.

Tax deductible donations
accepted.
Checks payable to:

Friends of B'nai David
Cemetery
2425 E Fourteen Mile Rd.
Birmingham, MI 48009

Check Friends of
B'nai David on Facebook
For a list of burials
1898 through 1993
visit our website
http://bnaidavid.weebly.com

1943250

32

September 4 • 2014

Judy Greenwald
I Special to the Jewish News

I

n a world with ever-increasing ten-
sions between different faiths, the
Song and Spirit Institute for Peace in
Berkley strives to create positive religious
interactions among Metro Detroit's Jews
and Christians.
One such service, conducted every third
Saturday night of the month by Maggid
(storyteller) Steve Klaper and Brother Al
Mascia, O.F.M. (Order of Friars Minor), is
the Havdalah ritual, marking the end of
the Jewish Shabbat and beginning of the
Lord's Day, or Christian Sabbath.
The Institute, founded in April 2011 by
Klaper of Oak Park, his wife, Mary Gilhuly,
and Brother Al, a Franciscan friar, traces
its roots to a band the three formed in
2009.
"A friend of Mary's saw Brother Al per-
forming as part of his ministry in Detroit
and told him I was a Jewish musician and
storyteller doing the same thing:' Klaper
said. "He came to our house during Sukkot
and we played music for each other and
decided to form an interfaith band:'
The first concert they played was at
Congregation Shir Tikvah in Troy in
March 2010. The idea of expanding into
the Institute for Peace came after a perfor-
mance in Cincinnati that fall.
"Then, in 2011, we found the Berkley
location and have since been sharing the
space with Brother Al and two other friars
who live in a friary upstairs named after
the well-known Duns Scotus that was in
Southfield:' Klaper said.
Song and Spirit's mission is to use music
and storytelling to bring together and

inspire people who seek common spiritual
ground.
"In October 1986',' Klaper said, "Pope
John Paul II invited world religious lead-
ers to Assisi, Italy, to pray for world peace.
Today, we embrace the 'Spirit of Assisi' as
a guiding force to bring 'Shalom to the
world:'

A Unique Bimah
The Institute's bimah is unusual.
According to Klaper and Brother Al,
many synagogues and churches share
space, and when any Jewish services are
held, the Christian artifacts and imple-
ments are stored. Then, during Christian
worship, the Jewish articles and symbols
are removed. But at Song and Spirit, the
Aron Kodesh (ark) stands in its usual place
and suspended above is the Tabernacle
(a decorative receptacle of stained glass
designed by Gilhuly) that contains the
Blessed Sacrament, the consecrated bread
Christians believe contains the body, blood
and even soul of Jesus.
"To Jews:' said Brother Al, "the physi-
cal presence of the Torah provides a way
of encountering the Divine Presence. For
Christians, the Blessed Sacrament reserved
in a Tabernacle serves a similar purpose.
These two manifestations intentionally
being in one sacred space is unheard of.
The symbolism of this is great because it
proclaims that the presences held most
sacred by two religious traditions can
remain peacefully in one another's com-
pany'
Klaper added, "Our chapel is unique
because of the happy circumstance that
both the Torah, stored in the ark, and the
Blessed Sacrament within the hanging

Tabernacle just over the ark, are always in
close proximity, sharing a solitary eternal
flame:'

Havdalah Services
Candle flames play a central role dur-
ing the Song and Spirit Havdalah ser-
vice. Klaper, assisted by longtime friend
and Institute volunteer Judy Lewis of
Southfield, began by telling the 30 people
attending that there's a change of mood
from the beginning of Shabbat on Friday
night to its Saturday night end.
"Friday songs are joyous, welcoming
the Shabbat queen:' he said. "The songs of
Havdalah are less so; we want to hold on
to this special Shabbat feeling, but know
we must return to our everyday lives:'
Klaper's guitar blended with his and
Lewis' voices, and Brother Al sang and
accompanied them on a harmonium
(a keyboard instrument similar to the
organ) as they led the familiar blessings
over wine, spices and fire from the special
multi-wicked Havdalah candle. Jewish and
Christian participants alike sang from the
prayer book written in both Hebrew and
English.
Brother Al then joined Klaper for the
portion of the service welcoming the
Christian Sabbath, relating that Sunday
worship begins liturgically the night
before.
"There are prayers for Saturday morn-
ing and afternoon:' Brother Al said, "but
none for Saturday night. They are called
Sunday Night One, and they're said on
Saturday evenings, ushering in the Lord's
Day.

Sharing The Bimah on page 34

I