MAY 19 • 2022 | 37

Danish Jews were safely ferried 
over to Sweden by Danish 
fishermen over a three-week 
period, saving 95 percent of 
the country’s Jews.
“I’m left so speechless by 
some of the stories,
” said Steve 
Merritt, the event organizer. 
“The Denmark story shocked 
me. I found myself crying. 
We’re not so used to that kind 
of decency … and being 
exposed to a whole society that 
works together when we’re in a 
period of such division.
”
A group of over a dozen 
people from the First 
Congregational Church of 
Detroit came to witness the 
stories and songs expressing 
the connection the Black com-
munity and Jewish community 
have in their historical fights 
for freedom. 
Merritt is interested in see-
ing more connection between 
the two communities. His 
goals include doing a Black-
Jewish seder and Temple Kol 
Ami forming a relationship 
with an African American 
congregation. 
“I like to bring people 
together with others who are 
not like them,
” Merritt said. 
“So often we self-select to be 
with people who are like us 
and we feel comfortable with, 
but I like events where people 
rub shoulders with others who 
are different from them.
”
A poignant quote from 
Yehuda Baeur, Israeli historian 
and scholar of the Holocaust, 
was on the event flyer. “Thou 
shalt not be a victim, thou 
shalt not be a perpetrator, but, 
above all, thou shalt not be a 
bystander.
” 
“
And I think that was sort of 
the theme here,
” Merritt said. 
“That it’s up to us to stand up 
when we see what’s happening 
in Ukraine, and it’s up to us to 
stand up when we see things in 
the Black or Jewish community 
and speak out.
” 

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