OCTOBER 26 • 2023 | 21
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Cranbrook, who invited him
to speak at the Oct. 15 church
service about Israel.
“The visit with CCC was
fantastic … hundreds of
their members came to show
solidarity, and the goal was
to give them a sense of how
this horror is impacting the
Jewish community. We also
had about 30-35 temple
members as well as numerous
other people from the Jewish
community show up so that
our congregations could stand
together.
“The support of Rev. Bill
Danaher and everyone at
Christ Church Cranbrook was
humbling and inspiring — we
desperately need our friends,
especially at a time like this!”
Miller said.
While Temple Beth El has
had a strong relationship with
the Muslim Unity Center over
many years, there is a new
imam at the Muslim Unity
Center and Miller says they
haven’t had a chance to get to
know each other well.
“But I look forward to doing
so and hope that all people of
faith would be shocked at the
horrific brutality shown by
Hamas Oct. 7,” he said.
Carolyn Normandin,
regional director,
Michigan ADL,
said the organi-
zation has been
working with
schools —
providing resourc-
es about how to
talk to young people about the
conflict and how to separate
fact from fiction.
Miller has also responded
to requests from some local
public school districts “as they
struggle to provide a healthy
response on behalf of students
at varying levels of under-
standing.”
Normandin said it is
important that Hamas be
described as terrorists, not
militants or fighters.
According to ADL, antise-
mitic incidents increased
statewide last week, including
verbal assaults and distribu-
tion of antisemitic flyers. On
the positive side, Michigan’s
ADL office has received a lot
of supportive outreach from
non-Jews, including the FBI,
U.S. Attorney’s Office, county
executives and other outreach
partners.
“They said, ‘We just wanted
to check in with you, see if
you need anything.’”
The InterFaith Leadership
Council of Metropolitan
Detroit (IFLC) held a planned
educational tour
of three religious
institutions —
“Detroit’s Sacred
Spaces” — on
Oct. 13. However,
according to Gail
Katz (an IFLC board member
and co-chair of its Education
Committee), the mosque that
was supposed to be part of
the tour pulled out at the last
moment, citing safety con-
cerns about having unknown
individuals visit its building.
A second church was substi-
tuted while two other religious
institutions — Bethel A.M.E.
Church and the Isaac Agree
Downtown Synagogue —
remained on the tour.
“There is so much more to
be done — part of the reason I
have always focused on inter-
faith work in my own rabbin-
ate is that I deeply believe that
history teaches that it is bad
for Jews when we fail to build
strong relationships with our
neighbors,” Miller said.
“We need them as allies
especially in dark moments
like this, but that only hap-
pens when we put in the time
during better moments.”
Carolyn
Normandin
Gail Katz
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