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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