"Wow, what a week," Rabbi Andy Bachman told his congregation as they sat in the pews of Old First Dutch Reformed Church on the holiest night of the Jewish calendar.
And what a week it was.
It was the week that the anti-gay, anti-Semitic Westboro Baptist Church of Kansas decided to picket three synagogues in Brooklyn and Brooklyn Tech High School because Brooklyn has more Jews and gays than just about anywhere else in the United States.
The picketing was set for Saturday. But on Thursday (in an unrelated event), the ceiling over the mezzanine of Beth Elohim's sanctuary collapsed, making it impossible to hold Yom Kippur services there. It will also necessitate a costly renovation.
Luckily, Bachman and Pastor Daniel Meeter of Park Slope's Old First Dutch Reformed Church are good friends. Bachman called Meeter. Meeter said yes, of course the congregation was welcome in his large, beautiful church built in 1891. They wouldn't even have to cover any crosses. "There are none. We're Calivinists!" Meeter told me.
Meeter was over the moon to have the Jews at the church. That's the kind of pastor he is. He loves to bring people together. He loves inter-faith events. He loves to foster community spirit, religious tolerance and openness. Last year for Martin Luther King Day he organized a full-day program for adults and kids
called "The Audacity of Peace," which included an interfaith prayer service for peace with Imam Salilou Djabi, of the Imam Ali Mosque in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Rev. T. K. Nakagaki, of the Buddhist Church of New York, Rabbi Andy Bachman, of Congregation Beth Elohim and Meeter himself.
So having the Jews over for Yom Kippur was right up his alley and he welcomed the Park Slope congregation with open arms.
On Saturday, as has been reported here and elsewhere, the Kansans did picket Beth Elohim and the congregation's response couldn't have been more perfect. With dignity, humor and a great spirit of openness, the rabbi blew the shofar, spoke eloquently as members of the congregation and the community danced, sang and laughed. A lot.
Even snarky Erica of FIPS was moved by the counter-demonstration:
the Westboro-tards with a huge, loud crowd that included my husband, my
Twitter friends, BREEDERS, BALLERS, politically active dogs, adorable
kids (yes, you read that right), and loads of other peeps who were all
spreadin love, Biggie style, the Brooklyn way.
The events of the week were referred to often during the service. Rabbi Bachman thanked Meeter and the Old First congregation for their hospitality and generosity. Meeter told the crowd that he wasn't sure if he should wear his yamulke or his collar. "Wear them both," one of his church members reportedly told him. Rabbi Bachman praised the space saying it was a wonderful place to pray.
The Yom Kippur service traditionally begins with a mournful
melody called "Kol Nidre." When the music began, a duet of bass cello and piano, the crowd gave itself over to the poignancy of the moment. It didn't matter that they were Jews in a Christian space or that they pray to a different God than their Christian hosts or use a different portion of the Bible. Old First Church was a hall of worship where Jews and Christians were gathered on one of the holiest days of the year.
And it was good.
In response to this post Pastor Meeter had this comment:
"But you know, we do pray to the same God. We tell different stories about
this God, and our stories clash, but it's the same God we tell the stories
about, like two siblings arguing over a story about their dad."