[HANASHIR:12065] Re: Worship as counter-demonstration

[jbielan <jbielan...>]

Larry,

Congratulations on your courage and clear thinking.

Jack Bielan 

-------Original Message-------

From: hanashir (at) shamash(dot)org
Date: Friday, August 23, 2002 09:26:31 PM
To: hanashir (at) shamash(dot)org
Subject: [HANASHIR:12064] Worship as counter-demonstration

Chevre, 
  Shabbat Shalom!  Tonight was a very special night at my congregation. 
Tomorrow  (August 24), the Kansas State Capitol is going to be the
unfortunate site of a pro-white rally by the National Socialist Movement - i
e., Neo-Nazis, this group coming from Minnesota.  The NAACP and two groups
(Concerned Citizens for Topeka and "Unity Boulevard") that deal with our
local hatemongers (Fred Phelps and the Westboro Baptist Church) are going to
demonstrate at the same time as the neo Nazis across the street diagonally
about 1000 feet away from the neo Nazis. 
    I felt that such a demonstration wasn't enough.  One community leader
suggested the Temple and Jewish community should feel some ownership of
doing something for the greater community.  So, I thought it would be good
to open our service tonight to the community.  Our Temple Board agreed, and
we went ahead with a couple of tv interviews and newspaper articles to
announce our sharing of our service. 
    When I came up to the bimah after practicing with our singers at 8pm, we
had a crowd overflowing the 250 seats that were already set up.  We put up
more - and probably had 300 by the time everyone arrived.    
     I used music to do a lot of teaching and voicing the values I wanted to
highlight related to the demonstrations tomorrow.   The service included
these songs especially for tonight: 
Open the Gates (Joe Black) 
Shir Chadash (Julie Silver) 
Shelter of Peace (Debbie Friedman) 
Circle Chant (Linda Hirschhorn) 
Save a Life (Debbie Friedman) 
Amar Rabi Akiva (Doug Cotler) 
Alena's Song: Maybe More of Us (an unrecorded piece by Jeff Klepper that
puts to music the poem "I'd Like to Be Alone" from the book "I Never Saw
Another Butterfly." 
Yaysh Kochavim (Jeff Klepper) 
Let the Heavens Be Glad (Robert Weinberg) 

The service was very meaningful - and I really enjoyed doing the music, as
well as adding some explanations for community members there.  Probably 2/3
of the people there - or more - were from the general community. 

 Just wanted to let you know how effective jewish music is here in the
heartland in standing up against hatred. 
  Shabbat Shalom, everyone! 
L'shalom, 
Rabbi Larry Karol 
Temple Beth Sholom 
Topeka