[HANASHIR:16921] Being Proactive about "The Passion"

[Robbi Sherwin <sherwin...>]

Chevra: 
Two months ago, my Rabbi, Kerry Baker, gathered a group of ministers, a priest, 
other rabbis and cantors to form a group we decided to call "Face to Faith."  
Also involved were the local Community Relations Council and ADL reps. The 
initial task was to find a way to understand each other as "The Gospel 
According to Mel" was about to sweep across the nation like a  tidal wave.  We 
knew it had to take place before the official opening of the movie, today, Ash 
Wednesday. We met weekly and during that time together created a program last 
Sunday called: "Cross Purposes: The Passion: What it Means to Christians. What 
it Means to Jews."  (Note: as I use the word "Passion" I am talking about the 
suffering of Jesus - not necessarily the movie.)

Would people actually attend?  Who was our target audience? How would we get 
the word out?  We decided it was very important that we hold the program in a 
church, and a the fellowship hall of a Catholic Church was selected.  During 
the weeks we worked together to put together a program of importance to Jews 
and Christians, our relationships & mutual respect grew and blossomed. 

The program began with music - a niggun I had written and the "dona nobis 
pacem" Sim Shalom round, sung by myself, a Conservative Hazzan and the music 
minister of the church. A Cons. Rabbi & a Baptist Minister talked about the 
process and the friendships we have formed; then four speakers: The Bishop from 
the Austin Diocese, who spoke about what the Passion meant to him, Rabbi Baker, 
who spoke about historical trouble because of the story and how it has affected 
Jews; Rev. Sid Hall (Methodist) who told of his growth in understanding of the 
issues and Rabbi Alan Freedman (Reform) who spoke of ways we could come 
together. 

An aside - As an Air Force brat growing up in small towns all over the U.S., my 
siblings and I had suffered many anti-Semitic acts, including beatings, tearing 
through my hair looking for horns, tearing off my skirt looking for a tail, 
bricks thrown through our windows, fire set to our lawn..... verbal slurs - 
Sadly, my guess is that many of you have probably experienced these things 
yourself.   The priest had some doozys, too!  He grew up in east Texas as a 
Catholic - prejudice is not just for Jews! Ever heard the slur "mackerel 
snapper?"  During the course of these meetings, and in sharing our stories, 
every single one of the ministers we worked with privately apologized to me for 
what had happened in my childhood.  Cathartic personally - yes, but there was 
greater work to be done.

After the opening remarks, we broke into 15 groups, led by a minister and a 
knowledgeable Jew or clergy (although we didn't have enough clergy to go 
around). As the designated "wandering Jew,"  I was able to visit each group and 
the stories I heard astounded me.  One man, a Catholic, (around 60) told of his 
love for a Jewish girl that led to her parents rending their clothes for her.  
It wasn't until he found out the parents were both Survivors and him later 
visiting Auschwitz, that he finally understood.  A woman cried and begged 
forgiveness for what had been done to the Jews.  I heard other stories like 
mine - stories about misunderstandings, prejudice.  One very angry Protestant 
said:  "The word "Passion" isn't even in our lexicon - we don't use the word - 
we're not CATHOLICS.  Another comment: "This is really between Mel Gibson and 
the Catholics, not the Christians and the Jews." One person said: "Who's idea 
was it to give the microphone to clergy?  These groups are really what it is 
all about!"

We came back together to my niggun, had a closing prayer,  and sang the Hirsh 
"Oseh Shalom" in Hebrew and English.

Did I mention there were over 500 people there - probably 1/3 of them were 
Jewish. The paper had done a story on it that day (Sunday) and the news media 
were out in force.

The new group we formed: "Face to Faith" will continue to meet and do 
programming like this on a regular basis.  We figure the next thing we will 
tackle together is the "December Dilemma."  Yes, there is plenty dividing the 
global Jewish community we need to deal with, and nothing brings the Jews 
together like being in crisis-mode. In the meantime, we are now in each other's 
houses of worship - sharing our stories and music, debunking myths and 
misunderstandings and building tolerance and appreciation in Austin, Texas.  

Robbi Sherwin


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Cantor Robbi Sherwin
Congregation Kol Halev
Austin, Texas
(512) 467-7270
www.kolhalev.org
Spirited Jewish Songcrafting!
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www.robbisherwin.com
robbisherwin (at) earthlink(dot)net

Bloom where you're planted......