Sometimes you just have to stand up and be counted.
Last Saturday, November 10, 2018, I showed up for Shabbat. Launched by the American Jewish Committee, a global Jewish advocacy organization, the #ShowUpForShabbat campaign was a response to the October 27 massacre in Pittsburgh, when eleven worshipers were gunned down at a synagogue in one of that city's most vibrant Jewish communities.
I had a prior commitment the weekend before and so was not able to attend with the thousands of observers around the world for #ShowUpForShabbat. At the time, the mayor of Vancouver attended services at Or Shalom, or Light of Peace synagogue, along with two Members of British Columbia's Legislative Assembly.
The event still gnawed at me. Having attended high school with Jewish students, many of whom are now Facebook friends, I recruited a friend and off we went. I wanted to stand against hate with Jewish people everywhere.
It is no small irony that last Friday and Saturday happened also to be the 80th anniversary of Kristallnacht, sometimes referred to as the beginning of the Holocaust, when thousands upon thousands of German Jews were subjected to terror and violence by the Nazis. Over 1,000 Jewish synagogues and over 7,500 Jewish businesses were destroyed, and approximately 30,000 Jewish men were arrested and taken to concentration camps.
I arrived at Or Shalom half an hour early. The police had just pulled up. The Vancouver Police Department was doing a safety check on the building: heightened security. I didn't mind a bit, and when I mentioned it over lunch to a member afterwards, they were grateful for the extra attention by VPD.
I come from a Christian background, where services last an hour-plus. This one lasted two and a half hours! But it was an easy stay. It was okay to ask questions. People got up and moved around, came in late, etc.
I was struck by the allowance for our humanity in this Jewish community. The speakers' natural acceptance of our being flawed, and yet of doing our best.
This "liberal" synagogue, to use a term a member used, still felt pretty Jewish! Greetings of, "Shabbat Shalom." No cell phones permitted, even at lunch afterwards. The Rabbi is a woman, and a New Yorker if I recall correctly. They accepted as a member a Messianic Jew, who sat with us and helped us with questions.
I did my best to follow along in the prayer book(?), with its parallel passages. When they read slowly, I could follow the Hebrew that I had learned in seminary. When they raced with their chanting I was lost. But I could still read the familiar Old Testament passages in English on the opposite page.
My friend met a co-worker, Lorne, a department head at a local university. He joined us for lunch. We talked about Antisemitism, racism, and he mentioned the "shadow" within us all. I agreed. I recalled with him a professor, Manny Ortiz, a Hispanic, who challenged us to consider our own prejudices, our own racism, to celebrate our differences, to love the city.
I remember my high school days, and my own shadows. I remembered how I felt like the Jewish students in my school sometimes felt clique-ish to me, like a couple of them seemed to act better than others. I remembered that others were just as wonderful and as friendly as they could be. I looked at my own shadows, my own lingering resentment of a few of the Jewish kids. I looked at my own feelings about Jews.
I remember a beloved Jewish friend Chuck. We used to joke that we probably did not talk to each other even once in high school, even though we both attended Allgates. Chuck was the first to reach out to me years later through Facebook. Chuck and I developed a real appreciation and love for each other; him, a conservative Jew, me, a Christian minister. Shortly before he passed last year, we had lunch together, the Corned Beef Special (of course!), at Hymie's in Merion Station, Pennsylvania. Chuck opened my heart up. I will always love him for that.
After lunch, we parted warmly. Several folks invited us back, wondering hopefully if we would come again. But they were so warm and not pushy about it the way some folks can be. It was just very natural. Vancouver is a long trek though.
I was honest. I told them no, probably not. But one thing I will do is I will stand side by side with Jews and all humans against antisemitism, and for freedom and peace.
