More than 80 people came together May 16 at Temple Sinai of Roslyn for a thought-provoking interfaith dialogue.
The Rev. Victor Lewis and members of the Friendship Baptist Church joined Rabbi Michael White and their neighbors from Temple Sinai for the annual event entitled “Bringing Our Congregations Together,” a wide-ranging discussion about the challenges the congregations face — as a community and a society.
This year’s event was so powerful that all those attending expressed the need to continue the discourse more than just once a year. The love and sense of community in the room were palpable.
“Temple Sinai of Roslyn and the Friendship Baptist Church enjoy a wonderful, warm and beautiful friendship, nourished over many years,” Rabbi White said. “We study scripture together and we have deep. meaningful, honest conversations about the challenges we face in a world darkened by bigotry, racism, and mistrust. Pastor Lewis is my close friend, and our communities know that we will always support each other and stand up for each other, because that’s what friends do.”
At the event, Temple Sinai member Andy Kraus referred to the Norman Rockwell painting entitled “Golden Rule,” where a group of people of different races, religions, and ethnicities serve as a backdrop for the inscription “Do Unto Other as You Would Have Them Do Unto You.”
Kraus wonders why this is so complicated. After all, he said, “we are all together on this beautiful blue, green, and white planet, surrounded by black. In reality, aren’t we all the same?”
According to Rabbi White, Bringing Our Congregations Together in an opportunity to “show the community what mutual respect, shared friendship and fellowship, and an openness to listen to other thoughts and ideas looks like.”
The event always results in a free-flowing dialogue filled with personal experiences and observations. Both congregations agree that meeting once a year is not enough and have vowed to join each other on a more regular basis to affect change.
