When it came to interfaith cooperation, Rabbi Alvin Kass was looking for an opening. “I had felt, for many years, that one of the glaring deficits of life in our community was the lack of interaction of people of different faiths and races,” says Rabbi Kass, spiritual leader of the East Midwood Jewish Center.And so, when he was approached by Sister Celia Deutsch, a parishioner at Our Lady of Refuge Roman Catholic Church, regarding his participation in a model Passover seder to be held at the church, Rabbi Kass was “very responsive.” Our Lady of Refuge and East Midwood Jewish Center are located within just six blocks of each other.That was back in the spring of 1997. Now ties between the two religious institutions have grown to the point that preparations are being made to hold a joint worship service, probably on Thanksgiving. “It would be a wonderful way to bring us together,” says Rabbi Kass, “by [discussing] the respective ways in which our faiths register gratitude.”Also, he adds, because many of the church’s parishioners are newly arrived immigrants from the Caribbean, “who don’t know much about America, the Thanksgiving service would introduce them not only to certain aspects of Judaism but to certain aspects of Americanism, as well.”Another program under consideration is the potentially difficult dialogue concerning the attitude of the Catholic church toward Jews during World War II and afterward.But, he stresses, after several years of working together, “I think we’re prepared for this. I think we can do it.”Worshipers at our Lady of Refuge, Sister Celia explains, are predominantly people of color, from various countries in the Caribbean. In starting the interfaith program, she and Father Andrew, she says, were “very mindful of the tensions between people of color and Jewish people in the city.”Back in 1995, Father Andrew Struzzieri, then the pastor at Our Lady of Refuge and recently assigned to a church in Crown Heights, asked Sister Celia to help sponsor a model seder for parishioners. Sister Celia, who teaches a course in early Christian texts and the Bible at Barnard College, is a member of the order of Our Lady of Sion, which is committed to fostering understanding between Christians and Jews.They felt a model Passover seder might be a “good way for parishioners to learn something about Judaism, how our traditions are connected,” says Sister Celia. “The roots of Christianity are in Judaism. The seder could serve as a springboard to create links between the broader neighborhood.”That first seder was a great success. Parishioners said they wanted to have another the following year and, also, that Jews should be included this time. That was when Rabbi Kass entered the picture.The first interfaith seder took place at the church in 1997 a few weeks before Passover. It was truly bi-congregational, Rabbi Kass says, co-led by himself and Father Andrew. About 230 people attended, from both communities. The Haggadah used was one especially written for interfaith seders. East Midwood participants did not sit with each other. “We sat at tables dispersed around the room,” Rabbi Kass says, “so we were in a position to explain what was transpiring. Young people played a prominent role, reciting various portions.”“The people from the church were very excited,” recalls East Midwood congregant Goldie Arrow. “They are a very enthusiastic group of people. They want to learn.”Sister Celia remembers that the evening ended with singing, with people dancing around the tables. “Everyone agreed they had had a wonderful time.”An evaluation of the event that summer with input from both communities led to a decision to expand activities. For example, Sister Celia says, “Our kids asked to go to a Shabbat service at East Midwood. After the service, they were given a tour of the synagogue, then had lunch together, where they talked about what they had observed. The East Midwood kids came to the church for Sunday mass and a luncheon.”Teenagers from both groups, who mostly do their own planning, have engaged in other joint projects — including playing basketball at the East Midwood gym. They have made Purim masks together and East Midwood’s Molly Isaacson regularly shows up at Our Lady of Refuge on Tuesday nights after school to help pack food packages for the church’s Food Pantry. She often brings a group of her friends with her, Sister Celia reports.An important addition to the communities’ activities this past year was the inauguration of an education program. The objective was to have the Catholic community learn about Judaism and for the Jewish community to learn about Catholicism. The sessions on Catholicism were led by Father Guy Massie, the only Catholic clergyman to earn a degree from the Jewish Theological Seminary and a faculty member at Solomon Schechter High School of New York. The sessions on Judaism were taught by Michael Pertain, an East Midwood congregant and a guidance counselor in the New York City high school system, who has been very involved in interfaith activities.The sessions on Judaism took place at our Lady of Refuge, the sessions on Catholicism at East Midwood Jewish Center. “I felt that was symbolically a great deal of value in each group’s learning about the other community in its own house of God,” Rabbi Kass explains.Many members of both communities attended both programs, generally close to 100 people. “The room was filled,” Rabbi Kass says.Rabbi Kass recognizes that this year’s plan to discuss the church’s attitude toward Jews during the Holocaust could cause tensions. “This is a topic calculated to generate powerful emotions in certain quarters.”“This is what makes the East Midwood-Our Lady of Refuge interfaith program different from other programs,” he says. “In many cases, these programs remain on a basic level where the primary goal is really just goodwill.“We are certainly out for goodwill,” he points out, “but [also] for intelligent understanding. There is a special excitement in engaging other human beings with whom we would normally not have contact because of religious and racial differences. We are anxious to encounter each other.”“The real test of interfaith relations,” Rabbi Kass says, “is whether you can engage other people in substantive discussions which are emotionally charged and still get along.”He is confident these two groups can do that. “What started out as a lark, as an isolated activity,” he says, “has taken root. No one questions that we’ll continue [our dialogue] year after year after year.”
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