SAN DIEGO — In front of an outdoor menorah at Temple Beth Shalom in Chula Vista, seven Christian ministers joined host Rabbi Michael Leo Samuel in an interfaith service Wednesday that condemned the killing of George Floyd by the Minneapolis police, and extolled the teachings of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. on the importance of keeping protests non-violent.
In a series of three minute talks, the half-hour interfaith service heard from Rev. Dr. Seth Clark of the First Baptist Church of National City, Rev. Liz Aguilar, senior pastor of the Community Congregational Church of Chula Vista, United Church of Christ; Rev. Brian Parcel of the United Methodist Church of Chla Vista; Rev. Dan Cole of St. Mark’s ELCA; Rev. Victoria Freiheit, associate pastor of Community Congregational Church of Chula Vista, and the Rev. Roger Haenke of St. John’s Episcopal Church in Chula Vista.
Rabbi Samuel began and ended the service with blasts on the shofar, calling on the audience to listen and to hear. Just prior to the conclusion, Tanya Tapa sang “We Shall Overcome,” the theme song of the American Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s, and he and Rev. Liz Aguilar delivered the priestly benediction in Hebrew and English.
In his remarks, which paralleled those of the Christian clergy, Rabbi Samuel commented, “The most important thing we can pray for is clarity. Let us ask God to grant each person a ray of the Divine light that is capable of transforming even the worst scoundrel. With this light, we will find the solution to all our social ills.”
He went on to quote the late civil rights leader Martin Luther King as saying “injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. In a real sense, all life is interrelated. All men are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly. I can never be what I ought to be until you are hat you ought to be, and you can never be what you ought to be until I am what I ought to be.”
Further, “I refuse to accept the view that mankind is so tragically bound to the starless midnight of racism and war that the bright daybreak of peace and brotherhood can never become a reality … I believe that unarmed truth an unconditional love will have the final word. The time is always right to do what is right.’
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Jewish Padres and Israeli Baseball
Former San Diego Padres catcher Brad Ausmus and second baseman Ian Kinsler will join Team Israel Manager Peter Kurz in a free hour-long webcast to talk about playing in American Major League baseball and competing for Israel in the Olympics in a Zoom cast sponsored by the Jewish National Fund at 7 p.m. Wednesday, June 17. Advance registration is required via this website.
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Words of Wisdom
Heather Siegel, in her blog “The Siegel Sidebar,” collects helpful aphorisms, cartoons, jokes, and sayings. One in today’s edition that I enjoyed was “Giving up on a goal because you had a setback is like slashing your other 3 tires because one got a flat.” Readers may contact Siegel via this email.
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Mazal tov! Mazal tov!
*Beth Jacob Congregation reports that Shaayna & Gideon Schon and their son Coby are celebrating the birth of a baby girl. “May they merit to bring her to a life of Torah, Marriage and Mitsvos.”
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Donald H. Harrison is editor of San Diego Jewish World. He may be contacted via donald.harrison@sdjewishworld.com