By Emily Jennewein, President
Beth Israel’s peaceful worship on Kol Nidre and Yom Kippur at the Civic Theatre was a heartwarming example of Jewish values of respect and understanding in action. Just an hour and a half before we opened the doors to our worshipers on the holiest day of the year, the Civic Center Plaza was packed -- shoulder-to-shoulder -- with more than 1,000 protesters of all ages.
But those protesters -- from Occupy San Diego, an offshoot of the national Occupy Wall Street movement -- had already made plans to move away out of respect for Beth Israel’s worship there.
So the Beth Israel community gathered to worship at the Civic Theater on Friday evening and Saturday morning, October 7 and 8, while over a thousand protesters camped out just blocks away.
In keeping his promise to tell the congregation from the pulpit on Kol Nidre of the protest organizers’ thoughtfulness, Rabbi Michael Berk said, “There was nothing but utter respect and honor accorded to us, Judaism, and Yom Kippur.”
You may wonder, what did Beth Israel do when we learned of the protest? I’m so proud of the way in which our congregation communicated directly and with great respect with protest organizers.
Rabbi Berk and Executive Director Lesley Mills called and met with the leaders of Occupy San Diego to ask for their help in ensuring our peaceful worship on Kol Nidre and Yom Kippur. Cory Briggs, a congregant with close ties to the organizers, reached out to his contacts and carried a compelling letter from Rabbi Berk that asked that we be allowed to pursue our worship at the Civic Theater as we have since 1965.
As soon as the protest organizers realized that Beth Israel’s historic worship at the Civic Theatre might be jeopardized, they wanted to help Beth Israel. Protest organizers not only complied, but they insisted on moving their many hundreds of protesters. They even apologized to us for the inconvenience!
In the end, Occupy San Diego marched to the Civic Center Plaza on Friday afternoon, then at 5:00 p.m. left the plaza for Children’s Park, where they camped until after our Yom Kippur services were concluded.
“I am grateful that at great inconvenience for their planning they have moved their demonstration away from our praying place while we are here,” Rabbi Berk told the congregation. “Agree or not with them, the people we met who are their leaders are sweet, young, idealistic, gentle people, and I thank them for allowing us to proceed with our observance of Yom Kippur in the quiet, reflective way that our day of atonement brings to us.
“We can all be thankful that in America, on Judaism’s holiest day, civility and tolerance – values that originated with Judaism – ensured that Beth Israel could worship in peace in downtown San Diego,” our rabbi concluded.
Really proud of Beth Israel for taking the initiative to speak directly with protester leadership, rather than just alert the Civic Center or local police. A very civil and respectful thing to do. So glad worship at the Civic Center went off well.
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