On a cool, blustery evening, the warmth inside a packed East Cobb synagogue radiated with the energy of foot-tapping music, somber reflections and joyous laughter.
As well as tables full of delicious desserts.
At the 20th Interfaith Thanksgiving Service Thursday at Temple Kol Emeth, the themes of faith, community and fellowship were reprised at the start of a holiday season.
The service begun in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks by now-retired Kol Emeth Rabbi Steven Lebow this year carried the theme of “Embracing Responsibility: Doing Our Part.”
Lebow, who retired five years ago, returned to point out the difference that a single letter can make—from human to humane.
“We will not be human until the last of our hostages are returned to Israel,” he said in reference to the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas that began in October 2023.
“But I also would not be humane if I didn’t mention the Palestinian children” whom he said have been “placed in harm’s way by Hamas terrorists.”
Kim Garrett of the Church of Latter-Day Saints on Trickum Road referenced a final line from “Les Miserables” in defining responsibility: “To love another person is to see the face of God.”
For Ron Green of the Four Corners Group, an Austell-based non-profit that helps to reduce juvenile recidivism, responsibility meant having to turn his life around in dramatic ways.
He turned to crime and addiction as a young man, then absconded his duties to his own children as he became imprisoned and then homeless, holding up signs begging for help.
At the age of 44, he “had a moment of clarity” in determining to come clean.
“I was essentially invisible to the world,” Green said, with members of the Four Corners staff and some of the youth the organization is helping in attendance.
“I got on my knees and said, ‘God, help me now. . . . I had to have personal responsibility. I had to stop looking out the window and look in the mirror.”
The offering at Thursday’s service will be donated to Four Corners, which will soon open a third location in Cobb to work with youth who’ve dropped out of school, are enrolled in alternative schools, attend Title I schools or who have been involved in the juvenile court system and facilities.
Cobb District Attorney Flynn Broady Jr. stressed the importance of adults transmitting the themes of responsibility to young ones.
He noted that his 3-year-old daughter pointed out that “to everyone in her class, they are brown.
“Kids don’t know anything but love,” he said, “until we tell them different. We are all the same. Your voice does have power. We can turn everything around just by speaking positively. Let’s be kind together, and let’s make the world a better place.”
The theme of responsibility echoed to Rev. Bronson Elliott Woods, assistant pastor at Ebenezer Baptist Church of Atlanta, who said “it’s about each of us doing our part in many ways every day.
“Let’s get to work and get into good trouble for humanity.”
Current Kol Emeth Rabbi Chase Foster said “this is what we need, this moment, this evening.”
The faith communities taking part included Atlanta Chinese Christian Church, Chestnut Ridge Christian Church, Congregation Etz Chaim, East Cobb United Methodist Church, Emerson Unitarian Universalist Church, St. Catherine’s Episcopal Church, Transfiguration Catholic Church and Unity North Atlanta Church.
Music was performed by joint choirs and performers from several East Cobb faith communities.
Related:
- East Cobb Church holds long-awaited groundbreaking
- Lutheran Church of the Resurrection starts hurricane relief drive
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