Rabbi Steven Lebow was scheduled to give the final benediction near the end of the interfaith Ecumenical Thanksgiving Service at Temple Kol Emeth in East Cobb Thursday night when the event took a most surprising turn.
The rabbi who had a vision for a celebrating religious and social pluralism in the aftermath of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks has rarely been a man of few words.
But when another clergyman rambled down an aisle at the synagogue, crooning Kenny Rodgers’ “The Gambler” as the packed house delighted, Lebow was left speechless.
The mystery guest was retired Monsignor Patrick Bishop of Transfiguration Catholic Church, who worked with Lebow to get the service started. The affable “Father Pat”—who retired in 2014—warmly embraced Lebow and nearly brought the retiring rabbi to tears.
Lebow is stepping down in July, after becoming the first full-time leader of the East Cobb Reform synagogue in 1986.
“For 30 years . . . you have stood for the marginalized and the outcast,” Bishop said. “You screamed and hollered when injustices were done to others, even facing serious injustices done toward you.
“Fifteen years ago you had a dream, to bring people of goodwill, who could share in these troubled times, not division and poison and polarization and the ugliness of the world we’re living in right now, but the goodness of people. . .
“It’s easy to get cynical. We need each other, to say, ‘Hey wait a minute, the darkness does not prevail. Light will win out.’ You, my dearest rabbi, have been a light to nations.”
His remarks embodied the service’s theme of “Are We Our Brother’s Keepers?” and that featured music and personal reflections. The service attracted several hundred people and included participation from nearly two dozen faith communities in metro Atlanta.
“I wasn’t surprised,” Lebow said about the visit from Father Pat. “I was flabbergasted. In a community of several hundred people, this was kept a secret from me. I am on cloud nine. I am delighted to be with an old friend.”
Hal Schlenger, a Temple Kol Emeth congregant who heads the service’s organizing committee, said the key to flabbergasting the rabbi was to tell hardly anyone.
“Six people, and my wife,” he said after the service.
The festivities included a Muslim call to prayer by members of the Roswell Community Masjid, songs from an interfaith choir from the participating faith communities, reflections from youth about addressing climate change and global warming, and poignant pleas for peace.
“Fifteen years ago, this was a vision I had,” Lebow said at the start of the service, and then brought the crowd to a loud applause. “Take a look at this. This is what America looks like.”
The message was clear: Helping others in need, regardless of whom they may be, is at the essence not only of faith, but in the spirit of brotherhood and community.
“The best way to help someone is to teach them how to help themselves,” said Kol Emeth member Henry Hene. “There’s no better way to help one another than to do it together.”
Mansoor Sabree, director of the Intercity Muslim Action Network of Atlanta, bolstered that message by explaining the work of his organization to help formerly incarcerated people transition to outside life.
“We see this as a chance to join an interfaith community,” he said, “and lead in a way in which we trust in God and in our humanity.”
The German-born Syrian-American pianist Malek Jandali, of the Atlanta-based charity Pianos for Peace, also issued an emphatic message for people of goodwill to combat hate and violence in a most eloquent way.
In his work, he has visited refugee camps in war-ravaged Syria, where his parents had been beaten for their son’s song, “Watani Ana,” written to protest the Syrian regime.
“Truth is being attacked,” Jandali said, “and art is the answer.”
The participating faith communities included:
- Baha’i Faith Center
- Chestnut Ridge Christian Church
- Emerson Unitarian Universalist Church
- First United Lutheran Church of Kennesaw
- Northwest Unitarian Universalist Congregation
- Sandy Springs Christian Church
- St. Catherine’s Episcopal Church
- Temple Beth Tikvah
- Temple Kol Emeth
- The Art of Living Foundation
- The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
- Transfiguration Catholic Church
- Trinity Presbyterian Church Atlanta
- Unitarian Universalist Metro-Atlanta North Congregation
- Unity North Atlanta Church
Proceeds from the offering will benefit IMAN Atlanta and Kol Emeth’s “Give-A-Gobble” program to purchase turkeys and Thanksgiving dinners for those in need.
Lebow’s co-host in recent years has been Noor Abbady of the Roswell Community Masjid, who said in closing that while she’s going to miss being by his side, “the spirit of being each other’s keepers lives on.
“We don’t need to be of the same religion to be decent human beings.”
Lebow said he still plans to remain living in Cobb County, but admitted “I’m gonna miss” presiding over the service he initially thought would draw only a hundred or so people.
If they have him back, he quipped, “I’ll still tell a few bad jokes.”
Get Our Free E-Mail Newsletter!
Every Sunday we round up the week’s top headlines and preview the upcoming week in the East Cobb News Digest. Click here to sign up, and you’re good to go!
