Rabbi Cookie Olshein leads the congregation in song during the annual Interfaith Outreach Learners’ Shabbat service Saturday in the Hurlbut Church Sanctuary.
LILY RESLINK
Staff Writer
Former president of the Hebrew Congregation of Chautauqua Renee Bergmann Andrews said the annual Interfaith Outreach Learners’ Shabbat, now in its 10th year, is part of the Hebrew Congregation’s mission of promoting interfaith dialogue and community engagement.
During the event, Andrews gave context about the outreach program, which took place at 9:30 a.m. Saturday in the Hurlbut Church Sanctuary. She said, “Bishop Gene Robinson charged the heads of the denominational houses not to water down our practices to try to find common ground, but rather to, in his words, ‘Give the best of what each of you has got,’ so the Hebrew Congregation is doing that this morning.”
Andrews said she created the annual event — her “brainchild” — as a “display service” designed to
welcome all.
Former Director of Religion Maureen Rovegno said, “I’m so grateful that this is a 10-year-long tradition.”
Esther Northman, immediate past president of the Hebrew Congregation, said she asked Rovegno, who is not Jewish, to be on the board. Since then, she said Rovegno’s duties have included serving as chair of the Congregation’s Holocaust and Social Justice Education Program.
“She’s a wonderful additional presence,” Northman said.
Ahead of the event, Les Adler, current president of the Hebrew Congregation, invited heads of denominational organizations, hosts and hostesses and guests to the service and luncheon. Andrews echoed the sentiment included in the invitation: “All Chautauquans are welcome at all Hebrew Congregation activities.”
During Saturday’s service introduction, Andrews said, “We want everybody to feel comfortable.” Whereas programs are typically designed as a one-hour Shabbat service with a separate Torah study led and designed by the given weekend’s rabbi, the annual two-hour outreach service intentionally incorporates Torah study with additional context and instruction to follow traditions.
“We want more people of all faiths or no faiths to come join us if they find something that they like,” Andrews said.
This year, Rabbi Cookie Olshein led the outreach service. Olshein explained what she views as key takeaways from the service.
“Much of our liturgy is common to the other denominations,” she said, which includes the theme: “not just to pray to God, but to take action.” She said the themes of the worship include “love, love of God (and) how God loves us.”
She said another takeaway relates to the accessibility of services. Prayer books are translated and transliterated for greater accessibility in reading or singing, Olshein said.
“The Reform Jewish movement, in particular, is all about being inclusive, and that means we welcome anyone,” she said. “And there is nothing in Jewish prayer that is offensive to any Western religion.”
Also in attendance were Senior Pastor the Rt. Rev. Eugene Sutton, Director of Religion Robert Wilson-Black and Pastor of Hurlbut Church the Rev. Rachel Stuart, all of whom read to the congregation at the service.
Stuart led the V’ahavta during the service.
“She’s not allowed to read Torah because she’s not Jewish,” Andrews said. “But because that prayer comes right out of the book of the first part, the book of Deuteronomy, and the second part, the book of Numbers, she could do it together with the congregation. So she did, and it was absolutely lovely.”
Olshein said she is grateful for contributors to the event’s success, including Hurlbut Church Minister of Technology Zach Stahlsmith, M. Div., who she said supports the transformation of the sanctuary into a synagogue the morning before each service.
“This church has been so welcoming to [the Hebrew Congregation], and we could not be more grateful for that welcome,” Andrews said during the service.
As listed in the invitation, the service included morning blessings, a worship service, Torah service, a concluding service and a blessing over wine and bread.
According to Andrews, Saturday morning services receive different levels of participation than the Congregation’s Friday services at 5 p.m in Miller Park. She said, “Especially when we’re down at the lake, and it’s so beautiful, we will very often have close to 300 people, and I would say fully 30% of them are not Jewish.”
She said promoting an educational component that accommodates non-Jewish attendees is intended to welcome more participants to the Saturday morning service.
“In recent years, Reform — which is what we call ourselves — or liberal Jews have been challenged to adopt a policy of ‘audacious hospitality,’ which is a focused effort to embrace our diversity and to try to make everyone feel at home in Jewish worship,” Andrews said.
She said she wants everyone to be able to find something in the worship that speaks to them, which requires effort toward making it accessible.
“That, to me, is how we demonstrate audacious hospitality,” Andrews said.
