Celebrating Purim Together: 'It Shows Us How Much Love There Is'

After the attack on Pittsburgh's Tree of Life Synagogue in 2018, Calvary Episcopal rector, Reverend Jonathon Jensen, was concerned that the Tree of Life congregation would have not have a large enough space to hold the Jewish high holiday services. So he called Rabbi Jeffrey Myers and offered the Calvary Episcopal Church to a congregation whose spiritual home was unavailable for service in the aftermath of the attack. To make their Jewish neighbors more comfortable in the church, Calvary congregants and staff helped cover the crosses before the high holidays, and again for the Shabbat Service that took place one year after the attack.

A picture from the Purim play held at the Calgary Episcopal Church in Pittsburgh.

Since then, the congregants and clergy have gotten to know each other, and have hosted joint events, including a Hanukkah festival and Christmas Bazaar that occurred on the same night. The Jewish Chronicle of Pittsburgh reported: "About 50 Calvary members volunteered to serve during Tree of Life’s High Holiday services at the church this year. Tree of Life responded by sending dozens Sunday morning to celebrate Christmas alongside their new friends. 'I’ve never heard of a Christmas pageant and a Chanukah party being held at the same time. But it can work in Pittsburgh. It works for us,' Jensen said. 'I’ve been asked 100 times, ‘Why’d you do this?’ I say, ‘It’s the right thing to do. We’re neighbors. We’re Pittsburghers.’”

“It shows us how much love there is that dwarfs the hate that spawned the situation," Tree of Life president Sam Schachner told Jewish Insider. The Tree of Life Synagogue is undergoing repairs and renovations which are not expected to be completed until 2021. Donations for the work on the synagogue have come from all over the world and especially Pittsburgh.

“It was overwhelming how generous people were. We received tremendous donations, several hundred thousand dollars from the Islamic community in Pittsburgh, the same from the Catholic diocese, and both financial and emotional support from the Sikh temple in town,” Schachner said. “It has been a complete cross-cultural experience and continues to be.”

Last week, the Tree of Life congregation celebrated the Purim holiday at the church. Purim commemorates the salvation of the Jewish people from Haman, a Persian court official plotting to kill all Jewish people. The Jews defeated Haman on the 13th of Adar, celebrating their victory the next day. The Purim holiday typically involves large community gatherings that include cookies called hamantaschen, drinking, carnivals, food, costumes, reading the book of Esther, or Megillah, and Purim shpiels, which simply means “Purim play” in Yiddish.

The Tree of Life and Rodef Shalom presented a Purim play at Calvary Episcopal Church on March 8, 2020. Calvary's Rev. Jonathon Jensen and the Rev. Neil Raman both had parts in the play.

Typically, the service involves a staged retelling of the Purim story. The dramatization is often a comic affair that includes the traditional tale updated to include pop references and modern settings. This year, the play was a reinterpretation of the story incorporating elements from the Harry Potter series, entitled "Hershel Potter & the Gantse Megillah." It was written by Tree of Life's Rabbi Myers, based on his belief that the Harry Potter novels include lessons on Jewish ethics and values. The congregants had a lot of fun with it.

Members of Rodef Shalom and the Tree of Life congregations perform a Harry Potter-themed Purim play at Calvary Episcopal Church on March 8, 2020.

Following the play featuring Tree of Life and Rodef Shalom congregants and two clergy members from Calvary, Rabbi Myers interviewed Rev. Jonathon Jensen and Rabbi Bisno of Rodef Sholom Congregation about the role of humor in religion.