Rabbi Jim Simons instructed those attending a Thanksgiving interfaith service Sunday night in Haworth to treat the holiday as a beginning — a chance to begin to become the people they can be.
Simons, of Temple Beth-El in Closter, gave the sermon at St. Luke’s Episcopal & Our Savior Lutheran Church, and was joined by clergy from Cresskill, Demarest, Hackensack and Haworth. The Northern Valley service has been held about five years.
The Rev. Dr. Shane Phelan, of St. Luke’s & Our Savior church, said interfaith services are important for building bonds throughout very diverse communities, and in helping eliminate fear of each other.
“The people here are evidence that people want to be surrounded by people other than people like them,” Phelan said. “They want to learn and stretch what they know.”
