Temple And Church Build House And Religious Understanding
By Donna Gordon Blankinship
Temple B'nai Torah and Holy Trinity Lutheran Church are building more than a house together. The two Mercer Island houses of worship also are creating a bridge between their religious communities.
The joint project to build a Habitat for Humanity home began with the goal of helping an immigrant family get a safe, comfortable place to live. When Pastor Woody Carlson called Rabbi Jim Mirel to propose the joint effort, they realized that two houses of worship could complete the project more efficiently than just one. It started almost like a business partnership, but the result has been a warm, friendly relationship and growing interfaith understanding.
"I give a lot of credit to Holy Trinity Church for inviting us to do it with them," Mirel said. Members of both congregations have benefited from the effort and have learned to appreciate the similarities and differences among them, according to the rabbi.
"Everyone who has worked has said it has been a great experience," he added. "I think people did actually feel kind of a spiritual uplift through the effort of working."
Planning and fundraising for The Home Project began last August and construction started in May. Every Saturday workers from the church are on the site and every Sunday workers from the synagogue are there. Members of the recipient family are there every work day. Originally from Laos, the family left resettlement camps in Thailand about four and a half years ago and they have never owned their own home.
The two houses of worship raised all the money to build the house and are managing the construction. Because two groups are working together instead of the usual one church working with Habitat for Humanity, the house in south Seattle is being built twice as fast as most other homes in the project.
Marta Hurwitz, Temple Board member and chair of The Home Project for Temple B'nai Torah, said Temple members had been looking to start a hands-on mitzvah project when the rabbi and the pastor first talked about The Home Project.
Hurwitz and Carlson agreed there are many positive aspects to the home-building effort. "It's a really fun way to do something tangible" to help others, Hurwitz said.
Carlson said his members appreciate the fact that they are doing some "hand up" work in addition to the usual "hand out" aspect of charity.
"People are always looking for ways to put their faith into action," he said.
When asked if there were a uniquely Jewish aspect to this home-building project, Rabbi Mirel talked about the eight steps of tzedakah as proscribed by Moses Maimonides. Helping someone help himself or herself — as the temple members are doing with The Home Project — is the highest form of tzedakah. Everyone who gets his or her hands on a hammer or a paintbrush soon feels the emotional pull of the project. A friend of Hurwitz who helped out one Sunday after much persuading now talks about the house as if it's his own.
Carlson added, "I just bet that we'll talk about it for years."
About 50 temple members and 50 church members have participated in some capacity — from fundraising to pounding nails to making lunch for the work crew. A committed core of people have worked long and diligent hours and completed a majority of the work.
Mirel said the heroes of the project are Hurwitz and Carlson, who have shepherded the whole effort. "They have done a great job."
Hurwitz said the church and temple decided to coordinate all aspects of the project, unlike most Habitat for Humanity home-building efforts where the agency does a lot of the coordination, because they wanted to feel a part of everything from the groundbreaking up.
"The most difficult challenge for us has been organizing construction volunteers," Hurwitz said. A while after construction had begun, the temple and the church each "corralled" one member to be at the site every work day as as overseer.
"That has helped tremendously," she said. "If when we do this again we would make sure we had those people locked in from the beginning."
Hurwitz, Carlson and Mirel agreed that despite a few rough edges, the project has been a big success.
"This has been one of the best experiences we have had in our temple. We hope that other congregations will follow suit," Mirel said.
They plan to dedicate the house Sept. 13 and according to project coordinators it will be a relief for everyone to see Cheng Sin Saephan and Torn Choy Saelee move their five children into a nice house in a good neighborhood.
The family, which has been living in a housing project in West Seattle, has had some harrowing experiences since moving to Seattle. Carlson says visitors to their current home can't miss the bullet hole in the kitchen window that corresponds with a hole in a chair. Luckily no one was in the kitchen when the bullet flew in. The family had another surprise one morning when they found their car covered in blood from a violent incident outside their house.
"They've got five kids. They're not only glad to have a home but glad to be in a neighborhood that's safer," Carlson said.
Hurwitz added, "It cannot be soon enough to get them out of there."