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Jewish voices join protest
chorus in Seattle
By DONNA GORDON BLANKINSHIP
Jewish Telegraphic Agency
SEATTLE -The sound of a shofar and a rewritten version of a
Passover song joined the chorus of protests here this week at
the World Trade Organization conference.
Amid a week that included violent protests and scores of arrests,
Rabbi Jim Mirel and cantorial soloist Wendy Marcus helped lead
a massive interfaith rally at a downtown church, calling on
the United States to forgive the debts of Third World nations.
"It was a very warm, spiritually uplifting experience,"
said Gabe Cohen of Bellevue, Wash., who participated in the
interfaith service and joined Jewish marchers after a morning
service.
"On a personal level, I felt part of my people as we marched
down Third and Pike, and we were singing hallelujah and chants
from the service. It was really very invigorating."
Cohen, past director of the greater Seattle Jewish Education
Council, said he wrote a special version of "Dayenu"
focusing on the WTO, environmental issues, democracy and poverty.
He also brought his shofar, as did a few other protesters, which
they blew during the service.
A small morning service attracted protesters from around the
West to sing and chant before the marching began Monday and
Tuesday. When the group of 10 Jews, many wearing tallitot and
some with tefillin, reached the barricades near the conference
carrying a banner decorated with a Star of David they attracted
other Jewish protesters who were unaware of the early morning
service.
"People came over and wanted to know what we were doing,"
Cohen said. "They gathered around and identified themselves
as Jews. It was a good feeling all around. I'm glad we did it."
Rabbi Margaret Hulub of Mendocino, Calif., organized the Jewish
protest and wrote a special service for the morning services,
focusing on environmental themes.
"This is inspired in part by Art Waskow's teaching about
bringing our regular Jewish life out to places of tension and
suffering," she said, referring to a leader of the Jewish
Renewal movement. "Also, of course, by the desire to meet
other Jews, pray together and connect spiritually in the midst
of all the chaos."
(Donna Gordon Blankinship is editor of the Jewish Transcript
in Seattle.)
© 1999 Jewish Telegraphic Agency
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