Rabbi Jill Gold Wright looked around the congregation Friday night and, after a long pause, said a few simple words.
“I noticed you were here.”
Under the bright lights of the theater at Mayfield High School, a Catholic school in Pasadena, members of Pasadena's Jewish Temple and Center were gathering in a rented space for the first time.
This is just the beginning of a period of borrowing and wandering for the congregation, which lost its campus and home of more than 80 years in the Eaton Fire. Prayer books, prayer shawls, and yarmulkes were all borrowed from a nearby synagogue. The one thing that was different was the scribe who was rescued from the burning building.
At least a dozen families in the congregation lost their homes in the Eaton fire. But on Friday night, Rabbi Gold Wright and Cantor Ruth Berman Harris led a celebration celebrating the community that still existed. And for nearly 45 minutes, the song continued to wash over exhausted and anxious families and friends who gathered first for a potluck dinner and then to enjoy familiar music and fellowship.
“Let's borrow the melody from the Saturday version of this song,” Cantor Berman Harris said. It was a lighter version of Mi Chamocha, a prayer praising God for salvation. “Perfect for tonight.”
Finally, the atmosphere changed when the rabbi began a Jewish prayer for the vulnerable Hashkiveinu. She cried to the congregation.
Perhaps she didn't think she'd be able to finish the sermon, so she sent a message to Joshua Levine Greater, another rabbi who once led this congregation and now runs a local interfaith nonprofit. invited to speak. His house burned down, but he didn't talk much about it, focusing on what was still intact.
“Judaism is not about space,” he said. “It's about people. It's about community. This space serves something greater, and that won't be lost by fire.”
Meanwhile, in Santa Monica, displaced Catholics are experiencing the same situation. St. Monica Catholic Church shares space with the neighboring parish Corpus Christi Church, which lost its home in a fire in the Pacific Palisades on Tuesday.
Both churches are home to hundreds of families whose homes were destroyed. On Saturday, families were matched to help ensure those in need had food, toiletries, school supplies and find shelter. First on Sunday, Msgr. Lloyd Torgerson of St. Monica was scheduled to welcome the faithful for Mass at 9:30 a.m. Then, at 1 p.m., Corpus Christi members were scheduled to gather in the same space for Mass with their pastor, Rev. Torgerson. liam kidney.
“It's a complete disaster,” Monsignor Torgerson said. “We're just trying to be good neighbors. They need to get together and chat. They've lost a place of worship, a home, a sacred space.” Monsignor Torgerson also plans to open his home. is. Monsignor Kidney of Corpus Christi and his associate pastor, currently homeless, will be temporarily relocated to St. Monica Parsonage.
Monsignor Torgerson, who led his congregation in the aftermath of the 1994 earthquake in Northridge, California, felt he would never face another disaster of this scale in his career. But after 37 years at St. Monica, he and his parishioners will take a different and difficult path.
They are angry, distraught, and stunned. “It's a matter of all emotions,” Monsignor said, adding that he had no solution. “All I can do is walk with them.”
