By Dan Webster
New Paltz, NY-The number of faces in the crowd kept growing. First 30 when it started, then 50 and 80. They came for probably as many reasons. But it was the events of 60 hours in Mumbai, India over our Thanksgiving weekend that caused this group to gather.
They were Muslims, Jews, Christians, Hindus, those of other faiths or no faith. They came to stand together against the forces that killed nearly 200 and injured more than 300 in India.
It was called a “Candlelight Vigil for Mumbai” on the campus of the State University of New York at New Paltz about 80 miles north of Manhattan. Students, faculty and staff were joined by local residents under a cloudless sky on a chilly December night.
If the world could see how we come together at such times they might learn from us because SUNY is such an international community, said David Rooney, vice president for student affairs. He asked everyone for a moment of silence to remember the dead and injured.
The glow of lighted candles was on the faces of the gathered as they heard Yasmin El Jamal, president of the Muslim Student Association, renounce the terror and murderous acts of the past weekend. The crowd heard, maybe some for the first time, how the Holy Qu’ran forbids such horrible acts. They heard a prayer to Allah (which is the same word used by Arabic Christians for God) calling for peace (which is the meaning of the word Islam).
All of this took place under a crescent moon in the southern sky with a bright burning star just to its right. It is that same moon that through the centuries could have inspired Mohammed, Jesus, Isaiah, or the writer of the Upanishads and nameless others who have believed in peace among all people.
“Awaken, my heart, God’s reign is near; the Peaceable Kingdom is in my hands,” said those gathered, reading the words of “An Advent Psalm” by Edward Hays. “If the wolf can be the guest of the lamb, and the bear and the cow be friends, then no injury or hate can be a guest within the Kingdom of my heart.”
The psalm was led by the Rev. Gwyneth MacKenzie Murphy (or Rev. G as the students call her), the Episcopal campus pastor at SUNY. She reminded the group that Jesus said, “love your enemies” and quoted the Hebrew prophet Amos, “let justice roll down like waters and righteousness like an every flowing stream.”
The group then joined in singing, “Peace is flowing like a river” by Carey Landry, a hymn from the 1970s familiar to many Catholics and other Christians.
Ellen Rosenshein, who leads the Hillel Jewish student group, told of the stories they’ve been reading from the Book of Genesis recently in her services. She read from her prayer book a selection that asks, in the traditional rabbinic back and forth question and response style, when will redemption come to us.
Rabbi Moishe Plotkin from the Chabad House near campus shared stories of the lives of Gavriel and Rivka Holtzberg, the Mumbai Chabad House leaders from Brooklyn who were among those mortally wounded in the attacks. His hope was to personalize the tragedy in a way that it did not become a statistic, he said.
One of the most moving moments came near the end of the vigil. About a dozen students from the South Asian Cultural Association came forward. Facing the crowd they sang, in Hindu, the words of the Indian national anthem. Since the Mumbai attack has been called India’s 9/11 it was not surprise that it brought tears to the eyes of some.
“The world can learn from the example of such events,” said Rev. G. “People can believe differently, learn from one another and live together in peace.”
The event was also supported by Catholic Campus Ministry, Student Christian Center and the Pagan Student Association.
The Rev. Canon Dan Webster is an Episcopal priest who lives in New Paltz and is a member of the Episcopal Peace Fellowship.