Topeka temple gives gift to church

TOPEKA, Kan. — Temple Beth Sholom has given St. David’s Episcopal Church a token of its affection — a wooden lectern with Stars of David carved into the corners that will be dedicated this Sunday, Nov. 8, along with the rest of the new, $3 million church building.

That will be almost three years to the day after the old building was nearly destroyed by an arson fire — Nov. 10, 2006.  (See related story below.)

But for Rabbi Debbie Stiel of Beth Sholom, the date has another resonance, too — that of Kristallnacht, the Nazi-organized pogrom against German Jews and their synagogues on that day in 1938.

“The contrast could not be clearer,” she said, between the anti-Semitic persecution and fires of Kristallnacht and the mutual respect and cooperation the synagogue and church have evinced.

Rabbi Stiel noted that the fire at St. David’s occurred the night after its pastor, Rev. Don Davidson, took part in a panel discussion with Mikey Weinstein, who heads the Military Religious Freedom Foundation. Rev. Davidson is also a U.S. Army chaplain, and he supports Weinstein’s group, which wages legal battles to keep overt proselytizing out of the military.

“Right away, we weren’t sure what the cause of the fire was,” Rabbi Stiel said. “Some people thought it might have been retaliation against Father Davidson for speaking out. They believe now that it was arson from somebody who might have been a vagrant, but it was never 100 percent established.

“We thought ‘What can we do to help? This church had a terrible fire.’ We said we don’t use our sanctuary on Sunday morning, and we could certainly offer them space to hold school and services. They gladly accepted, and we’ve had an incredibly warm relationship since then.”

Common concerns
The misanthropic Fred Phelps clan, whose Westboro Baptist Church compound is nearby, has picketed both St. David’s and Beth Sholom over the years. The church and the synagogue are one mile apart from each other along Gage Boulevard.

“We have a common concern for how to make the world a better place,” said Rabbi Stiel, “and a strong sense that we are all God’s children. Although we have different beliefs in some ways, we also have a lot values that bring us together.

“We thought ‘Is there something we could give to be a sign of friendship?’ The podium is from our old building, and they took a look and said they would like to have it as the main reading podium in their new sanctuary. They have had it refurbished. It has a handful of simple stars that decorate it, so it will be a reminder of that relationship.”

Rabbi Stiel said the podium had been in storage. It apparently was the original lectern used when two Jewish congregations came together in 1920 to form Beth Sholom and purchased the former home of former Kansas Gov. Samuel Crawford at 5th and Harrison streets. The synagogue was there until moving to 4200 S.W. Munson Ave. in stages during the 1960s. It joined the Reform movement in 1935.

Man gets probation in vandalism spree
Prosecutors in Topeka have reached plea bargains with at least three young men in connection with a series of recent vandalisms and fires in that city, including the 2006 arson fire at St. David’s Episcopal Church.

The Topeka Capital-Journal reported Sept. 19 that Trevor Powell Jones, now 20, received two years probation in return for pleas of “no contest” in connection with two crimes, not including the St. David’s fire.

C-J Staff Writer Steve Fry reported that “The arson at St. David’s bookended six months of destruction. In April, Hillside Community Church had burned, and in quick succession the Menninger clock tower was trashed and the Mount Calvary Cemetery desecrated. Then, St. David’s. Answers were scant and the justice process frustratingly long. ...

“A court affidavit shows that a Topeka Fire Department investigator implicated Jones in all four of the acts of destruction that year. But in return for Jones pleading no contest to charges stemming from two of the four big incidents that year — at Hillside and Mount Calvary — prosecutors agreed not to charge him in connection with the other two incidents.”

The story cites fire investigator Mike Martin, who called Jones the “ringleader” of a group of young men whose behavior demonstrated “a pattern of hatred and desecration of religious items.”

Jones was ordered to pay $10,000 in restitution for the cemetery vandalism.

According to the Capital-Journal, two other young men, Mathew Evertson and Nicholas Jensen, avoided trial in the clock-tower case by entering diversion agreements earlier this year.

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