One secretary worked for both congregations, and on her desk sat two phones. She answered one, “Shalom, Temple Emuna,” and the other, “Hello, St. Anne’s Episcopal Church.” I was that secretary. It was 1969.
“Hello, St. Anne’s Episcopal Church. Yes, I can tell you about our worship services. Our traditional Sunday worship with communion begins at ten-thirty and lasts about an hour.”
“Shalom, Temple Emuna. Shabbat begins at 6:08 this week.”
Concentrate, I told myself. Phone on the right is Temple Emuna; left is St. Anne’s.
It didn’t matter how busy I was. I simply couldn’t mix things up and answer the phone the wrong way. There were questions about kashrut and shiva as well as questions about baptism and Lent. It was hardest when congregants were in the office. Someone would be standing at my desk, and I’d be answering a question about Good Friday, and the phone would ring with a question about Passover. I’d raised four children. I could do anything. It was just a matter of being organized. The right side of my desk had the Jewish work and the Jewish steno pad. The left had the Christian things.
Both phones were ringing at once.
“Hello, St. Anne’s. Please hold.”
“Shalom, Temple Emuna. Please hold.”
“Hello, St. Anne’s Episcopal Church. Thank you for holding. May I help you?”
I scribbled in shorthand on my steno pad.
“Yes. Let me explain the way we take communion at St. Anne’s. A group of parishioners gathers around the altar. When that group has taken communion, the next group gathers. It’s a circular altar so it all works smoothly. Thank you and I hope you have a blessed Easter.”
“Shalom, Temple Emuna. Thank you for holding. May I help you? Yes, the rabbi said that string beans are kosher for Passover. They’re actually a vegetable, not a bean, so they are allowed.”
I caught Rabbi Berkowitz’s smile as he walked past my desk, carrying a stack of rumpled papers. I didn’t tell him that his shoelaces were untied. I wasn’t being malicious when I warmly smiled back. There was a time when I would have rushed to say,...
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