We’d like to hear your story if you visited a Synagogue on the weekend of November 2-3.

In my town of Austin we managed to notify and encourage Christians to visit four different synagogues in the Austin area of Reformed, Conservative, and Orthodox congregations. We got some very nice feedback from both Christians — most of whom had never stepped inside a synagogue before — and from the rabbis and those who were part of the congregations.

I really appreciated Gidon’s blog post that helped spur us on to do something. I have seen before, but am still learning about the way in which the Jewish people step forward quickly after tragedy strikes.

The Orthodox rabbi spoke about the Torah portion for that week — “Sarah Lived” which begins with Abraham’s response to her death. He said the text indicates that there is a time to step away and grieve, but that it should be followed by purposeful action. He said we see this in the way that after Abraham came to Hebron to mourn, he quickly took strong steps to engage in the process of buying a place for his wife, and future generations, to be buried. It became the first piece of ground purchased in Israel.  In the same way, after the week of grieving the loss, the #ShowUpForShabbat campaign was an opportunity to step out and do something out of one’s comfort zone, but that such statements can also leave a legacy.

Please use the comment section of this post to tell us what was your story of last weekend!