When a priest and a rabbi typically walk into bar together it’s usually the setup for a joke, but this past Tuesday it became something more than just the buildup to a punch line. At 7:30 p.m. Nov.11, Father Phil Mayfield met Rabbi Robert Dobrusin for an interfaith discussion that hoped to explore the similarities and differences between Catholicism and Judaism.
The event was held at the Keystone Underground Lounge, which is beneath J Neils Mongolian Grille in downtown Ypsilanti. Hillel, the Eastern Michigan University foundation for Jewish campus life and the EMU chapter of Catholics on Campus sponsored it.
Hillel coordinator Miriam Borenstein said, “It was designed as an opportunity to open up a dialogue and have a conversation about the common ground and differences between the two religions.”
Borenstein went on to explain in the past similar events have been held on campus, in places such as the Student Center, but the decision to hold to this year’s event off-campus at a local bar proved to be the greatest success so far, with a turnout of more the 60 people, with about a 50/50 percentage of Jewish to Catholic participants.
This was Father Mayfield’s first time being involved in an interfaith discussion of this nature. Father Mayfield, before coming to the Holy Parrish Church on campus in 2007, spent eighteen years with a missionary order in Papua, New Guinea at a place named Good Enough Island.
“I’m just hoping for a good dialogue, where we can all just share and learn, I have no real agenda beyond that,” Father Mayfield said of his feelings before the discussion.
It was not Rabbi Dobrusin’s first time having an open dialogue of this format, but it was however, his first time having one in a bar. Rabbi Dobrusin leads the Beth Israel Congregation in Ann Arbor. He has been in the area for over 22 years, coming here from Boston in 1988. Before the event began he expressed his feelings about where he hoped the conversation would lead.
“I’d like to express the idea that within religious systems, there are still individuals and it’s important for those voices to be heard” he said.
Both Rabbi Dobrusin and Father Mayfield made it clear this was not a debate, but a dialogue that could be used to correct misconceptions many might hold about the two religions.
Once the event got underway, the priest and the rabbi sat next to each other at a table that was outfitted with microphones and opened up the floor to take questions from the audience. The questions ranged from serious, such as differences about the afterlife and how the role of religion has changed in the average American’s life in the 21st century, to the more light hearted, like when someone from the audience asked them what was the best “priest and a rabbi walk into a bar” joke they knew (surprisingly, both said they couldn’t think of a good one).
After Father Mayfield and Rabbi Dobrusin brought the discussion to a close, the majority of those in attendance agreed the event was a satisfying experience.
Travis Zedeb, who neither identifies himself as Catholic or Jewish, but as an atheist, said, “It was very enjoyable, they both had a good discussion without arguing and both brought up some very interesting points.”
Borenstein said she was very happy with the outcome of the event in regards to both the number of those who turned out and the thoughtfulness of the questions brought up by the audience.
After the event Father Mayfield summed up his thoughts on his first formal, interfaith discussion in a bar when he said, “It went very well, and it was a great joy. I especially enjoyed learning more about Rabbi Dobrusin’s traditions to himself to explore spiritual meaning.”
