Jewish Activist Finds His Calling, and His Past.

May 30, 2004

Source: The Boston Globe

http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2004/05/30/divine_ties_that_bind/

On May 30, 2004 The Boston Globe reported, "As Ari Lipman strode to the pulpit at Temple Salem Seventh-day Adventist Church two weeks ago, he looked completely out of place -- yet seemed entirely at home. And both with good reason. As the only white face in a Dorchester church filled with Haitian congregants, the young community organizer with the Greater Boston Interfaith Organization couldn't help but stand out in the crowd. To say nothing of the fact that his Jewish upbringing had offered little guidance in the ways of evangelical Christians. With a mix of determination and diplomacy, however, the 26-year-old Harvard graduate has broken down any barriers those differences might have posed, engaging the 1,100-member congregation -- and a half-dozen other Haitian churches -- in the interfaith organization's mission to bring religious and civic groups together to promote social change." Lipman soon discovers that the church was formerly a Jewish Temple, where Lipman's grandparents worshipped.