Thanksgiving is all about gathering around a shared table, regardless of differences. That’s what Congregation Adat Reyim embodies each year with its annual interfaith Thanksgiving service.
Hundreds of people from about 15 faith groups are expected to attend the 42nd annual service on Nov. 25, including members of the Catholic, Presbyterian, Methodist, Episcopalian, Latter-Day Saints, Muslim, Hindu and Buddhist communities.
“It’s particularly moving to see all the different faiths come together happily and joyously and sing together, and there’s noshing afterwards, of course,” said Nancy Sherman, Adat Reyim’s social action chair.
The Springfield, Virginia, service always opens with prayers. Each faith group in attendance reads a portion of their respective scriptures, from the Tanakh and the Quran to the New Testament.
“It helps everybody to not see groups as an ‘other,’ because when you’re hearing all of the readings from the different religious traditions, you really see what we have in common,” said Stephanie Kruskol, Adat Reyim’s communications director.
“The readings they give are typically about peace and getting along with each other,” said Adat Reyim’s president Carolyn Kaplan-Solomond. “It’s about peace and how we’re all part of humanity.”
Every year, Adat Reyim’s music director, Mitch Bassman, leads all of the faith groups’ choirs in a collective Thanksgiving-related song. This year, they chose “Thankful,” with words and music by Carole Bayer Sager, David Foster and Richard Page, and arranged by Rollo Dilworth. David Mathers, the director of music ministries at Saint Bernadette Catholic Church in Springfield — the site of this year’s service — will conduct the collective choir.
“We all sing together, and it’s wonderful,” said Kruskol, a soprano in the Adat Reyim choir.
“I like the fact that the service, since the very beginning, has been mostly music, and it’s a very musical experience,” said Bassman, who’s been actively involved in the planning of every interfaith Thanksgiving service since 1984.
The interfaith service tradition started small, with just Adat Reyim and Burke Presbyterian Church. The latter hosted the services until Adat Reyim secured its building in late 1989. The synagogue first hosted the service in 1992.
“It was basically the three congregations of Presbyterian, Catholic and Jewish for many years, and then in the early 2000s, it just started blossoming,” Bassman recalled.
He added that about a dozen congregations participated in the 2024 interfaith Thanksgiving service, a number that’s risen this year.
Breaking bread with neighbors reflects tikkun olam, the Jewish value of repairing the world, Kaplan-Solomond said.
“There are some major differences in our theology and our doctrines, but in the end, we all want to be good people,” Sherman said, citing the “Golden Rule” — “do unto others as you would have them do unto you.”
“That Golden Rule is a major rule in most religions,” she said. “Take the politics out of it, and people want to get along. They don’t want to hate each other just because of a label that’s attached because of a religion or an ethnic race.”
The interfaith service is also a gathering place for children of many different backgrounds. “It’s great to see the little kids there, and they’re playing and eating their cookies and talking to each other,” Sherman said. “They’re not looking at, ‘What’s your religion?’ — they’re looking at ‘What kind of sprinkles do you have on your cookie?’”
She emphasized the importance of being aware of religious differences and being kind: “I think this service does a lot to promote that feeling of ‘It’s OK to sit next to somebody who’s not exactly like you and respect each other.’”
This sense of community took on a new significance after a hate-based incident.
“I remember one year, there was a terrorist attack at a mosque, and it was really important for us to support [the Muslim community],” Kaplan-Solomond said. “And likewise, they’ve always thought it important to support us — there’s a good bit of antisemitism — so I think it’s [important] to support each other and let each other know that we’re all together.”
The multi-religious aspect of this service is particularly meaningful, as Adat Reyim is home to many interfaith families and those with interfaith backgrounds, including Kruskol, who was raised by a Catholic mother and Jewish father.
“When I converted to Judaism, I almost felt like nothing changed because I was raised with elements of both traditions,” Kruskol said. “Doctrine-wise, obviously there were changes, but as far as worldview and outlook, it was more about affirming what I already held to be true.”
Those shared values are evident to Kruskol when she attends the annual Thanksgiving interfaith service, since the event emphasizes “what we share” rather than differences.
