Nubia Jenerson of Maplewood, a 10-year-old member of St. Paul Baptist Church in Montclair, enjoyed listening to the Hebrew she heard at a service at Congregation Shomrei Emunah on Saturday, March 10.

Her peer, 12-year-old Rachel Rapaport, a member of Shomrei Emunah, thought the music at St. Paul, which included two sets of drums, a choir, and an electric keyboard, was fun.

The two girls are part of a group of fifth- through seventh-graders from both congregations who spent the weekend worshiping together, learning about their different religions and traditions of prayer.

Pastor Michael Cox of St. Paul preached from the bima at the Montclair synagogue on Shabbat, and Rabbi E. Noach Shapiro of Shomrei Emunah offered the sermon at St. Paul on Sunday.

It could well be the first time anyone called out “preach on!” or “hallelujah!” or “amen!” in the middle of Shapiro’s talk.

The weekend exchange was part of Stamp Out Hate, an annual statewide Sabbath event organized by the New Jersey area office of the American Jewish Committee.

Each year, a coalition of 24 religious, racial, and ethnic groups focuses on a different aspect of understanding; this year, it was pulpit exchanges. Eight congregations around New Jersey signed on this year, down from a high of 115 in 1999. Local congregations included Bnai Keshet, a Reconstructionist congregation in Montclair that paired with Montclair Trinity Presbyterian Church, and the Conservative Summit Jewish Community Center, which teamed up with Summit’s Christ Church. A synagogue and church in Bergen County also participated.

“By doing a pulpit exchange, Stamp Out Hate is not a one-weekend thing; it helps ministers, rabbis, and preachers get to know each other better,” said Allyson Gall, New Jersey AJC area director.

After services ended at St. Paul on Sunday, Cox and Shapiro led a debriefing session, asking students and their parents what they liked about each other’s services, and answering questions.

Comments centered largely on Hebrew, from the St. Paul crowd, and the music, from the Shomrei crowd.

Other themes emerged as well. Sheila Bond commented on the “quiet reverence” she experienced at Shomrei. Questions were more far-ranging: Why is the cross the central symbol of Christianity? Why do the folks at St. Paul bow their heads and what do they do if they drop a prayer book?

And from the children of St. Paul: Why do people kiss the Torah as it comes around the sanctuary? Why do you wear a yarmulka? Do women wear the yarmulka, too? And what exactly is the role of the cantor?

Shapiro and Cox, both newcomers to Montclair, arriving two-and-a-half and one-and-a-half years ago, respectively, struck up a friendship in the local clergy association, and decided to use their friendship to deepen the bonds between the two congregations.

The two worked together on a march in observance of Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday, and they are planning a joint seder for the second night of Passover.

Cox believes that action involving laity, and not just the clergy, will go a long way to making a difference.

“Our histories are inextricably intertwined,” Cox explained. “And in a world gone completely haywire with war and the dismantling of so much tolerance and patience in America, where 90 percent of the people say they are spiritual but where organized religion often seems to divide us — the only way for any of these things to change is to teach tolerance.”

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