At the end of it all, Daphna Ziman and the Rev. Eric Lee were joking about the good cry they had together, pledging to work together to help children, and hugging each other goodbye Thursday.
The two, who clenched hands at one point during the conversation at Ziman's Beverly Hills home, had clearly gotten over the controversy that erupted around a speech Lee made at a banquet April 4.
For The Record
Los Angeles Times Tuesday, May 06, 2008 Home Edition Main News Part A Page 2 National Desk 1 inches; 34 words Type of Material: Correction
Daphna Ziman: A photo caption that accompanied an article in Friday's California section identified Daphna Ziman as a member of the pro-Israel group Stand With Us. She is not a member of that organization.
"I believe that the incident that occurred was actually divine intervention," Ziman said as she sat at a round table with prominent members of the Jewish and African American communities.
Together, she said, "we are asking every religious leader in the country to demand that no racism will be spouted in any place of worship or public place."
The controversy began when Ziman, a prominent Jewish philanthropist and supporter of Hillary Rodham Clinton, e-mailed eight friends about a banquet hosted by the historically black fraternity Kappa Alpha Psi. She was receiving an award for her work with foster children, many of whom were African American.
She told friends that Lee, the local president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, a civil rights group, got up to speak and said that Jews have made money on blacks in the music business. She quoted him saying that "they are economically enslaving us."
Ziman's e-mail made its way to millions of in-boxes. She said she had become more sensitive to anti-Semitism since she heard the anti-Israel comments of the Rev. Jeremiah A. Wright Jr.
Lee has said he never made the anti-Semitic statements Ziman attributed to him and apologized for any pain he may have caused. Ziman accepted his apology by e-mail and the two met for the first time Thursday.
The gathering at Ziman's Tudor-style home started at 11:30 a.m. with Ziman playing a song called "It Just Takes One," which she had composed for a movie. When the singer's plaintive voice asked, "Why can't we rise above all the hate?" Ziman and Lee looked at each other. Lee had tears in his eyes.
Ziman then invited everyone to eat together, and a rabbi who had marched with the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. said a blessing.
"Breaking bread together is very important to Jewish values," said Roz Rothstein, who had sent Ziman's e-mail to the 50,000-person mailing list of Stand With Us, an organization that seeks to educate the public about Israel. "If you break bread together, that is a new beginning."
