Martin Luther King Service

In 1963, the German born American Rabbi Joachim Prinz,  who had a long history advocating for civil rights, participated in the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom led by Martin Luther King, Jr. Rabbi Prinz  spoke prior to  Dr.  King that morning.

He said, “When I was the rabbi of the Jewish community in Berlin under the Hitler regime, I learned many things.
“The most important thing that I learned under those tragic circumstances was that bigotry and hatred are not the most urgent problem.
“The most urgent, the most disgraceful, the most shameful and the most tragic problem is silence.

 He went on to say referring to Germany:

“A great people which had created a great civilization had become a nation of silent onlookers. They remained silent in the face of hate, in the face of brutality and in the face of mass murder.

“America must not become a nation of onlookers.
“America must not remain silent.

“Not merely black America, but all of America. It must speak up and act, from the President down to the humblest of us ……..not [only] for the sake of the black community but for the sake of the image, the idea and the aspiration of America itself.” Martin Luther King perhaps summed this sentiment up the best when he wrote, “In the End, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.”

That was 1963. We have come a long way in terms of addressing racism in our country since Dr. King’s time, but as we look back at our history since Dr. King we see that there are countless examples of racism that serve as reminders that   in fact, we have not come as far as many of us had hoped or imagined.  We all need to continue the work of moving towards   equal justice and equal opportunity to all of our citizens, which was at the heart of Martin Luther King’s mission.

What can we do? In an article last year in Oprah magazine readers responded to the question about how they were personally responding to racism. Here are a few of the answers to that question:

Katherine Isabel, 45, had joined a committee addressing racism in her company that hoped to bring more accountability and inclusion in her predominately white workplace.

Woody Wheeler, 69, took part in the Black Lives Matter protests in Seattle and increased his contributions to the Southern Poverty Law Center.

Sheila Morreale, 51, Franklin, Tennessee, joined the Beloved Community, a movement in the Episcopal Church that promotes awareness and discussions around radical injustice and inequality.

Others are incorporating books about the Black experience into their book clubs. The Dick Marshall Memorial Book Club, of which I am a member, has read and discussed books such as Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead, The New Jim Crow by Michelle Alexander,  Justice Failed by Alton Logan,  and The Immortal Life of Hernrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot, and The Warmth of Other Suns by Isabelle Wilkerson to name just a few.

Most important, we can all stand up to racism in our neighborhoods, in our schools, and in our communities when we see it. When someone makes some racist, belittling or demeaning comment on social media or in our everyday conversations, we need to call them on it. We can discuss the issue of racism within our families, with our children.

We are all aware of the growing anti-Semitism in our country and around the world, especially on the extremes of the political spectrum. We do not hesitate to confront it when it appears. We should do the same with  racism. As Hillel said, “If I am not for myself, who will be for me? If I am only for myself, what am I? If not now, when?

Shabbat Shalom

 

 

Maintaining Liberty in Law

 

This week we begin to read the Book of Exodus, parasha Shemot. It begins with the Jewish people enslaved in Egypt by a Pharoah who, the Torah informs us, did not know of the contributions of the Jewish people to Egyptian society. The parasha proceeds with the liberation of our people and culminates in the giving of the Law at Mount Sinai. As we know The Festival of Passover commemorates our liberation from Egypt, freedom from the tyranny of oppression.  The Festival of Shavuot, commemorates the giving of the Law. These two holidays are joined together by the 49 days of the counting of the omer. Thus, the connection of the Festival of Freedom with the Festival of the Giving of the Law teaches us that without Law there can be no freedom. The two are inextricably linked.

This week we watched in shock, anger and horror as an unruly and violent mob invaded our Capitol building in an attempt to overturn the results of a fair and legitimate democratic election for the President of the US.  Honoring the rule of law is at the core of our democracy. Those seeking to subvert the rule of law are the enemies of freedom, not its champions. 

My colleague Rabbi Leonard Matanky observes that the morning started off by the President exhorting his supporters to “show strength and be strong”. In the end, the ones who showed strength and were strong were those Republican and Democrat legislators who refused to be deterred but worked through the night to complete the democratic process that had been interrupted.  Through their show of strength and their determination the rule of law prevailed and our system of government survived.

In 597 BCE the King of Babylonia conquered Jerusalem and exiled a portion of the population to Babylon. Settled in a strange land, disoriented, their lives turned upside down, the exiles wrote to the prophet Jeremiah for advice. He sent them a letter, urging them to build houses, plant gardens, marry and have children in their new land. Above all, he said, “Pray for the welfare of the city where I have sent you, for in its welfare you will find your welfare.”  Thus the rabbis instituted the practice of praying for the government into our order of prayers. Only in praying for and working toward the welfare of society as a whole can we, as individuals and as a Jewish community, assure our own welfare, happiness and prosperity.  Only through the fulfillment of democratic ideals and the democratic process can we attain the Biblical ideals of freedom, justice, and the equality under the law. Imperfect as democracy may be, it is still the best form of government we know for the fulfillment of G-d’s desire to establish a society that affirms human dignity and social decency, and maintains communal harmony.

In 1893, a 33-year-old English professor from Wellesley College in Massachusetts, Katherine Lee Bates, inspired by a trip she took across the country by train, wrote a poem she called “Pike’s Peak”.  The poem was set to music and in 1910 it was published as “America the Beautiful”. One of the verses reads like a prayer:

America! America!
God mend thine ev'ry flaw,
Confirm thy soul in self-control,
Thy liberty in law.

With the help of G-d may we work together toward a more perfect union.  Let us pray and work toward a renewed commitment to social order, domestic tranquility and equality under the law. May we begin to heal a nation torn by political and racial unrest, by extreme economic disparities; a nation grieving under the weight of a widespread and deadly pandemic. And may G-d bless America.

Shabbat Shalom

 Photo: Sayed F. Hashimi on Unsplash.com