50th Anniversary of His Assassination (April 4, 1968)
Beth El Temple, April 8, 2018
Beth El Temple, April 8, 2018
Welcome to Beth El Temple. Beth El means “House of God” or “God’s Home” -symbolically, this is the spiritual home to hundreds of people who come here to worship, study and engage in fellowship.
We also gather here, from time to time, for funerals and memorial services, community commemorations and celebrations.
On behalf of my congregation I want to share with you what an honor it is for us to be a home for this Memorial Service, as our community remembers the gifts of the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr on the 50th Anniversary of his assassination. We’ve gathered here, in our Sanctuary, where we’re surrounded by colorful windows, depicting Biblical Heroes and Heroines, Jewish Festivals and commemorations. There is a booklet you can pick up outside the Sanctuary that explains all the windows and their history.
We hope that this evening’s warm, inspiring music, and the Eulogy we’ll hear in a few minutes will inspire us to remember Dr. King as the blessing he was and remains to our country and our world. In our Jewish Tradition, when someone dies, we pray that they will rest in peace and that their memory will be for a blessing.
To us those words are a challenge; memory is great; it’s so important to remember, to wax nostalgic, to recall events and triumphs and to recall defeats and tragedies. We want to learn from both our mistakes and our successes. Most importantly, we strive to bind our souls, still in this world, with their souls, in the world that is coming, in a place many call “heaven.”
How do we do that? What will make of memories “binding”? We believe that God wants us to be so inspired By our memories that we go out and do something to make our world a better place. What use is memory if we don’t act on it? What good is it to remember Dr. King if we don’t strive to change our civilization unto a civilization where People will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character?
Dr. King was right about so many things and about this in particular; its about character, the values we embody and the values we live by and the values we teach through example and the values we cherish so much that we become aware that whether we are aware of it or not, whether we like it or not we risk our lives to protect them every day.
These values are American values, these are Religious values, these are Humane Human values. When I was in 2nd or 3rd grade we were expected to memorize the Declaration of Independence.
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.
I grew up in the period of the Civil Rights War in America; I was born in 1952 and so as a ten year old I remember watching on our black, white and gray TV black people getting hosed down and beaten and segregated and shunned and denied and, as I had to memorize the first two paragraphs of the Declaration of Independence when I was 10 I wondered what in heaven’s name didn’t those white folk down South understand about All are created equal and endowed with inalienable rights?
Eventually I learned it wasn’t just the white folk down south; it was many white folk all over our country, including in my home town of Westbury, New York.
When I was 11 I watched that same TV, in awe, as some white folks and many, many black folks gathered in Washington at a rally, A March for Jobs and Freedom. I saw video reports on the news, I heard Mahalia Jackson and Marian Anderson sing, I heard Joan Baez and Peter, Paul and Mary sing, and I heard this Reverend, (who my father explained was a Christian Rabbi) proclaim: I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.
I grew up in this America, and that dream was a shared vision, a Christian vision and a Jewish Vision and a Muslim vision and a Buddhist vision and a Hindu vision -and a secular vision -of what America could be if we worked together to establish a society where we took as our fundamental truth and our motivating faith that all of us are created in absolute equality.
Just a few months before that rally, in 1963, 55 years ago, Judaism’s leading theologian, Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel, became a close friend of Dr. Martin Luther King. They met at a conference for Religion and Race where Rabbi Heschel, in his keynote address said: At the First Conference on religion and race the main participants were Pharaoh and Moses. Moses words were: Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, Let my people go that they may celebrate a feast to Me. Pharaoh retorted: Who is the Lord, that I should heed this voice and let Israel go? I do not know the Lord, and moreover I will not let Israel go!
Heschel concluded his introduction as follows: The outcome of that summit meeting has not come to an end. Pharaoh is not ready to capitulate. The exodus began, but it is far from having been completed. In fact, it was easier for the children of Israel to cross the Red Sea than for a negro to cross certain university campuses.
In 1965 Rabbi Heschel joined Dr. King as they marched from Selma to Montgomery and Rabbi Heschel brought many Rabbis from around the United States to march with them. There is a photograph in the hall outside, in front of the Elevator, a photo on a poster of Drs Heschel and King marching side by side, Marching together in Alabama in March of 1965; as Rabbi Heschel’s daughter, Professor Susannah Heschel has written,
“The photograph of Abraham Joshua Heschel walking arm in arm with Martin Luther King, Jr. in the front row of marchers at Selma has become an icon of American Jewish life, and of Black-Jewish relations. Reprinted in Jewish textbooks, synagogue bulletins and in studies of ecumenical relations, the picture has come to symbolize the great moment of symbiosis of the two communities, Black and Jewish.”
When asked by his students what was the significance of the march, how he felt those days in Alabama, Dr. Heschel responded, When I marched in Selma I felt my legs were praying.
I am here because tonight my legs are praying, and that prayer is one where we come together as one community, celebrating and respecting our diversity while we celebrate our common humanity.
Dr. King and Rabbi Heschel had transformed each other’s lives in 5 short years; Dr. King engaged Rabbi Heschel and many other Rabbis and Jewish Americans to embrace the Civil Rights Movement, and Rabbi Heschel engaged Dr. King to embrace the Anti-War movement, where so many African American GIs were among the dead and wounded.
The last time Dr. King and Rabbi Heschel saw each other was at the Concord Hotel in New York State, when Dr. Heschel celebrated his 60th Birthday at the Rabbinical Convention in March 25th, 1968. Dr. King attended to honor Rabbi Heschel and Dr. King delivered a powerful address, an address where he spoke to his love for Israel and about his first reaction to The Report of the National Advisory Commissoin on Civil Disorders, better known as the Kerner Commission Report on Racism in America, a report that had only recently been published.
Dr. King remarked that evening that he had been blessed by the over 600 Rabbis present to hear hundreds of voices raised, singing Anu Nitgaber - We Shall Overcome - in Hebrew. 10 days later, when Dr. King was assassinated, Rabbi Heschel was the rabbi Mrs. King invited to speak at her husbands funeral. Rabbi Heschel delivered one of the eulogies. Dr. King and Corretta Scott King had been planning on attending the Heschel’s Passover Seder the following week.
These are the words Professor, Doctor, Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel spoke to a room full of 600 Rabbis to Introduce his friend, The Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr.
“Where does moral religious leadership in America come from today? The politicians are astute, the establishment is proud, and the market place is busy. Placid, happy, merry, the people pursue their work, enjoy their leisure and like is fair. People buy, sell, celebrate and rejoice. They fail to realize that in the midst of our affluent cities there are districts of despair, areas of distress.
Where does God dwell in America today? Is He at home with those who are complacent, indifferent to the other people’s agony, devoid of mercy? Is He not rather with the poor and the contrite in the slums?
Dark is the world for me, for all its cities and stars. If tnot for the few signs of God’s radiance who could stand such agony, such darkness?
Where in America today do we hear a voice like the voice of the prophets of Israel? Martin Luther King is a sign that God has not forsaken the United States of America. God has sent him to us. His presence is the hope of America. His mission is sacred, his leadership of supreme importance to every one of us.
The situation of the poor in America is our plight, our sickness. To be deaf to their cry is to condemn ourselves.
Martin Luther King is a voice, a vision and a way. I call upon every Jew to harken to his voice, to share his vision, to follow in his way. The whole future of America will depend upon the impact and influence of Dr. King.
May everyone present give of his strength to this great spiritual leader, Martin Luther King.”
Friends, I am here because tonight our legs are praying, and that prayer is that we overcome our own hardness of heart, and recognizing our diverse paths to one God unite in working now to establish a peaceful, respectful, dignified life for all human beings, and for all of God’s creations.
We are here tonight because Dr. King touched our lives. Few of us knew him, but we are all his students. Few of us met him, but we are all in his debt. Few of us actually heard him speak, but his words to us are fresh, with challenges still to be met, with non-violent battles still to be waged, with prayers still be uttered and answered.
And with songs still to be sung.
Anu nitgaber We shall overcome
Anu nitgaber We shall overcome
Anu nitgaber b’vo hayom We shall overcome some day
Ani ma’amin, I believe
B’emunah shleima With perfect faith
She’anu nitgaber hayom That we shall overcome today
We also gather here, from time to time, for funerals and memorial services, community commemorations and celebrations.
On behalf of my congregation I want to share with you what an honor it is for us to be a home for this Memorial Service, as our community remembers the gifts of the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr on the 50th Anniversary of his assassination. We’ve gathered here, in our Sanctuary, where we’re surrounded by colorful windows, depicting Biblical Heroes and Heroines, Jewish Festivals and commemorations. There is a booklet you can pick up outside the Sanctuary that explains all the windows and their history.
We hope that this evening’s warm, inspiring music, and the Eulogy we’ll hear in a few minutes will inspire us to remember Dr. King as the blessing he was and remains to our country and our world. In our Jewish Tradition, when someone dies, we pray that they will rest in peace and that their memory will be for a blessing.
To us those words are a challenge; memory is great; it’s so important to remember, to wax nostalgic, to recall events and triumphs and to recall defeats and tragedies. We want to learn from both our mistakes and our successes. Most importantly, we strive to bind our souls, still in this world, with their souls, in the world that is coming, in a place many call “heaven.”
How do we do that? What will make of memories “binding”? We believe that God wants us to be so inspired By our memories that we go out and do something to make our world a better place. What use is memory if we don’t act on it? What good is it to remember Dr. King if we don’t strive to change our civilization unto a civilization where People will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character?
Dr. King was right about so many things and about this in particular; its about character, the values we embody and the values we live by and the values we teach through example and the values we cherish so much that we become aware that whether we are aware of it or not, whether we like it or not we risk our lives to protect them every day.
These values are American values, these are Religious values, these are Humane Human values. When I was in 2nd or 3rd grade we were expected to memorize the Declaration of Independence.
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.
I grew up in the period of the Civil Rights War in America; I was born in 1952 and so as a ten year old I remember watching on our black, white and gray TV black people getting hosed down and beaten and segregated and shunned and denied and, as I had to memorize the first two paragraphs of the Declaration of Independence when I was 10 I wondered what in heaven’s name didn’t those white folk down South understand about All are created equal and endowed with inalienable rights?
Eventually I learned it wasn’t just the white folk down south; it was many white folk all over our country, including in my home town of Westbury, New York.
When I was 11 I watched that same TV, in awe, as some white folks and many, many black folks gathered in Washington at a rally, A March for Jobs and Freedom. I saw video reports on the news, I heard Mahalia Jackson and Marian Anderson sing, I heard Joan Baez and Peter, Paul and Mary sing, and I heard this Reverend, (who my father explained was a Christian Rabbi) proclaim: I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.
I grew up in this America, and that dream was a shared vision, a Christian vision and a Jewish Vision and a Muslim vision and a Buddhist vision and a Hindu vision -and a secular vision -of what America could be if we worked together to establish a society where we took as our fundamental truth and our motivating faith that all of us are created in absolute equality.
Just a few months before that rally, in 1963, 55 years ago, Judaism’s leading theologian, Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel, became a close friend of Dr. Martin Luther King. They met at a conference for Religion and Race where Rabbi Heschel, in his keynote address said: At the First Conference on religion and race the main participants were Pharaoh and Moses. Moses words were: Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, Let my people go that they may celebrate a feast to Me. Pharaoh retorted: Who is the Lord, that I should heed this voice and let Israel go? I do not know the Lord, and moreover I will not let Israel go!
Heschel concluded his introduction as follows: The outcome of that summit meeting has not come to an end. Pharaoh is not ready to capitulate. The exodus began, but it is far from having been completed. In fact, it was easier for the children of Israel to cross the Red Sea than for a negro to cross certain university campuses.
In 1965 Rabbi Heschel joined Dr. King as they marched from Selma to Montgomery and Rabbi Heschel brought many Rabbis from around the United States to march with them. There is a photograph in the hall outside, in front of the Elevator, a photo on a poster of Drs Heschel and King marching side by side, Marching together in Alabama in March of 1965; as Rabbi Heschel’s daughter, Professor Susannah Heschel has written,
“The photograph of Abraham Joshua Heschel walking arm in arm with Martin Luther King, Jr. in the front row of marchers at Selma has become an icon of American Jewish life, and of Black-Jewish relations. Reprinted in Jewish textbooks, synagogue bulletins and in studies of ecumenical relations, the picture has come to symbolize the great moment of symbiosis of the two communities, Black and Jewish.”
When asked by his students what was the significance of the march, how he felt those days in Alabama, Dr. Heschel responded, When I marched in Selma I felt my legs were praying.
I am here because tonight my legs are praying, and that prayer is one where we come together as one community, celebrating and respecting our diversity while we celebrate our common humanity.
Dr. King and Rabbi Heschel had transformed each other’s lives in 5 short years; Dr. King engaged Rabbi Heschel and many other Rabbis and Jewish Americans to embrace the Civil Rights Movement, and Rabbi Heschel engaged Dr. King to embrace the Anti-War movement, where so many African American GIs were among the dead and wounded.
The last time Dr. King and Rabbi Heschel saw each other was at the Concord Hotel in New York State, when Dr. Heschel celebrated his 60th Birthday at the Rabbinical Convention in March 25th, 1968. Dr. King attended to honor Rabbi Heschel and Dr. King delivered a powerful address, an address where he spoke to his love for Israel and about his first reaction to The Report of the National Advisory Commissoin on Civil Disorders, better known as the Kerner Commission Report on Racism in America, a report that had only recently been published.
Dr. King remarked that evening that he had been blessed by the over 600 Rabbis present to hear hundreds of voices raised, singing Anu Nitgaber - We Shall Overcome - in Hebrew. 10 days later, when Dr. King was assassinated, Rabbi Heschel was the rabbi Mrs. King invited to speak at her husbands funeral. Rabbi Heschel delivered one of the eulogies. Dr. King and Corretta Scott King had been planning on attending the Heschel’s Passover Seder the following week.
These are the words Professor, Doctor, Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel spoke to a room full of 600 Rabbis to Introduce his friend, The Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr.
“Where does moral religious leadership in America come from today? The politicians are astute, the establishment is proud, and the market place is busy. Placid, happy, merry, the people pursue their work, enjoy their leisure and like is fair. People buy, sell, celebrate and rejoice. They fail to realize that in the midst of our affluent cities there are districts of despair, areas of distress.
Where does God dwell in America today? Is He at home with those who are complacent, indifferent to the other people’s agony, devoid of mercy? Is He not rather with the poor and the contrite in the slums?
Dark is the world for me, for all its cities and stars. If tnot for the few signs of God’s radiance who could stand such agony, such darkness?
Where in America today do we hear a voice like the voice of the prophets of Israel? Martin Luther King is a sign that God has not forsaken the United States of America. God has sent him to us. His presence is the hope of America. His mission is sacred, his leadership of supreme importance to every one of us.
The situation of the poor in America is our plight, our sickness. To be deaf to their cry is to condemn ourselves.
Martin Luther King is a voice, a vision and a way. I call upon every Jew to harken to his voice, to share his vision, to follow in his way. The whole future of America will depend upon the impact and influence of Dr. King.
May everyone present give of his strength to this great spiritual leader, Martin Luther King.”
Friends, I am here because tonight our legs are praying, and that prayer is that we overcome our own hardness of heart, and recognizing our diverse paths to one God unite in working now to establish a peaceful, respectful, dignified life for all human beings, and for all of God’s creations.
We are here tonight because Dr. King touched our lives. Few of us knew him, but we are all his students. Few of us met him, but we are all in his debt. Few of us actually heard him speak, but his words to us are fresh, with challenges still to be met, with non-violent battles still to be waged, with prayers still be uttered and answered.
And with songs still to be sung.
Anu nitgaber We shall overcome
Anu nitgaber We shall overcome
Anu nitgaber b’vo hayom We shall overcome some day
Ani ma’amin, I believe
B’emunah shleima With perfect faith
She’anu nitgaber hayom That we shall overcome today