A King Who Set Us Free From Our Own History

Forty-five years ago this month, Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr., delivered one of the preeminent speeches of American lore, his classic “I Have A Dream” message. Among the 300,000 who joined in the March on Washington were a disproportionate number of Jews, including rabbis, professors and social servants. They had marched with the young preacher before that day, and they continued to do so for the remaining five years of his brief life.

King sometimes compared his struggle to that of Moses. He occasionally quoted the Talmud, and in general expressed a kindred spirit between blacks and Jews. He noted that both peoples had been afflicted historically by various pharaohs.

Jewish tears surely were shed when King was cut down in 1968. But what many Jews don’t realize is that, in significant ways, King was our spiritual leader, too.

On this 45th anniversary of the March on Washington, it would behoove the Jewish community not to dwell only upon what Jews gave to blacks in the days of the civil rights social revolution. The partnership of Jews and blacks in that era of the freedom marches produced benefits not only for the indigenous black victims of Southern segregation.

What Jews also might remember is that our involvement, besides being the morally correct choice, gave a great deal back to us as individuals and as a community.

More at:
http://www.forward.com/articles/13926/