In anticipation of Martin Luther King Day, we've wiped the dust off of these CJ Journal Classics:
Photo on bottom right: Courtesy of Susannah Heschel
- Conversation with Martin Luther King Spring 1968 (Vol. 22 No. 3)
On the evening of March 25, 1968, ten days before he was killed, Dr. Martin Luther King, zikhrono livrakhah, appeared at the sixty-eighth annual convention of the Rabbinical Assembly. - To Birmingham, and Back By Andre Ungar, Fall 1963 (Vol. 18 No. 1)
"...All of the worshippers were rabbis, nineteen of them precisely. The time was the last phase of the American Civil War, in May, 1963; the place Birmingham, Alabama...Nothing as yet indicated that the very place where the Shaharit was then in progress would be blown to smithereens by a bomb just a few days later...we were not there on our own behalf alone but in the name of some eight hundred Conservative rabbis and, perhaps, a million and a half Jews, or five million, or thirteen million, or an eternity of Jewish truths..."
- Reflections on Race from Summer 1965 (Vol. 19 No. 4)
- A Jewish View of the Racial Crisis By Charles Silberman
"...Jewish groups excelled at heroic resolutions, and rabbis were eloquent in their sermons. But it is no longer a question of words. Resolutions do not suffice for revolutions; only resolution to act counts now..." - Journey to Understanding By Jack Bloom
"...The two days in Birmingham were the most significant religious experience of my life..." - Malverne: A Case History By Samuel Chiel
"...My experience in this situation has left me with the indelible impression that each of us, rabbi and congregant alike, far from being discouraged by our experiences in this area, ought to seek out new opportunities to engage in the battle for civil rights. This struggle is a concrete expression of the teachings of our faith..."
- A Jewish View of the Racial Crisis By Charles Silberman
- The Sermons of the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr.: A Jewish Response By Elliot B. Gertel, Spring 1996 (Vol. 48 No. 3).
- The Future of Black Jewish Relations (from the 1985 RA Proceedings; in two parts)
