Parshat Vaera – January 12, 2024 / 3 Shvat, 5784

The Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. First met Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel in 1963 at a conference regarding race and religion. Dr. King and Rabbi Heschel formed a close relationship, with King even referring to Heschel as “my rabbi.” There is perhaps no series of images depicting black-jewish relations more famous than those of Dr. King and Rabbi Heschel walking side-by-side during the march for African-American voting rights from Selma to Montgomery Alabama on March 21, 1965. Having become fast friends, Dr. King was planning to attend a Passover Seder at the Heschel family home in 1968. Tragically, he never made it to that seder. He was assassinated on April 4, 1968. While the history of the relationship between African American people and Jews is not to be reduced to this one friendship and partnership, as it is much more complicated than this, can we allow ourselves this space…celebrating this man’s legacy, to remember the good? To recall such moments of togetherness so that we can strive for them again?

I found myself reading this week’s Torah Portion Va’eira, and how it describes Moses and Aaron pleading for the release of the Israelites from Egyptian bondage. We read of the first 7 of the 10 plagues that are brought upon the land of Egypt due to the Pharaoh’s refusal to set the Children of Israel free. I imagine the Pesach Seder at the Heschel household, beginning on April 16th, 1968 only 12 days after Dr. King was killed in Memphis Tennessee. I imagine the Maggid, the telling of the Exodus story, which includes this week’s plagues and pleas for freedom. I imagine the hardened heart of a Pharaoh, and the hateful heart of a man at a hotel in Memphis. I remember the name for Passover is z’man cheyruteinu…the season of our freedom. Most of all, I imagine the empty seat at the seder table in the Heschel household. A seat not reserved for an important black leader, or a politician, an activist, or a set of ideas.A seat reserved for a fellow human being. A seat reserved for a friend. 

Dr. King was a man who spent his life fighting non-violently for a world that could exist as z’man cheyruteinu…the season of our freedom. We celebrate this brave and amazing man, as perhaps we remember the extra chair at the Heschel household. The bitterness of the herbs and the saltiness of the water exacerbated in 1968 now inform us of the relationships that we need to foster between communities to move forward with common purpose. We as Jews have always known to be true what Dr. King said…”No one is free until we are all free.” In the spirit of togetherness, and to honor Dr. King’s life and legacy, it is my absolute pleasure to welcome to the lectern, Reverend Lisa Williams of the Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church of Setauket…Our neighbor and friend.

– R