RACISM AND RELIGION

The Best Constitutional Calendar yet. 

Read it and remember when this country had heroes who fought side by side regardless of their different races and religions. 

A hearty well done to Judge Milt Hirsch who reminds us there was a time when heroes and bravery didn't always mean you carried a gun. 

On June 12, 1964, Martin Luther King wrote a letter to Rabbi Israel Dresner of Springfield, New Jersey.  Addressing his friend and fellow-clergyman by his nickname – “Dear Sy” – Dr. King explained that he was writing from the St. Augustine, FL, city jail.  King knew that Dresner was about to attend a “rabbinical assembly,” and asked that he arrange for a number of rabbis to come immediately to St. Augustine.  “It would do much to buttress our efforts here and across the nation.”  Dr. King knew how serious was the request he was making.  His letter concludes, “Perhaps if this letter could be read to your brethren next week, it might be considered a ‘call’ to St. Augustine.  I would imagine that some 30 or so rabbis would make a tremendous impact on this community and the nation.  We would hope that some would be prepared to submit to arrest.”

Rabbis heard Dr. King’s “call.”  And rabbis came to St. Augustine.

On June 19, 1964, it was their turn to write a letter from the local jail.  It was written, ironically, on the back of an arrest form.  Entitled, “Why We Went,” it included these words:

“We were arrested on Thursday, June 18, 1964.  Fifteen of us were arrested while praying in an integrated group in front of Monson’s Restaurant.  Two of us were arrested for sitting down at a table with three Negro youngsters in the Chimes Restaurant. . . .

“We came to St. Augustine mainly because we could not stay away.  We could not say no to Martin Luther King, whom we always respected and admired and whose loyal friends we hope we shall be in the days to come.  We could not pass by the opportunity to achieve a moral goal by moral means – a rare modern privilege – which has been the glory of the non-violent struggle for civil rights.

. . .

“We came as Jews who remember the millions of faceless people who stood quietly, watching the smoke rise from Hitler’s crematoria.  We came because we know that, second only to silence, the greatest danger to man is loss of faith in man’s capacity to act.

. . .

“We praise and bless God for His mighty acts on our behalf.  Baruch ata adonai matir asurim.  Blessed art Thou, O Lord, who freest the captives.”