In this moment...
In a week that included Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel’s yahrtzeit, the start of the book of Exodus, and the simultaneous celebration of Martin Luther King Jr’s birthday and marking of Inauguration Day, we find ourselves in a poignant and auspicious time, at the leading edge of a new political era that portends many challenges for people, communities, and principles that we hold close.
In this moment we are grateful to be able to share with you some touchpoints of inspiration and opportunities for action to help meet the moment, as we reach to history – to MLK and the African American Civil Rights Movement, to Rabbi Heschel’s legacy, to the lives of enslaved people in the US, and the lessons of the Exodus story – to reaffirm our commitment to stand for each other and for justice, finding opportunities to meaningfully and collectively cultivate wholeness.
Rabbi Nate’s MLK Day Remarks
This Monday, our still-new Director, Rabbi Nate DeGroot, was invited by the Michigan United coalition to join in memorializing democracy and honoring the life of Martin Luther King, Jr. at their MLK Jr. Memorial for Democracy and Awards Ceremony. Rabbi Nate described the program as “deeply soul-stirring and spirit-giving.” His remarks on freedom of religion are reproduced below, but we strongly encourage watching the full, inspirational program.
Rabbi Nate’s remarks:
The spirit is strong in here this morning.
I am so grateful.
I feel so blessed to be here.
Thank you all.
–
As Jews,
every week,
we read a portion of our Torah.
We start at the beginning
in the fall,
and week by week,
we read a few chapters
until we finish the scroll and start it over again.
This past Shabbat, in our weekly cycle,
we began a magnificent story.
A story 4,000 years in the making.
That has given us both seders and spirituals.
And has shaped entire peoples.
A story so fecund with freedom -
So vibrating with liberation -
That it was removed from the bibles of enslaved people some 200 years ago,
by the Pharaohs of that day,
for fear of a reprisal of the story.
How foolish those pharaohs must have been,
to believe that the power of that story
lay in flimsy parchment,
rather than the intimate
and innate human knowing,
lodged firmly inside of each of us,
that demands the truth
that we are all free,
created infinitely precious,
b’tzelem Elohim,
in the image of God.
All of us, each of us
emanations of Creation.
–
Of course, the story of which I speak is the Exodus from Egypt,
A story our people call “yitziat mitzrayim,”
“The going-out from NarrowLand.”
The story of that ancient and raggedy Israelites,
Oppressed and in-chained by the Pharaoh of their day.
Forced into ever-harshening labor,
forced to kill the male fruits of their labor.
An eccentric people,
400 years in servitude,
to an administration of hardened hearts
who were willing to endure literal plagues,
to try to maintain their power-hungry grip
over a marginalized population
for just one more day.
A people,
whose cry from chaotic constriction
and utter exhaustion
is met with the kind of divine expansiveness
Out of which miracles are made.
From being under the thumb of Pharaoh,
to being rescued by a yad chazakah -
the outstretched, chain-breaking hand of YHVH,
the Eternal and Interbreathing God.
This story is a story of freedom.
But not simply “freedom from.”
Yes, we needed freedom from Pharaoh.
Yes, we will need freedom from Pharaoh.
But Moshe - Moses - didn’t stop with “Let my people go.”
He said - and you may remember if you know the verses - “Let my people go…so we may serve God.”
Of course, of course, of course freedom from is a baseline and necessary starting point.
For freedom is never possible with a boot on one’s neck.
But the freedom we seek -
and speak of -
The freedom we know we deserve,
is more than just that.
For our freedom is a freedom to -
A freedom to serve God.
God:
The Most High
The Most Merciful
A God of Love and Justice,
That commands us 36 times to love the stranger.
That knows the Palestinian child is as profoundly holy and precious as any other human being.
That knows that we are all - humans and the more-than-human world - residents of one “great ‘world house’” as Dr. King called it. “Who, because we can never again live apart, must learn to somehow live with each other in peace.”
Let my people Go!
so that we may serve:
That God of the burning bush, which burned but was not consumed.
The God of the Mountaintop and the Promised Land.
The God of the midwives, who defied Pharaoh’s decrees.
God almighty that knows Detroit never left.
That knows that this is what democracy looks like.
–
Now as we know -
this freedom to serve God,
this freedom of religion,
is not only our Divine birthright,
but our country’s First Amendment.
So on this Inauguration Weekend,
As a new king arises over Egypt,
On this weekend of Prophets and Pharaohs,
Of resilience and unity,
On this frigid day,
the commencement of US Democracy’s greatest trial,
let us affirm and assert our inalienable freedom to
serve the God we know.
The one that’s here in this room right now -
That takes us up out of Egypt,
All of us beautiful souls.
Not a one left behind.
The mixed multitude.
The beautiful mixed multitude.
United in our mixed multitudeness,
Crossing that Sea
Together.
–
Thank you and God bless.
Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel’s 52nd Yahrtzeit
In case you missed it, The Shalom Center, in collaboration with Dr. Susannah Heschel, celebrated Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel's 52 yahrtzeit with a special webinar and companion reader created for the event. The reader is available here. And while the webinar has passed, if you’re interested in watching it, you can register here and you will automatically receive the link to watch the video.
It was truly a special evening, and you won’t be disappointed to spend 90 minutes diving into the legacy of Rabbi Heschel through the insights and wisdom of his daughter.
Reader
Five writings from Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel, chosen by Dr. Susannah Heschel for this moment, in honor of her father’s 52nd yahrtzeit.
Read here or below.
Webinar
Dr. Susannah Heschel and Rabbi Nate DeGroot in conversation on Heschel texts, prophecy, and this moment.
Register here to receive video of the recorded webinar, or below.
Keshet and NCJW Statement on Executive Orders and Harms to LGBTQ+ People
We want to uplift and amplify a statement that Keshet and National Council of Jewish Women shared yesterday in response to the executive orders signed by the President affecting LGBTQ+ people, condemning the actions and affirming support for the LGBTQ+ community. The statement begins:
Keshet and National Council of Jewish Women condemn, in the strongest possible terms, the Presidential Actions signed yesterday which threaten to jeopardize the safety and dignity of trans, nonbinary, and intersex people, and the LGBTQ+ community more broadly. On Inauguration Day — a day that should have been dedicated to uniting our country — the President instead chose to try to divide us.
We stand with Keshet and NCJW’s words, and with all our LGBTQ+ beloveds.
Tu Bishvat Virtual Lobby Day for Climate Solutions with Jewish Earth Alliance
February 13, 2025
Register Now
This Tu Bishvat, we will join with Jewish Earth Alliance to help protect the climate progress made in the last four years and demand even more transformative climate solutions to build a just and safe future. Join with other members of your community to meet virtually with your US Senators, with everything you need to participate provided by Jewish Earth Alliance. Register now.
National Council of Jewish Women’s Repro Shabbat
February 21-22, 2025
The Shalom Center is proud to partner with the National Council of Jewish Women on Repro Shabbat, coming February 21-22 (Parshat Mishpatim).
Repro Shabbat provides an opportunity to honor the important Jewish value of reproductive freedom as we read Parshat Mishpatim, the portion of the Torah commonly used as the foundation of Judaism's approach to reproductive health, rights, and access.
There are many ways to engage on Repro Shabbat. You can host a Repro Shabbat event in your community or bring Repro Shabbat into your home with a gathering of family or friends or even a quiet celebration for yourself. Learn more about Repro Shabbat and get involved today!