No Kings — Midsize and Enormous Gatherings

by Rabbi Arthur Waskow

It was Shabbat. Not just any Shabbat and not a Jewish holiday. But it became a Jewish holiday as at least most of one whole congregation showed up at the neighborhood public library.

It was NO KINGS shabbat. When Phyllis and I showed up at the official beginning time, this past Saturday, there were about 25 people. When we left at 1:30, there were more than 200.

I brought a sign with a quote from Deuteronomy 23. it said that “if someone fled a brutal boss or government official, fleeing to your own land, do NOT send them back into serfdom or worse. Instead, let them choose where in your own territory they most want to live. Do not maltreat them!”

When Phyllis and I left at 1:30, I asked to use the bullhorn for a couple of minutes. Then I led a chant that had just come into my head. (You need to know that I love playing with words.) The chant ran: “Love is warm; melt ICE now!” (“ICE” is the capital letters for “Immigration and Customs Enforcement”). That is the official name of a brutal police force that is deporting immigrants, refugees, and occasionally legitimate documented US citizens.

All 200 people laughed and made the chant their own.

Why did my beloved life-partner — Rabbi Phyllis Berman — and I choose to join about 200 people at the Lovett Library to say “No Kings!” Instead of 80,000 demonstrators downtown where they swallowed up and liberated whole neighborhoods? Because I am 91 years old and my life partner is 82. We were sure that the massive downtown crowd, impressive as it was for demanding change, would make it impossible for the two of us to navigate. The library was one of countless small gatherings across the country and in big and even middle size cities the turnout was enormous.

As the demonstrator crowd overflowed to both sides of Germantown Avenue, cars passing us honked and honked and honked their approval and support. All over the country, ditto, ditto, ditto. I am pretty sure that this “No Kings!” day was the largest demonstration in American history. The people were clear: gathering in astounding numbers, singing, chanting, talking with each other, making new connections — We the People made it clear: No king, no dictator, no oligarchy tearing apart cancer research, Medicaid. No splitting immigrant families with little children, no deporting people illegally, no ignoring judges and their decisions.

Love is warm; melt ICE now!

Chemists say that if you have a super-saturated solution and drop one crystal in it, the whole solution will crystallize. Rabbi Arthur Waskow is now Prophetic Envoy for The Shalom Center. For 60 years in a crystal along with others who have created a new “solution” of Jews and other spiritual folk who are committed to a spirituality that is seeking justice. He and all of them have been inspired by YHWH, the Breath-of-Life.