A couple of years ago I had the privilege of delivering the sermon at a  Baptist Church in honor of Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday.  The tradition in my Philadelphia community was to have the church's pastor, Reverend Jim Pollard give the sermon on Friday night at one  of the local synagogues and to switch off between the Conservative and Reform congregational Rabbis each year on Sunday.   What developed was a deep and lasting partnership between our synagogue and the Zion Baptist Church and just as deep and lasting a friendship between Tracie and me and the Reverend Pollard and his wife Virginia, who became frequent guests at our table.  When we left for Israel, they gave us the wooden carved SHALOM that stands above our living room doorway. 

As MLK day comes around again I think about the power of such simple friendships and important partnerships to move the world.  It is a trick of history that  each year around birthday of the great preacher there is a chance to remember both a  Rabbi who became a partner to Dr. King and the Biblical figure that inspired both of them.   We commemorate this week (Jan. 13, 2009) the 36th anniversary of the death (yahrzeit)  of Abraham Joshua Heschel, a towering scholar, inspiring poet and transformational spiritual leader who left the confines of his Seminary to March side by side with Dr. King.  Rabbi Heschel referred to this march as "praying with his feet"

This week is also the week when we open a new book of the Torah and begin to read the story of Moses, who shook off both persecution and self-doubt to fulfill the dream of liberation for his people.

Such incredible figures can cause us to feel insignificant in comparison.  What can we, with all our limitations,  contribute to the world in the face of such giants?  However, the message shared by each of them is just the opposite.  Each one of us is called upon not to be Moses, Heschel, or King but to add our own voice, our own spirit, our own dream. 

For those intersted in hearing my words on that occasion, the audio file can be found here: http://www.gltorah.org/files/u1/media/rmmlk2005.mp3 

The last words of the sermon are a reference to the song which our choirs would sing together to open and close the services: Si ya humba ku ken yeni kwen kos which in Swahili means "We are Walking in the Light of G-d"

May we always find new ways to be part of mending the world, fulfilling the dream of equality, and praying with our feet.

Shabbat Shalom,

Rabbi Michael