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Martin Luther King's Jewish Ally
Abraham Joshua Heschel's
100 anniversary
of his birth is January 11.
He walked with Martin Luther King.
Date: 12/27/2006 10:52:00 AM ( 18 y ) ... viewed 1194 times
"The Earth is the Lord’s":
the Inner World of the Jew in Eastern Europe,
his eloquent and moving elegy
for Eastern European Jewry appeared in 1949."
--Rabbi Burt Jacobson
"A world has vanished.
All that remains is a sanctuary hidden
in the realm of the spirit. We of this generation
are still holding the key. Unless we remember,
unless we unlock it, the holiness of the ages
will remain a secret of God. We of this generation
are still holding the key -- the key to the sanctuary
which is also the shelter of our own deserted souls.
If we mislay the key, we shall elude ourselves."
(p. 107)
http://www.shalomctr.org/node/1077
"Toward the end of A Passion for Truth Heschel
penned a powerful passage that yokes the distinct voices
of the two masters together into a single avowal.
He utilizes the Kotzker’s perspective to describe
the darkness enveloping the world
and the Ba’al Shem’s vision to proclaim the certainty of dawn:
"Life in our time has been a nightmare for many of us,
tranquility an interlude,
happiness a fake.
Who could breathe at a time when man was engaged
in murdering the holy witness to God six million times?
"And yet God does not need those
who praise Him when in a state of euphoria.
He needs those who are in love with Him when in distress,
both He and ourselves. This is the task:
in the darkest night to be certain of the dawn,
certain of the power to turn a curse into a blessing,
agony into a song. To know the monster’s rage and,
in spite of it, proclaim to its face
(even a monster will be transfigured into an angel);
to go through Hell and to continue to trust in the goodness of God --
this is the challenge and the way. (p. 300-301)"
--J.A. Heschel
Received an email this morning from
from Rabbi Arthur Waskow.
His book "Seasons of our Joy"
is one of my favorites for understanding
the cycle of Jewish holidays.
This email is about
Abraham Joshua Heschel's 100 anniversary
of his birth.
12/27/06 4:41 AM, Rabbi Arthur Waskow wrote:
A Prophetic Voice in Jewish, Multireligious,
and American Life
The centenary of Abraham Joshua Heschel's birth
is January 11, 2007. His yohrzeit (18 Tevet,
the 34th anniversary of his death) falls on January 7-8.
Both come during the week of reading Parashat Sh'mot,
the first portion of Exodus (chapters 1-4),
in which midwives resist through nonviolence
the murderous commands of Pharaoh;
we experience the renaming of God;
and our liberation from slavery begins.
A perfect week to celebrate Heschel.
Heschel's theology ˆ- God in Search of Man ˆ
and his spiritually rooted social action,
standing alongside Dr. Martin Luther King
not only against racism but also against the Vietnam War ˆ
have had a deep effect on Jewish and Christian thought and action.
Both study of his writing and action for peace,
justice, and healing of the earth will be appropriate memorials.
There is a special section of articles on Heschel
by many different writers ˆ Or Rose, Art Green, Burt Jacobson, and more ---- on our Website at ˆ
http://www.shalomctr.org/taxonomy_menu/1/127/7/52
And the amazing collection of his amazing essays, Moral Grandeur and Spiritual Audacity, ed. by his daughter, Prof. Susannah Heschel
of Dartmouth, bears teaching upon teaching for our own generation.
This summer, from August 6 to 12 at Elat Chayyim
I will be teaching a course on „Uniting Spirituality
and Social Change: Learning from Heschel on prayer, pyramids, & politics.‰
Heschel taught that the Prophets spoke forth God's Own suffering;
that prayer is the "song the universe sings to itself,"
and yet that prayer must be „subversive,‰ shattering pyramids; that at a great civil-rights march, he felt as if his legs were praying.
We will look at how Rabbi Heschel grounded
his political action in the Spirit, the Prophets,
and the mystical teachings of the Baal Shem Tov,
and insisted that prayer address the God
Who suffers when human beings suffer.
Susannah Heschel will join the course as visiting teacher.
For information call (800) 398-2630.
Shalom, Arthur
___
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