Shabbat Shalom January 14-15, 2011

THE LONG MARCH TOWARDS FREEDOM LAND
Rabbi Noah Zvi Farkas

There is a conspicuous conjunction of the calendar this week. We celebrate both the anniversary of the birthdays of Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. on January 15, as well as the birthday of Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel on January 11. In addition, this week we read the third section and the most climactic parasha of the Exodus narrative. As the Israelites are encamped at Succot, Moses parts the water, raising it like walls high above. The land dries beneath their feet, and the people pass through this narrow passage with Pharaoh’s army nipping at their heels. This was the singular moment of the Exodus, when all of Israel saw with clarity and purpose the affirmative direction and utter glory of living in God’s presence. Once the sea split no one questioned, no one balked, no one hesitated – they knew what must be done. So they marched arm-in-arm into the sea towards freedom, singing together. This Shabbat, I will hear “we shall overcome” in my inner-ear while our congregation sings “mi-chamocha” from the Song of the Sea.

There are few moments in history when a community is singular in opinion, when conviction compels unity towards a common good. Those precious few instances that morally silence our opposing inclinations for avarice, greed, and brute self-interest, that we feel the presence and embrace of humanity, that reach higher to envelop our ennobled selves in goodness and push towards a meeting with God in a common place - our tradition captures those moments as glimpses of the Divine in the world and calls them revelation.

There are even fewer individuals who can harness the strength and courage buried within each of us to act towards what our conscience demands, to create concern for those who live at the margin – the needy, the downtrodden, the struggling - and galvanize the community towards a common deed. Our tradition records the essence of those individuals and calls them prophet. Reverend King was one of those prophets.

This means that revelation cannot be consigned to history books or merely encoded in works of art – it is woven into the tapestry of human living, and prophets are not merely artifacts of ancient Israel, but continue to inspire us towards disclosure’s end – freedom and justice. For those who seek light, truth, and goodness for themselves and others the Exodus never truly ends. As Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel wrote, “ …we have not yet completed crossing the Red Sea. There is still a long way to go.” As long as we have not reached the common good and drawn out Godliness in every person, we have not yet crossed into freedom land. On March 21, 1965, on the steps of Brown Chapel in Selma, Alabama, the American people got a good hard look at Godliness in the world, thanks to the prophetic voice of Reverend King.

Heschel received a telegram a few days earlier from King to come to Selma to join him in the third and fateful march to Montgomery, which he did. Sensing the importance of the moment, King gave a rousing speech, “I want to say to Selma, I want to say to Alabama…We are on the move now and no wave of racism can stop us….like an idea whose time is come ... We are marching to the land of freedom.”

For King and Heschel, the fight against racism and the fight for civil rights carried a spiritual dimension as much as a political one. For them and for us, the Exodus is an event to be lived by all peoples at all times in eternal struggle for freedom and justice. Heschel wrote King upon his return, "The day we marched together out of Selma was a day of sanctification. That day I hope will never be past to me - that day will continue to be this day...,” Everyday can be a day of Exodus.

Most famously, in Heschel’s diary he wrote of the march, "For many of us the march from Selma to Montgomery was about protest and prayer. Legs are not lips and walking is not kneeling. And yet our legs uttered songs. Even without words, our march was worship. I felt my legs were praying." The Exodus still lives on today in each of us, through our prayers and our deeds. When we see genocide we know what must be done. When we see slavery we know what must be done. When we see hunger we know what must be done. When we see discrimination we know what must be done. As heirs to Heschel and King, it is incumbent upon us to march arm-in-arm towards freedom with others because our redemption is bound-up with theirs.

This Monday is the 25th anniversary of the national celebration of King’s Birthday. For the second year in a row we have chosen to celebrate King and Heschel together by engaging in an interfaith service project that helps others in their march towards goodness. Please join us this Monday with the Family of Faith Christian Center, an African American church, as we feed the hungry, clothe the homeless, and work towards a better tomorrow. For more information about the event, please contact Jeff Brown at jbrown@pircher.com