Rabbi Nathan's blog

This past March I had the privilege of attending the Reconstructionist Rabbinical Association convention held in Atlanta. At the tail end of the convention, I was able to join a smaller group of rabbis on a side trip to Montgomery, Alabama to learn more about the African American experience in our country, from enslavement to the Jim Crow era, and the fight for civil rights. Two particular moments from that experience stood out for me:

In addition to the exhibits in the Legacy Museum that movingly detail the story of enslavement and the struggle for freedom, we spent time at the National Memorial for Peace and Justice, a sobering testimonial to the more than 4,400 Black people killed in racial terror lynchings, listing lynchings by name and by county of each state. Although heart wrenching to walk through, I was grateful for the careful thought and planning to lift up this important piece of our history as Americans.

Additionally, we had the privilege of meeting with Lynda Blackman Lowery, the youngest person to march across the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama during the 1965 Selma Voting Rights March. Lynda wrote a children’s book about her experience, Turning 15 on the Road to Freedom. She spoke with us from her heart, sharing her experience of becoming an activist and how she was brutally chased and beaten that day on the bridge (requiring many stitches on her head). While this story is not easy to hear, I was grateful for the privilege of seeing living history, and also celebrating Lynda’s spirit and achievements in her life since that time. While the process and project of connecting to my Jewish roots and history almost feels second nature to me, and something I have always found myself drawn to — my visit to Montgomery helped remind me how important it is for me both as a Jew and an American to continue to learn about the history of slavery and racism in our country. I hope in the near future to organize a congregational trip to Montgomery and perhaps other sites in the region to have more of us learn and engage with this history. If you are interested in this please let me know.

And I am grateful here in our own community for the work that we have been doing to increase our awareness about how we sometimes become unwitting inheritors of racist thinking and also how we have been a part of perpetuating systemic structures of racism in our society. In particular, I’m grateful for the work of our Anti‐Racism Coordinating Committee to continue to provide opportunities to learn and engage with this material and to see how it intersects with our Jewish values and identity. I know that the committee is continuing to explore as well how we might find ways to activate ourselves to become positive agents of tikkun (repair) and change in our world. As one example of this in January, on Sunday, January 19th, at 11am (MLK Day weekend), the ARCC invites BI members to hear Gregg Volz, a Public Interest Attorney speak about legislation he has been working on to develop Youth Courts, an alternative means of conflict resolution for young people that can help stop the school to prison pipeline. I hope that all can come and attend.

Additionally, I’m grateful for the work of our Social Action Committee members who have been engaging in direct service and support folks in the city of Chester through in-person and online tutoring initiatives. This important volunteer work helps remind us that in addition to working on broader system issues, we can also change the world one life, one student at a time. Feel free to reach out to the SAC to learn more.

And finally, I am also pleased that Beth Israel is going to be participating during the last Shabbat in January in a nationwide Reconstructionist focus on the issue of reparations. This “Reparations” Shabbat is a follow up to the January, 2023 reparations resolution approved by the movement that calls upon us to continue to learn about racial harm and systems of oppression and helping to take steps to repair this. During that Shabbat morning our rabbinic Intern Kendra Saperstein will be leading a deeper dive into the intersection of Jewish tradition and reparations as part of our Torah Treks learning.

I know that for me, my journey of learning and growing and becoming a more positive agent of tikkun is ongoing. But know that I’m grateful to be doing this work within the Beth Israel community. So as we begin our secular new year, I encourage each of us to rededicate ourselves to the important work of learning and growing around racism, even as imperfect allies, and committing to move ourselves and our country to a future that truly honors and supports each and every member of our society to live and grow to their true potential.