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February 2005

Jonathan Katz, LCSW

JHHRN Honors the Vision of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

This year’s Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day provided the opportunity for JBFCS to honor the memory of Dr. King and his vision of non-violent social change. In collaboration with staff, JBFCS designed a simple but extremely moving program to celebrate the core ideas and approaches that made Dr. King such a dynamic and effective leader.

Susan Rosenthal, director of our National Center for Jewish Healing, put together a brief biography and collection of Dr. King’s writings which was made available to all JBFCS staff and which formed the basis for our commemoration. The ceremony was held at JBFCS Main Office and drew staff from Jewish Connections and other agency programs. Rabbi Simkha Weintraub, LCSW, opened the commemoration with the lighting of a memorial candle and a prayer. We listened to an audio tape of Dr. King’s famous "I Have a Dream" speech. Participants were then invited to talk about the meaning and impact Dr. King had for them, and to read from the collection of his speeches.

Many of us spoke about the way Dr. King’s words and courageous actions inspired us. Several participants had actually volunteered in the civil rights movement and described the excitement, hope and danger of those early years. For many of us, Dr. King’s words evoked deep and conflicting feelings: hope and disappointment; appreciation of the changes that have occurred, as well as frustration over the barriers that remain. Many of us were struck by how strongly applicable Dr. King’s words are today, when there are so many injustices to remedy, and such differing approaches to doing so.

In particular, Dr. King’s speech, "Beyond Vietnam," delivered at Riverside Church in April, 1967, provided haunting echoes of the issues we now face as we struggle with widely conflicting views on how to redress the great social, economic and political inequities in the world of 2005. We concluded the ceremony without easy answers, but with a renewed sense of commitment and inspiration.

To obtain a copy of the collected materials used for this commemoration, please contact Alisha Goodman at 212 399-2685, ext. 223, or

These "Spirituality Notes" are excerpts from our monthly E-newsletter. Articles are © JBFCS Rita J. Kaplan Jewish Connections Programs and may be reprinted free of charge as long as this credit line is included.

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