This coming Monday, we commemorate the life and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Interestingly, his day is a relatively new federal holiday. First observed in 1986, it took until 2000 for all 50 states to recognize it. Times change, but change comes slow. Even in 2015, as we honor Dr. King’s dream, we recognize how far we still have to go to realize it.
Right now, we’re still processing what happened in France last week. Those despicable acts were born of intolerance and hatred, everything Dr. King fought against.Closer to home, recent events have forced us to grapple with the realization that there are still too many places in this nation where the color of your skin impacts how you are treated.
These are complicated issues, and it’s not always easy to talk about them. But we need to have difficult conversations that allow us to see beyond our own biases. And beyond conversations, we also need to take action, reaching out to other communities to work together on issues of common concern.
To that end, I represented UJA-Federation of New York at last week’s launch of Feeding Our Neighbors, a collaboration between UJA-Federation, Catholic Charities, and the Federation of Protestant Welfare Agencies. This program, now in its third year, brings people of different faiths together to leverage our collective expertise and wisdom so we can do an even better job reaching out to the hungry — whatever their backgrounds — across this city we all call home. On January 19th, there will be related volunteer events around the city, and I’ll be traveling from the Lt. Joseph P. Kennedy Community Center in Harlem to Union Temple of Brooklyn to participate.
After last Sunday’s launch, Jewish and Catholic teens came to UJA-Federation to take part in an interfaith dialogue on the work and life of Dr. King. After watching his “I Have a Dream” speech on video, they wrote down their own dreams for a better world. This is some of what they wrote: “My dream for society is for everyone to treat others as they want to be treated.” “I have a dream that poverty will soon end.” “I wish people could stop fighting with each other.” Following the discussions, the teens worked together to pack 300 kosher food packages for seniors and families in need, to be distributed at the Hebrew Educational Society in Brooklyn.
Dr. King brought people together in that same way. As we honor his legacy, I am proud to say that taking action to realize the dream of a better world is what UJA-Federation makes possible, not just on Dr. King’s day, but on every day of the year.
Shabbat shalom