I have written about Martin Luther King junior before in this blog. Most recently I compared Mandela’s writing with King’s after Mandela’s death. Today I am overwhelmed with optimism watching the CIty of Elgin mark King’s birthday weekend.

Our synagogue, Congregation Kneseth Israel, has a long tradition of observing King’s birthday by bringing in a gospel choir to aid our worship. We did it last year and it was a great way to celebrate my birthday as well. The music is upbeat, joyous, a wonderful way to praise G-d and we have a lot to learn from this style of worship. But I worry about tokenism. If that is the only thing we do together, then what kind of partnership is it? Is it real or does it just feel good, we can check off the box that we did something and we don’t really improve the world? This year I tried a different approach.

We participated in the Citywide collection of food in honor of King. The city goal was 12,000 pounds to be used to support the Community Crisis Center, Food for Greater Elgin and the Westside Pantry. Our goal was 40 bags. Our small congregation delivered 67 bags. I haven’t heard the citywide total but kudos to Joe Wars and his team for getting this done. Next up–some of the systemic and economic changes around hunger issues so that no one goes to bed hungry in this country. I commit myself to that part of King’s dream.

Saturday morning we were joined by Ron Raglin, the Assistant Superintendent of the U-46 School District for Secondary Education and Justice and Equity. What a title. I want that one. Just the justice and equity piece. He spoke about his growing up on the south side of Chicago, the fact that having a mentor made all the difference in his life, working in California and then coming back to Chicago Public Schools, eventually to U-46. He and I arrived at about the same time in Elgin–and we share some fundamental beliefs about the need for community organizing, for spending money locally, for mentoring, for the power of education. The meeting that he hosts monthly, the U46 Clergy Council, is my favorite meeting of the month. He spoke powerfully about all of those topics and the need to share leadership, tying it nicely into the portion this week, where Jethro tells Moses the same thing. None of us can do this work alone. Then he pulled up a chair, and he sat, and listened, and swapped stories, and he ate his first pickled herring. He stayed, like he had no place else to go, on a snowy Saturday afternoon, long after most speakers would have left.  Dayneu, it would have been enough.

Later in the day, in a quiet moment at home, Simon and I watched a movie. What did we choose? The Butler. It was powerful, poignant, appropriate for this Martin Luther King, jr. weekend. It helped explain history I lived through, participated in, through the eyes of one African American family. Cecil Gaines grew up as a sharecropper who watched his father shot by the white son of the family whose land they worked. He became a domestic servant, a “house n______”. They use that phrase in the movie! He leaves Georgia behind and becomes a hotel valet who is both efficient and discreet. He is noticed and is hand-picked to become a butler in the White House where he serves eight administrations with distinction.  The reviews call him a “passive witness of history with the American Civil Rights Movement gaining momentum even as his family has troubles of its own. As his wife, Gloria, struggles with her addictions and his defiant eldest son, Louis, strives for a just world, Cecil must decide whether he should take action in his own way.” While passivity was a necessary component of the job of butler, discreteness and invisibility might be better words, many of the presidents checked in with Cecil to see how his son, arrested multiple times, was doing. There was this obvious tension between us and them, privilege and poverty, black and white. Cecil, and the rest of the White House staff, was “them” the presidents and their advisors knew. Quietly, behind the scenes, the Civil Rights Act and the Voting Rights Act got done because the presidents knew people like Cecil, real people. So this is a fictionalized account? Yes. But there were people like Cecils, and Louises, Real people like Nancy and Alyn Rovin, Rabbi Everett Gendler, my parents, the people at the Religious Action Center in Washington and the people at Western College for Women where the Freedom Riders trained, all those who fought for Civil Rights. Real people who lost their battles: James Earl Chaney, Andrew Goodman and Michael Henry Schwerner,Rev. James Reeb. Addie Mae Collins, Denise McNair, Carole Robertson and Cynthia Wesley. The Southern Poverty Law Center gives biographical sketches of all the Civil Rights martyrs, http://www.splcenter.org/civil-rights-memorial/civil-rights-martyrs .We stand on their shoulders. Dayenu. It would have been enough.

Sunday morning, my sixth and seventh grade students were studying Ashrei. One line, says, “You give them their food in its time. You open Your hand and satisfy every living thing [with] its desire.” Many people struggle with this verse. Really, G-d opens His hands and satisfies every living thing? G-d gives everyone food? What about the 19,000 food insecure people in Elgin? Where is G-d. But the kids got it. They explained that there is enough food  in the world, but we need to figure out how to distribute it. One student explains that there is a classmate in his public school class that every Friday he gets a backpack full of food to take home to his family.  We then talked about who is a prophet and we agreed that a prophet is a messenger of G-d, a spokesperson of G-d, a leader. Sometimes prophets can be unwilling, like Moses and Jonah. Sometimes they worry that they won’t be able to do what G-d wants, that they don’t have the skills or the resources. Then we talked about whether Martin Luther King was a prophet. They thought yes. Then they wrote their own version of the dream.

“We have a dream. That there will be no body, no child who goes to bed hungry. That parents don’t have to choose between having a home and paying for food or medicine, heat or clothing. That there is no homelessness. We have a dream. That there are enough jobs for everyone who wants one. That parents won’t be stressed about day care and working. We have a dream, that everyone ‘neath their vine and fig tree can live in peace and unafraid. that we will not be satisfied until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.” Yes, they decided, Martin Luther King, jr, was an example of a modern day prophet. Dayenu, it would have been enough.

Then we had Judaism Rocks, focusing on the Song at the Sea. The theme was “G-d is My Strength and My Song.” We learned that song, Mi Chamocha, danced with timbrels, made bird feeders, watched the parting of the Sea of Reeds according to the Midrash, the movie the 10 Commandments, and planted parsley connecting  Tu B’shevat, the new year of the trees to Passover, connecting Martin Luther King to the freedom of Passover. Maybe, just maybe, we will have karpas for the Passover seder. Dayenu, it would have been enough.

However, the signature event that I attended was the city-sponsored event at the Hemmens Center. I was there to read a litany as a religious leader. The reading was: “We the Religious Leaders of the greater Elgin Area, recommit ourselves to the principles and philosophies championed by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr of freedom, justice and equality for all. We are thankful for the life and legacy of Dr. King.” The community leaders read: “Cowardice asks the question “Is it safe?” Expediency asks the question “Is it politic?” And Vanity comes along and asks the question “Is it popular?” But Conscience asks the question “Is it right?” And there comes a time when one must take a position that is neither safe, nor politic, nor popular, but he must do it because Conscience tells him it is right. As community leaders and advocates in Elgin, we commit to furthering the dream of Dr. King.”

Even before we walked in, as we walked in from the parking garage with my colleagues Revs Dave and Maureen Daubert, I knew this was going to be high-energy event. In the basement of the Hemmens there was a gospel choir praying before taking the stage, there were community leaders gathering in another room. I was amazed at how many people–in the few short 18 months I have been here that I already know. I was warmly welcomed to this group, to this city. After a few brief instructions, we were led to the stage, where I was seated in the front row.

The mayor began by quoting me–he says that when he came for the Thanksgiving service I said that the congregation had been divided (I think what I said is that Judaism is a 5000 year tradition and that there are opinions on everything, and every opinion is correct and preserved) but that no matter who you are or where you come from or what your background is, you are welcome. He thinks that has to be the attitude of the city of Elgin.

The first musical number, Total Praise, captured what I was trying to teach the Hebrew School students. We sing, “G-d is my strength and my song.” They sang,
“Lord, I will lift my eyes to the hills
Knowing my help is coming from You
Your peace You give me in time of the storm
You are the source of my strength
You are the strength of my life
I lift my hands in total praise to You” by Richard Smallwood.

There were scholarships given out, the president of Elgin Community College on the spot, upped the amount. There were connections made, like the young woman who won one of the scholarships who wants to be a nurse with the new president of Advocate Sherman hospital. There was more music–high energy gospel, New Orleans jazz and a rousing rendition of “We Shall Overcome.” The keynote speaker, Orlando Ceaser, spoke about standing on the shoulders of parents and grandparents. He was talking about the Jewish concept of zechut avot, the merit of our ancestors, and asked the question whether the struggle worth the cost. I heard echoes of Peter, Paul and Mary singing “Sweet Survivor.” He talked about leadership. That vision is where you are now to a place that is better, powered by a dream, excited by a dream. But to be a leader you need to know the rules of the game. You have to understand people. You have to have high standards. And excellence has to be the expectation. He wanted all of us to know that we “are loved, deeply, deeply loved.” It was extremely powerful. Dayneu, it would have been enough.

Monday, Martin Luther King jr. Day, I was at the synagogue early. We painted two classrooms. The student volunteers went to have lunch with the mayor and we planned this year’s community garden. Dayenu. It would have been enough. Except it never seems like enough. Pirke Avot teaches, “It is not incumbent upon you to complete the work, but neither are you free to ignore it. The day is short, the labor vast, the toilers idle, the reward great, and the Master of the house is insistent.” (Avot 2:21).

Come work with me. Carry out the dream. Be excited by the dream. Build the vision. Expect excellence.