OK, so on July 15 there are going to be marches for freedom all over Palestine. And in Israel they’re going to have a solidarity march that writer Yael Sternhell compares to southern whites marching against segregation. Sternhell’s point sent one reader running to this: a 1965 sermon by Rabbi William Frankel at a synagogue in Wilmette, Illinois, after he took part in the march in Montgomery, Alabama.
I excerpt the sermon to make one point: Look how easy it was for American Jews to come out against segregation in the ’60s. (And yes, mom, there was self-interest at work). How many synagogues are standing up now for freedom?
Harry Truman called the March “silly.” It was not silly. The Montgomery March was a historic symbol.Unless one has lived in the deep South, one cannot appreciate the full impact of that event. For 30,000 men and women, black and white, to march on what was once the capital of the Confederacy over which the Confederate flag and not the stars and stripes still flies; to hold a mass meeting for three-and-a-half hoursbeneath the windows of the Governor of Alabama; to sing “We shall overcome” and to hear certain that thehistoric significance of the moment was not lost on the power structure of the South. It has brought to theforefront some of the responsible white elements and even the attitude of the Governor has changedsomewhat in recent days. History was on the march that day and as Dr. King said “No one ain’t going to turnus around.”
Allow me to add a personal note. I have been pleased by the numerous calls and letters which I received in support of my trip. During the evening prior to my departure for Alabama, a Synagogue officer called me to inform me, in the name of the Board of Directors, that I would be going south not merely as an individual but as a representative of my congregation. This was a most gratifying gesture.I hope that these sentiments will continue when the Civil Rights struggle moves…
