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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Sabbath service to focus on unity

Virginia De Leon Staff writer

They marched side by side in the name of civil rights, sometimes risking their lives to stand up for freedom.

Blacks and whites, Christians and Jews, people from different ethnic and religious communities joined forces during the civil rights movement under the leadership of Martin Luther King Jr.

People hope to renew that spirit of unity Friday with a special Sabbath service at Spokane’s Temple Beth Shalom.

For the first time in recent history, two African American congregations – New Hope Baptist Church and Morning Star Missionary Baptist Church – will gather with members of the Jewish community for prayer and worship.

“This is about creating connections between communities,” said Barbara Baumgarten, a member of Temple Beth Shalom’s lay committee that helped plan the service. “It’s about celebrating the principles that Martin Luther King espoused that also are part of the Jewish ethic and belief system.”

The evening’s theme is “Proclaim Liberty.” based on a Torah verse from Leviticus: “You shall proclaim liberty throughout the land.”

Despite their differences, the African American and Jewish communities have much in common, including a history of persecution and the desire for freedom.

“Historically, there has been an affinity between the American Jewish and black communities,” explained Rabbi Jack Izakson of Temple Beth Shalom.

In the same way that African Americans had limited access to jobs, education and many opportunities, Jews, too, encountered discrimination.

“Although Jewish Americans had not been enslaved in our recent past as had blacks in America, the enslavement of Jews in the concentration camps of the Holocaust and the Biblical slavery of our ancestors in Egypt established a special relationship between the Jewish American descendants of Egyptian and Holocaust slavery and the black American descendants of American slavery,” said Izakson.

Both groups also worked closely together during the civil rights movement. Many rabbis and Jewish leaders accompanied King during his marches throughout the South.

King, whose closest adviser at times was a Jewish activist named Stanley Levison, also spoke out on behalf of his Jewish brothers and sisters.

Jewish American participation in the civil rights movement reflects some of the basic core values of Judaism, Izakson said – the belief that every human is a creation of God, the call to support the downtrodden and the duty to stand up for justice.

On Friday night, Gospel choirs from New Hope and Morning Star will join musicians and singers from Temple Beth Shalom. They’ll sing Jewish liturgical hymns, as well as “We Shall Overcome” and other songs from the civil rights era. The sermon will be delivered by both Izakson and the Rev. Percy “Happy” Watkins, pastor of New Hope.

“We’re excited,” said Watkins, who’s known for reciting King’s “I Have a Dream” speech at dozens of events each year. “It’s a way to bridge the two communities.”

Watkins and Izakson are old friends, but their congregations haven’t had the same kind of interaction, according to Watkins. Recently, the rabbi gave Watkins a yarmulke and prayer shawl when the New Hope pastor was asked to officiate a marriage between a Jewish man and a Christian woman. It’s a gift that he will always treasure, Watkins said.

Several members of Temple Beth Shalom also attended a service at New Hope several weeks ago. “They’ve come to our house, so now we’re going to their house,” said Watkins.

All three congregations hope this service will create future partnerships, even coalitions, to address their shared social and economic challenges.

“It’s only when we know each other as individuals, as fellow creations of God, that we can get past the stereotypes, the assumptions and even the indifference,” said Izakson. “… And work arm-in-arm in doing God’s work in doing tikun olam – making our world a better place for all.”