Showing posts with label interfaith dialogue. Show all posts
Showing posts with label interfaith dialogue. Show all posts

Praying with their Feet

Jan 15, 2011 at 10:30 PM | Posted by Rabbi Joshua


This weekend we remember the inspiring legacy of Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and his role in not only the civil rights movement in America, but for his contributions to humanity, and his leadership to a generation.

But why discuss MLK on a Jewish blog?

Many people today are unaware that Jewish individuals and clergy played a tremendous role in the civil rights movement. One of the most prominent Jewish figures in this struggle was none other than Rabbi Dr. Abraham Joshua Heschel - one of the greatest Jewish theologians of our time (Heschel is pictured at far left in the above picture, along with Rabbi Maurice Eisendrath (carrying the Torah), and Rabbi Everett Gendler).

In a tremendous article on the two great figures, Dr. Susannah Heschel (Heschel's daughter) points out that "Heschel and Dr. King marched arm in arm at Selma, prayed together in protest at Arlington National Cemetery, and stood side by side in the pulpit of Riverside Church."

According to Susannah Heschel:

"The relationship between the two men began in January 1963, and was a genuine friendship of affection as well as a relationship of two colleagues working together in political causes. As King encouraged Heschel's involvement in the Civil Rights movement, Heschel encouraged King to take a public stance against the war in Vietnam. When the Conservative rabbis of America gathered in 1968 to celebrate Heschel's sixtieth birthday, the keynote speaker they invited was none other than King. When King was assassinated, Heschel was the rabbi Mrs. King invited to speak at his funeral."

For Heschel, the march from Selma had tremendous spiritual significance. Following the march, he wrote:

"For many of us the march from Selma to Montgomery was about protest and prayer. Legs are not lips and walking is not kneeling. And yet our legs uttered songs. Even without words, our march was worship. I felt my legs were praying."

On this day, as we remember the legacy of MLK, we also recall his friend and colleague, Abraham Joshua Heschel. A holy pair who truly learned to pray with their feet - and taught others to do so as well.



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Interfaith Marriages Rising ... and Failing Fast

Jun 15, 2010 at 7:59 PM | Posted by Rabbi Joshua


The debate still rages across the Jewish world, and especially within Messianic Jewish circles over the issue of intermarriage. Recent studies have placed the intermarriage rate within the Jewish community well over the 50% mark. And the numbers are even higher within the Messianic Jewish movement.

Of course there is debate over whether or not this is a good thing - for kids of mixed marriages, for the future of the Jewish people, for Messianic Judaism, etc. But one thing seems to be clear ... interfaith marriages have a higher tendency to fail.

According to a recent article in The Washington Post, interfaith couples face "particular hardships and a poor track record of interfaith marriages: They fail at higher rates than same-faith marriages. But couples don't want to hear that, and no one really wants to tell them."

Here are some findings published in the article:

  • According to the General Social Survey, 15 percent of U.S. households were mixed-faith in 1988. That number rose to 25 percent by 2006, and the increase shows no signs of slowing.
  • According to the American Religious Identification Survey of 2001, people who had been in mixed-religion marriages were three times more likely to be divorced or separated than those who were in same-religion marriages.
  • Less than a quarter of the 18- to 23-year-old respondents in the National Study of Youth and Religion think it's important to marry someone of the same faith.
  • In 1993, Professor Evelyn Lehrer, of the University of Illinois at Chicago, reported findings showing that if members of two mainline Christian denominations marry, they have a one in five chance of being divorced in five years. A Catholic and a member of an evangelical denomination have a one in three chance. And a Jew and a Christian who marry have a greater than 40 percent chance of being divorced in five years.
Many interfaith couples have found in Messianic Judaism answers to the interfaith dilemma. In fact, Messianic Judaism can be uniquely situated to address the specific needs each partner brings into a marriage. I am one advocate who feels we need to do even more to reach out to interfaith couples and families, and empower those already in our midst.

However, at the same time we need to be advocating for fellow Jews to marry other Jews. Not only for the myriad of continuity reasons being discussed - but it also seems for the benefit of the couple and their marriage, as well.

What do you think?


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