On the banner of four Jewish leaders who marched with Dr. Martin Luther King was the name of the organization they represented. It read the Union of American Hebrew Congregations, what is now the Union of Reform Judaism.
This was our movement, our leaders, our congregants, our people, and they not only stood beside Dr. King and all of those who spoke out on that day, but ended up creating an office called the Religious Action Center where both the Voting Rights Act and Civil Rights Act were drafted.
I am proud to be a Reform Jew. I am proud not simply because of that March, but because of everything that Reform Judaism represents.
It means not listening to a Rabbi speak of the dangers of assimilation and Jewish non-existence, but caring about the future of our world, and all of its inhabitants.
As the Reform movement has always understood, Judaism is a gift that helps us see the world as a blessing, it is a lifestyle that helps us live with meaning, yet it will only thrive if it concerns itself with the broad collective we call humanity.
Our dedication to the world will instill in us a sense of dedication to our Judaism, Our world needs us…And we as Jews, have a history of being there for both our people and the world.
It was during the rise of Adolph Hitler’s Third Reich when the Reform seminary became deeply involved in saving the lives of Jewish intellectuals. Despite not even needing the scholars who they saved, Hebrew Union College’s president Julius Morgenstern rescued countless men who would have surely died were we not to intervene.
Many of these men, including the great Abraham Joshua Heschel, became the intellectual beacons of American Jewish life throughout the 20th century.
It was Abba Hillel Silver, a Reform rabbi from Cleveland, Ohio who became the head of the Zionist Congress, who recognized the dangers that would face our people were we not to have our own homeland. Rabbi Silver pressured President Harry Truman, he worked alongside other leaders such as Louis Brandeis and he eventually helped—alongside so many—to build the great state of Israel.
We have cared for Jews, and have been involved in every effort—from the saving of Soviet Jews to ensuring that Ethiopian Jews were flown to Israel aboard massively packed airplanes.
Yet, as Reform Jews, we have seen another calling.
FOR THE WORLD:
Our movement was the first to openly welcome into our synagogues non-Jews, ending the view that intermarriage was some kind of disease, and encouraging non-Jews to become leaders within our movement.
In addition, we have long worked alongside the non-Jewish community on issues of social justice – recognizing that we are not some insular people dedicated to our own self-interests, but a people commanded by the Prophet Isaiah to be a light unto the nations.
This was why we marched with Dr. King. This was why those four men held that banner with such pride. This was why our President at the time, Rabbi Maurice Eisendrath, walked aside King with a Torah in his arms.
We are Reform Jews, steeped in a history that has cared for all of humanity, steeped in a history that has not watered down Judaism, but has recognized its eternal message, the care of humanity and all who are created b’tzelem elohim, in the image of God.
It was Rabbi David Einhorn, who in 1855, wrote that Reform Judaism recognizes that all human beings “possess one and the same natural and spiritual origin, the same native nobility, the same rights, the same laws, and the same claim to blessed.”
It is only since the advent of Reform Judaism that the Jewish community has completely identified itself with a universal mission. And what is the mission?
To join with every person and all peoples of good faith in fulfillment of the message that Rosh Hashanah brings to the world:
We are all in this together – irrespective of our differences – We are all in this together and we must take care of one another!
I am a proud Reform Jew, for I realize that my movement has forever changed my tradition and my world.