Marching Across the Sea, Marching to Montgomery

Rabbi Joel Fleekop

Friday, January 18, 2008

Rabbi Harold M. Schulweis writes, “more than just a coincidence of calendar couples the births of Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., January 15, and Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel, January 11.” These two great men, two great prophets of the 20th century, shared a theology in which God responds to human needs, a commitment to social justice, and a profound friendship. As the famous picture of Heschel and King marching arm in arm from Selma to Montgomery illustrates, these two men of greatly divergent biographies, often found common purpose. Whether it was the ending of Segregation, opposition to the Vietnam War, or crying out against economic inequality, the European born, long bearded Rabbi, and the African-American Baptist preacher not only spoke in support of the same cause but did so utilizing the shared language of the Hebrew prophets.

Similarly, it is more than just a coincidence of calendar that this year links Shabbat Shirah, the Shabbat on which Jews recall and celebrate the Ancient Israelites’ crossing of the Sea of Reeds and Redemption from Egypt, and the birthday of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr, the holiday on which Americans honor not only a great man but recall the accomplishments of the Civil Rights movement, and rededicate ourselves to the work that remains. The Civil Rights movement gave American Jews a renewed understanding of oppression and liberation. And the story of the Exodus gave a narrative frame to the Civil Rights movement.

In his work Exodus and Revolution, Michael Walzer, a professor of social science at Princeton University, argues that the Israelites liberation from Egypt is the paradigmatic story of revolution. He writes that, “wherever people know the Bible, and experience oppression, the Exodus has sustained their spirits and inspired their resistance.” ---- Oliver Cromwell, in his struggle to transform England into a republic, took strength from Exodus. Similarly, the fathers of the American Revolution were moved by the Exodus story. In 1776 Thomas Jefferson and Benjamin Franklin both proposed seals for their infant country depicting the Israelites crossing the Sea of Reeds. And the Exodus played an important role in the 20th century liberation theology of Catholic priests in Latin America.

But while the Exodus has been an important part of almost every Western revolution or progressive movement, perhaps no where has it played as central a role as it did during the Civil Rights movement.

Since first encountering Christianity as slaves, African Americans have found a special meaning in the biblical account of the Exodus. Emphasizing the role of Moses as liberator rather than law giver, he became the most significant biblical figure of the Black church. African Americans described their experience of oppression and struggle for freedom in the language of the Exodus, assigning Harriet Tubman the moniker Moses of the Underground Railroad to referring to their slave masters in spirituals by the coded term “Pharaoh.”

This contextualization of the struggle for freedom, though less pronounced, persisted in the African American community following emancipation. It is thus not surprising that when the struggle for true freedom again captured the nation’s attention in the 1960s, the language of the Exodus was present. As Rabbi Saul Berman, a veteran of the Selma marches writes,

Black clergy and religious laity of the 1960’s saw the biblical story of the Exodus as the paradigm for their own struggle for liberation from bias and second-class citizenship. . . . They sought a Moses who could lead them into the promised land of social, economic, and political equality. For many, the anticipated liberator emerged in the person of Martin Luther King Jr.

Cast into the role of Moses, Dr., Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., made frequent use of Exodus imagery. As Historian Frederick Moore points out, in the sermon “Death of Evil on the Shore,” delivered in May of 1956, just six months into the Montgomery Bus Boycott,

Dr. King drew the analogy between the oppression of the Israelites, and implicitly, African Americans. . . . King elevated symbolic language when he reminded his listeners that the children of Israel had advanced God’s will in resistance to Pharaoh, just as African Americans were doing.

Present in his earliest oratories, the Exodus continued to be the central metaphor of Dr. King’s speeches and writings. Summarizing the progress of the Civil Rights Movement in 1963 before an audience at Western Michigan University, Dr King asserted, “we've broken loose from the Egypt of slavery and we have moved through the wilderness of legal segregation and now we stand on the border of the promised land of integration.”

Similarly, in calling for unity in the movement, Dr. King used the midrash of Pharaoh prolonging the Israelites slavery by getting them to fight amongst one another. “Whenever the slaves get together something happens in Pharaoh’s court, and he cannot hold the slaves in slavery. When the slaves get together,” Dr. King asserted, “that’s the beginning of getting out of slavery.”

And of course, on April 3, 1968, at the close of what would be his final speech, Dr. King told a Memphis audience that he had reached the mountain top and now, like Moses on Mount Nebo, could see the Promised Land.

The Israelites redemption from Israel was on the lips not only of Civil Rights Movement leaders but also the millions of individuals they inspired, particularly in the songs they sang.

Many protest songs were based on Negro Spirituals with Exodus themes, including “Let My People Go” and “I’m on my way to Freedom Land,” an adaptation of “I’m on my way to Canaan Land.” What is particularly interesting is the insertion of Exodus imagery into spirituals where such language was previously absent. For example, the words of “Woke up this morning with my mind stayed on Jesus” were changed to “Woke up this morning with my mind stayed on freedom.” Similarly, “Go Tell it on the Mountain that Jesus Christ was Born” was changed to “Go Tell it on the Mountain to Let My People Go.”

While some of these changes can be attributed to authorship, for example, Go Tell In on the Mountain was adapted by Peter Yarrow, of Peter, Paul and Marry, who is Jewish; they also speak to the imagery embraced by the movement. As Dr. Susannah Heschel, daughter of Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel explains, the civil rights movement frequently gave preference to the Exodus motif over the figure of Jesus.

This weekend, as we celebrate both Shabbat Shirah and Martin Luther King Day, may we be reminded of the important connections between these two great freedom movements. As it did for Dr. King and others, may the Exodus from Egypt provide a frame for understanding the Civil Rights Movement . And as it did for the thousands of Jews who took part in the movement, may the struggle for civil rights renew for us our understanding of the ancient yet ever relevant story of going free from Egyptian bondage. Most of all, may the celebration of these two great stories of freedom inspire us to work towards the liberation of all who remain oppressed.

Ken Yehi Ratzon, May It Be God’s Will.