Dear Friends,

I am still processing much of what I learned this week during our congregation’s civil rights trip to the South, where we visited Atlanta, Birmingham, Selma, and Montgomery. You can read my reflections from the first two days below. The third and final day of our journey brought us to the three Legacy Sites of the Equal Justice Initiative (EJI). EJI was founded by Bryan Stevenson in 1989 to end mass incarceration, to challenge racial and economic injustice, and to protect basic human rights. The three Legacy Sites include a memorial for the more than 4,000 Black Americans who were lynched in over 800 southern counties (pictured here), an interactive museum that tells the history of slavery and mass incarceration, and a beautiful sculpture park. Together, these sites tell the story of slavery and its lasting impact and memorialize the millions who perished as a result.

What made the experience so impactful, for me at least, is that we spent time with people, we intentionally encountered them, and we learned about their experiences. These interactions help us to better understand our past. These interactions help to humanize the story and make it personal. These interactions are the basis for progress and healing in a world where both are so desperately needed.

Parshat Yitro demonstrates the power of relationships for us. The narrative begins with Yitro, Moses’ father-in-law, bringing Tziporah and their sons back to Moses. The Torah describes his arrival, “Moses went out to meet his father-in-law; he bowed low and kissed him; each asked after the other’s welfare, and they went into the tent” (Exodus 18:7). There is a midrash which teaches that this was no ordinary tent; it was not just a place for Moses and Yitro to catch up over lunch. Rather, this particular tent was a beit midrash, it was a place of study and learning.

Moses and his not-yet-Jewish father-in-law, Yitro, spend their time together studying Torah, learning about one another through this delicate process of give and take, question and answer, challenge and response. The relationship is nurtured by learning, by sharing with one another, by taking seriously what it means to encounter another person, their story, their history, their essence. We cannot expect to build meaningful relationships with others if we do not do the work of trying to learn, understand, and engage. And that is precisely what we did on our trip—we met with actual people who have been and continue to be impacted by our country’s legacy of slavery, and who have and continue to advocate for civil rights for all.

The relationship between Yitro and Moses is unique. Yitro counsels his son-in-law, and he heeds this advice. Moses wants Yitro to stay with him, but Yitro must return home. After their encounter, each one maintains their essence, and yet each one is enriched by the experience and made the better for it. That is how I feel after this week’s journey. 

Shabbat shalom,
Rabbi Mitchell Berkowitz

Monday was the first day of our civil rights journey led by Rabbi Berkowitz in the South. We started the day in the “City Too Busy To Hate,” also known as Atlanta, Georgia. Although its appellation is not entirely true, it highlights the differences between the ways in which cities of this region dealt with racism, segregation, and, ultimately, their responses to the civil rights movement. We visited The King Center and sat in the pews of the Ebenezer Baptist Church, listening to a recording of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. preaching to the congregation. From there we traveled to Birmingham, which had been known as the “Magic City” because its ground brought forth valuable iron ore for the production of steel, but later became known as the “Tragic City” for the horrific violence it inflicted on its very own Black community during the civil rights movement. Here we walked through Kelly Ingram Park, diagonally across the street from the 16th Street Baptist Church, the site of a 1963 terrorist bombing that killed four young girls inside the church. The day concluded with the Beth El Civil Rights Experience, an interactive and exploratory journey through the civil rights movement, told through a Jewish lens. When the group reflected on the first day’s experiences, many of us were prompted to ask questions, to challenge what we have always learned and presumed to know about the civil rights era, and to consider how the lessons of this era must be considered once again today.

Day 2 Reflection of Civil Rights Journey led by Rabbi Berkowitz
Selma, Alabama is known as the Queen City of the Black Belt, with a storied past full of ups and downs. Driving through Selma today, few would characterize it as anything royal. The city has suffered economically, with many buildings abandoned, boarded up, and vacant. It also suffered damage from recent tornadoes, making it hard for us visitors to discern which buildings were damanged by time and which by the severe weather. And despite this devastation, there is also a sense of hope for Selma’s future. We met with Ms. Barbara, a recently retired teacher who participated in Selma’s civil rights journey by joining her friends and classmates who marched to the Edmund Pettus Bridge, before being violently attacked by police who awaited their arrival. Ms. Barbara tells her story with a mix of tears and laughter. She only started to share her story last year, having kept it all to herself for nearly sixty years. One of the most important messages that I heard from her, and one that resonated deeply with me as a Jew, is that we cannot become complacent, and we must not remain silent if we have a story to tell. We must talk about our past. We must teach it to our children. We must help them understand how to carry our legacy forward, how to remember the past and harness its lessons to help shape a better future for us all. That is what she does every time she shares her story, and that is what we must do, too.

February 10-12, 2025
Led by Rabbi Mitchell Berkowitz

$995 per person based on double occupancy (land only)

Click here to register by December 16.

After a successful Civil Rights trip in 2024, B'nai Israel is excited to offer this opportunity to our community again.

Join us for this important experience. This special Civil Rights journey uses the history, sites, and current issues as a springboard to highlight the relationship, and at times, the tension, of the Jewish and American identity. The journey will be a mix of fun, sightseeing, education, and meetings with organizations and people who have been and are still involved in creating America.

Participants will learn about the struggles of African Americans to gain equality in the 1950s & 60s and explore how Jews were involved in the struggle for Civil Rights. Participants will walk away understanding why Jews, as people who have known oppression, must care and act when others are oppressed.

Sample Itinerary (subject to change):

MONDAY, FEBRUARY 10
By 11:00 AM Meet at Atlanta airport
Go to downtown Atlanta
Tour Auburn Ave and King Center Neighborhood and Tomb, Leo Frank Story
Explore the area that Dr. King was born, grew up, and is buried in. See Old Ebenezer Church where 3 generations of King family preached. Pay our respects at Dr. Martin Luther and Coretta Scott King’s tomb.
12:30 PM Lunch on own at Ponce City Market
1:30 PM Depart for Birmingham
4:00 PM Context talk by Etgar 36 and Introduction of Birmingham and it’s crucial
role in the Civil Rights Movement
4:30 PM Walking tour of Freedom Park and 16th Street Baptist Church
Participate in a walking tour with a Reverend who was a Civil Rights worker in Birmingham in the 50s and 60s. He was arrested and had the dogs and hoses turned on him. See the historic church where 4 girls died in a bombing.
6:00 PM Dinner on own at Pizitz Food Hall
7:00 PM Civil Rights Experience at Congregation Beth El
Hotel: Fairfield Inn Colonnade Birmingham, AL
 
TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 11
Continental Breakfast at hotel
7:30 AM Bus will be open for participants to put bags on the bus
8:00 AM Depart for Selma
9:45 AM Tour of Selma and Walk across the Edmund Pettus Bridge
Meet with someone who was took part in the Bloody Sunday March at 11 years
old. Hear their story.
Learn about Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel and his involvement in the struggle.
End by walking in their footsteps across the Edmund Pettus Bridge.
11:45 AM Depart for Montgomery
1:00 PM Lunch at Martha’s Place
3:00 PM Contextualization talk of events leading to Rosa Parks arrest and bus boycott
3:30 PM Rosa Parks Museum
Stand where the Civil Rights movement began and learn about the Montgomery Bus Boycott.
5:00 PM Mothers of Gynecology Monument and Southern Poverty Law Center Civil Rights Memorial
Evening: Dinner on own in downtown Montgomery
Hotel: Fairfield Inn Eastchase, Montgomery, AL
 
WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 12
Continental Breakfast at hotel
7:45 AM Bus will be open for participants to put bags on the bus
8:15 AM Depart for downtown
9:00 AM Equal Justice Initiative’s Memorial to Peace and Justice
Reflect on an often overlooked tragedy at the first national memorial for victims
of lynching.
10:00 AM Equal Justice Initiative’s Legacy Museum
Explore the evolution of racial oppression from slavery to mass incarceration.
11:45 PM Pizza and salad lunch
12:15 PM Equal Justice Initiative’s Sculpture Garden
1:30 PM Depart for Atlanta airport
5:00 PM Arrive Atlanta airport
7:00 PM Earliest flights out of Atlanta

Click here to register by December 16.