Each year, lead clergy from Temple Shalom of Aberdeen and New Light Baptist Church of Keyport come together to honor Dr. Martin Luther King via a joint service. The choirs from both religious groups enhance those services with song and spirit.
Rabbi Malinger focused his remarks on the topic of our inherent bias, privilege and sheeplike nature, especially as it relates to people that are different from us. Acknowledging that whether we are aware or not, we do not always act empathetically or purposefully, he highlighted the weekly Torah portion, called Vaeira, which is when Moses begins to go to Pharaoh to ask to let G-d’s children go to be free.
Rabbi Malinger’s commented as follows: “Often enough, people are confronted with wickedness and injustice; but instead of standing tall in opposition to the perpetrators of evil, people bow their heads. They lose self-confidence. They think, I am too small and too weak to resist. It’s best to go along or to stay quiet. Resistance can be unpleasant, even dangerous. Thus, evil continues to spread.”
G-d’s command to Moses to stand tall before Pharaoh should be construed as a command to each of us to stand tall in opposition to tyrants, manipulators, liars, and agents of corruption of all kinds. On MLK day, this commandment is especially meaningful.
For more info on Temple Shalom, contact us at: (732) 566-2621 or shalom@templeshalomnj.org.
