Heschel-King Service

New! Read about the 2010 Heschel-King Interfaith Service with honoree Ruth Messinger below.



Each year, the Temple of Universal Judaism and Park Avenue Christian Church, linked by a unique partnership, commemorate Martin Luther King Day with a service that honors the memories of Abraham Joshua Heschel, and Martin Luther King, Jr., who marched together in support of equal civil rights for all Americans. In honoring their memories, we also seek to remind our larger world that their dream is still unrealized, that the work continues.

Rabbi 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.

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.

On 25 March 1968, just ten days before he was assassinated, King delivered the keynote address at a birthday celebration honoring Heschel, convened by the Rabbinical Assembly of America, an umbrella organization of Conservative rabbis. In his introduction of King to the audience, Heschel asked, "Where in America today do we hear a voice like the voice of the prophets of Israel? Martin Luther King is a sign that God has not forsaken the United States of America. God has sent him to us. His presence is the hope of America. His mission is sacred, his leadership of supreme importance to every one of us." In his address, King stated that Heschel "is indeed a truly great prophet." He went on, "here and there we find those who refuse to remain silent behind the safe security of stained glass windows, and they are forever seeking to make the great ethical insights of our Judeo-Christian heritage relevant in this day and in this age. I feel that Rabbi Heschel is one of the persons who is relevant at all times, always standing with prophetic insights to guide us through these difficult days."

Abraham Joshua Heschel was the rabbi Mrs. King invited to speak at his funeral. To honor the memory of this remarkable friendship, the two congregations have created the Heschel-King Award for Interfaith Activism, with which we honor individuals whose actions embody the principles of social justice to which both men dedicated their lives. --- by Jim Gaynor


Previous Heschel King Award recipients:

Al Vorspan, founder of the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism (2004)

Deacon Cornell Edmonds, Presbytery New York, 9/11 Disaster Relief (2005)

Carolyn Goodman, founder of the Andrew Goodman Foundation and mother of slain civil rights activist Andrew Goodman (2006)

Rev. James Forbes, Jr., Pastor Emeritus of Riverside Church (2007)

Rabbi David Saperstein, Director of the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism (2008)

Ambassador Akbar Ahmed, Ibn Khaldun Chair of Islamic Studies, American University (2009)

Ruth Messinger, President of American Jewish World Service (2010)

Heschel-King 2010: "Vision, Action, and Justice"

In keeping with the somber mood over the earthquake in Haiti, the 2010 Heschel-King Interfaith service had a down-to-earth and inspiring simplicity, set in a church decorated only by the glowing red splash of the robes of the PACC and CDE/TUJ choirs massed at the front.

Yet it was perhaps the most hopeful and idealistic Heschel-King Service ever, thanks to the graceful interfaith collaboration of Rabbi Gary Bretton-Granatoor and Pastor Alvin Jackson; the musicianship of the choirs with leader Paul Vasile and pianist Dror Baitel; and the stirring words of honoree Ruth Messinger, President of the American Jewish World Service and the 2010 recipient of the Heschel-King Award for Interfaith Service.

Messinger’s talk was a powerful call to action, based on the examples of Rabbi Heschel and Reverend King and their shared commitment to “vision, action, and justice.” Her own passion for social justice, she said, was influenced by both: marching with King as a young adult and often speaking with Heschel (who taught at the Union Theological Seminary where her mother worked) as a young girl.

She also began with a moment of silence for someone who had much in common with both men: Miep Gies, the Dutch protector of Anne Frank and her family, who died at the age of 100 only a few days before. Her life, she noted, challenges us to first see the injustice around us and then to take risks that make a difference in the world.

Continuing, Messinger wove concern for the Haitians suffering in the streets of Port-Au- Prince into her theme: “Haitians are visible in our living rooms this week but their problems have existed for 200 years….We must act, not only by providing immediate relief, but with a commitment to a longterm plan that involves the Haitians themselves because they know better than anybody how to put their country back together.

Others who have been all too invisible, she said, are the 2.7 million people of Darfur who have been forced to flee their homes for encampments where they daily face hunger, rape, and violence; the 1 billion people who go to bed hungry every night across the world and the 1 child who dies from starvation every 6 seconds; and the Ugandan LGBT community whose own government has threatened them with the death penalty.

These are some of the terrible problems of our own age. King and Heschel, above all, were leaders who “saw and bore witness to the problems of their age and believed in the power of witness and moral obligation to act.” Their focus today, she said, would have been to make today’s evils visible to all and to act on them.

Heschel still calls us to remember that “in a free society where terrible wrongs exist some are guilty but all are responsible.” And King still inspires us with his belief that “the moral arc of the universe is long but it bends toward justice” and pushes us to answer “not whether we will be extremists, but what kind of extremists will we be?"

It is up to us to both see and act, Messinger concluded, to be “extremists for peace and justice” and to “do what we can to bend world toward justice.” We must find our own ways of action on poverty, Darfur, global hunger, Haiti, and Uganda… and other problems we have yet to see.

There were several finales to the service, each building on what went before. Rabbi Bretton-Granatoor accompanied himself on guitar as he sang “Yesh Kochavim”, the poignant meditation by WWII resistance fighter Hannah Senesch on living connections with those “whose time with us is done”, and then recited the Kaddish. Pastor Jackson gave a benediction recalling the Old Testament words of Micah: "God has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God."

And finally, everyone present joined in singing “We Shall Overcome”: loudly, joyously, hopefully -- celebrating past achievements, acknowledging the struggles of the present, and expressing determination to be agents of future change.

More on 2010 Heschel-King Honoree Ruth Messinger

The 13th Annual Heschel-King service on Monday, January 18, 2010 honored global activist and “local hero” Ruth Messinger -- current President of the American Jewish World Service (AJWS) and former New York City Council member, Manhattan Borough President, and mayoral candidate.

Under her guidance, the AJWS has become a leading supporter of international grassroots development, providing grants to over 400 projects designed to help alleviate poverty, hunger, and disease. It has become a major force in HIV/AIDS funding, advancing human rights, and ending the Sudan genocide. It has also become a powerful force for educating Americans on issues of global poverty and justice.

In recognition of her work, Ruth Messinger was recently appointed to the White House Task Force on Global Poverty and was “among leading anti-genocide, peace and human rights advocates called upon to advise Preisdent Obama and the new special envoy to Sudan.

As the leader of a faith-based organization, Ruth Messinger continues to demonstrate the power of such organizations to reach out to, collaborate with, and inspire people of all faiths in the struggle for global justice.

Remember, you are what you do. Not what you
think or what you want or what you dream. You are what you
do…

By pursuing social justice, Heschel believed, we can encounter
the divine. We can understand in the deepest recesses of our souls what it means
to be alive, why God put us on Earth, what is our
value to humanity. We may not ever be able to understand why society permits
inequality, intolerance, hunger, disease and genocide in the first place, but we
can understand what we can do to stop them. -- Ruth Messinger (2009 Stanford address)

The 12th Annual Heschel-King Service, January 19, 2009, Honoring Dr. Akbar Ahmed

Like past services, this year's honored the interfaith partnership and passionate activism of Abraham Joshua Heschel and Martin Luther King, recognized a committed interfaith social activist of our own day, and inspired participants with their examples.

Yet after 12 annual Heschel-King services, I’m still amazed that each is somehow so special and so different. The 2009 service was uniquely and quietly permeated with jubilation and hope reflecting so many peoples’ feelings on the eve of Barack Obama’s historic inauguration. It also broke new ground for our two congregations as the first Heschel-King observance to take place on the holiday itself. Furthermore, it was the first to honor a Muslim activist, Ambassador Akbar Ahmed, a leading Islamic scholar, anthropologist and former High Commissioner from Pakistan to Great Britain, who since September 2008 has been traversing the country in a “Journey Into America” to foster interfaith understanding. Although last-minute travel problems prevented Ambassador. Ahmed from attending, his son Umar accepted the award and spoke of his father’s commitment to reminding people “how much the three great Abrahamic faiths have in common.”

The 2009 service was also the most inclusive of all in featuring not only TUJ Rabbi Gary Bretton-Granatoor and Park Avenue Christian Church Senior Pastor Alvin Jackson, but also Imam Shamsi Ali from the 96th Street Mosque and Rev. Dr. Donna Schaper from Judson Memorial Church– each offering prayers for peace and for our new President. For the first time the lovely piercing sounds of Arabic chants and songs and the thrilling beat of a skin drum resounded in the sanctuary along with the more customary Hebrew and English prayers and music.

Yet the ending was traditional, and traditionally heartfelt, for the Heschel King service. As in previous years participants from the two congregations linked hands in a human chain across the space of the church, singing “We Shall Overcome”. This year was different, but this year was also the same. So much reason to rejoice, but still so much work to do. Once again, the Heschel-King service inspired us to – in Rabbi Bretton-Granatoor’s words – “keep marching forward” to "make our country all that it could and should be."

Without dialogue, knowledge and friendship, human
society – all of us, everywhere and at any time – in the 21st century and
beyond, will face a more dangerous, violent and uncertain future. We must do everything to encourage understanding between cultures and
societies. -- Akbar Ahmed



The House We Live in -- America 2009

by Marcia Yerman (reprinted from the Huffington Post, 1/31/2009)

As the country moves back to the business of picking up the pieces of the economy, it is important to reflect on the new voice that has come into the White House.

While Rush Limbaugh is uttering toxic rhetoric, we can choose to focus on the direction that is being exemplified by Barack Obama. The week that celebrated Martin Luther King Day and the inaugural events, spoke to the potential of a restored image for our nation.

What is America to me?
A name, a map, or a flag I see...
A certain word, Democracy.
What is America to me?

On January 19th, I attended an interfaith service in
New York City with my son, sponsored by The Park Avenue Christian Church and The
Temple of Universal Judaism. It was their 12th Annual Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel - Dr.Martin Luther King, Jr. celebration. The Polish-born Heschel marched with King in
Selma, Alabama. Their birthdays were days apart.

The evening's honoree was Dr. Akbar Ahmed, a leading authority on contemporary Islam. He served as the High Commissioner of Pakistan to the United Kingdom, and is currently the Ibn Khaldun Chair of Islamic Studies at the AmericanUniversity in Washington, DC. His work as a diplomat, filmmaker, author, and anthropologist is widely recognized. Ahmed has been traveling across the United States during the past twelve months, to conduct a study of American society through a Muslin prism.

The service began with children lighting peace candles, and was led by Rev. Dr. Alvin Jackson, Rabbi Gary Bretton-Granatoor, Iman Shamsa Ali and Rev. Dr. Donna Schaper. Passages from the Old and New Testaments and the Holy Qur'an were read. The music was culled from Christian Hymns, Hebrew songs, and Black spirituals. Psalm 121 was sung in Arabic.

Comments from the participating clergy referenced the need for healing
and active engagement. Rabbi Bretton-Granatoor said, "We live at the dawn of a new day," emphasizing the need for each individual to take part "in making our country what it should and could be." Iman Shamsa Ali spoke to the congregation of "coming together courageously, in the same interests for peace." Rev. Schaper included in her blessing a prayer for "battered women, prisoners, and immigrants," and a hope that differences arising from "politics, religion, and class" could be left behind so that
there could be a "move into harmony, diversity, and peace."

Dr. Ahmed's son, Umar Ahmed, accepted the award on behalf of his father. He spoke of dialogue and friendship as the key to ameliorating conflict and turmoil, and quoted the prophet of Islam [Muhammad] who preached, "The ink of the scholar is more sacred than the blood of the martyr." Dr. Ahmed, through his wide-ranging work, has been fostering intercultural understanding.

The house I live in,
A plot of earth, a street,
The grocer and the butcher,
And the people that I meet.
The children in the playground,
The faces that I see,
All races and religions,
That's America to me.

The service ended with several verses of "We Shall Overcome," as the whole congregation joined hands. The closing stanza was, "We shall live in peace someday." It was hard not to think about how far the country has come from the time of the 1960's, when the news was filled with footage of sit-ins, fire hoses unleashed against black citizens, Bull Connor and his attack dogs, and church burnings.

Two days later, a national prayer service featuring Christian, Jewish, Muslin, and Hindu participants took place at the Washington National Cathedral. Different branches from each denomination were present. With an eye to crashing through traditional barriers, the central sermon was delivered by a woman. Rev. Sharon W. Watkins (Christian Church - Disciples of Christ) related a Cherokee tale about the duality of human nature and the forces of compassion, hope and love struggling against anger, resentment, and fear. She directly addressed Obama stating, "You, as our president, will set the tone for us."

The place I work in,
The worker by my side,
The little town or city,
Where my people lived and died.
The howdy and the handshake,
The air of feeling free,
And the right to speak my mind out,
That's America to me.

It will be easy to fall back into the rancor and
divisiveness of the previous decade, without a concerted effort to stay connected to
our better selves and a larger image of a united America

Striving for that ideal is not a new concept. In 1945, The House I Live In, a short film, was released. Frank Sinatra was featured, speaking and singing to group of urban kids about tolerance. The lyrics were written (under a pen name) by Abel Meeropol (who also wrote the anti-lynching song "Strange Fruit," made famous by Billie Holliday). A Jewish schoolteacher and activist, Meeropol adopted the children of rosenberg-julius-and-ethel">Julius and Ethel Rosenberg.

Not all of his verses made it into the film, including the one below:

The house I live,
My neighbors white and black,
The people who just came here,
Or from generations back.
The town hall and the soapbox,
The torch of liberty,
A home for all God's children.
That's America to me.

The song was recorded in 1947 by Paul Robeson.
Patti Labelle sang her version to Frank Sinatra on his 80th birthday.

Moving forward in our evolution as citizens with a wide range of differences, "The House I Live In" makes good background music as we roll up our sleeves to get the job done.

More on 2009 Honoree Dr. Akbar Ahmed

Dr. Akbar Ahmed, named "the world's leading authority on contemporary Islam" by the BBC, is renowned for his dedication to improving relations between the United States and the Islamic world. He teaches Islamic studies at both the US Naval Academy and American University in Washington D.C. and is also a former High Commissioner of Pakistan to Great Britain and adviser to Prince Charles and George W. Bush.

As an advocate for peace and intercultural understanding, Dr. Ahmed spent a year criss-crossing the United States with a team of students to conduct a study of American society as seen through Muslim eyes. The results of this project will be seen in an upcoming book and documentary, "Journey Into America." He also collaborates with Isaiah Pearl, father of murdered Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl, in conducting “Daniel Pearl Dialogues for Muslim-Jewish Understanding”, an effort for which both he and Pearl received a 2009 Purpose Prize.

The 11th Annual Heschel-King Service, January 11, 2008, Honoring Rabbi David Saperstein

With the Temple of Universal Judaism’s “Freedom, Tradition, Diversity” banner hanging over the Park Avenue Christian Church’s Christmas poinsettias, the 11th Annual Martin Luther King Jr./Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel Interfaith service got underway. Singers Reggie Harris and Rabbi Jonathan Kligler led off with a stirring round of freedom songs.

After accepting the 5th Heschel-King Award for Interfaith Activism for his groundbreaking leadership as head of the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism from TUJ Rabbi Gary Bretton-Granatoor and PACC Senior Pastor Rev. Alvin O’Neal Jackson, Rabbi David Saperstein said “It is difficult for me to think of a time when we have missed Dr. King more than today. He was for many of us the Moses that we have known in our own cultural life.” Yet, he cautioned, “we must not deify the dreamer while desecrating the dream.”

He went on to speak with passion and eloquence on a wide-ranging set of social issues that call out for moral leadership by people of all faiths:

---the hardships of the working poor who earn only $12,800 a year for fulltime work at minimum wage

---the wide income disparity between blacks and whites in America, barely diminished since Dr. King’s time

---the persistence of religious and racial bias, as we witness the rise of the worst anti-Semitism since World War II, Muslims second only to Jews as a targeted religious group, and persistent hate crimes against blacks

---the media blackout of the voices of moderate Muslim leaders, who have been repeatedly ignored when they gathered worldwide to counter Islamic fundamentalism

---the growing threat to American religious security from the view that “today the more fundamental you are, the more authentic and legitimate you are”, while it is the separation of church and state that actually nurtured America’s religious spirit and enabled 2,000 religious denominations and cults to flourish

---the perils facing the world’s children, especially those of sub-Saharan Africa, who are losing parents to AIDS at a devastating rate as 8,500 people die every day (“a tsunami every month”)

---the deterioration of the situation in Darfur, where millions now face slow death in refugee camps, and the potential nightmarish future of a “genocide tourist trail” starting in Cambodia and ending in Darfur


Each of us must speak out for justice and moderation in our own tradition, Rabbi Saperstein emphasized. And, having started by evoking the spirit of Martin Luther King Jr., he finished by evoking that of Abraham Joshua Heschel. As he retold the story of the angel who appeared just in time to prevent Abraham from sacrificing his son Isaac, Heschel wept over the fact that “angels are never too late…but humans are.” We, Saperstein urged, do not want to be too late.

Embedded in the interfaith service following Rabbi Saperstein’s speech was another musical highlight. Suddenly the crowd of several hundred completely hushed as the choir loft lit up and the church filled with the haunting sounds of an original composition, "In Memory of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr." by Karl Jenkins, played by Laurie Singer on cello and Andrew Adams on organ.

The service concluded with Reggie Harris and Rabbi Jonathan Kligler leading the crowd in singing “We Shall Overcome.” With hundreds of individuals of all faiths, many of them strangers to each other, linking hands, swaying, and singing their hearts out, it was impossible not to believe anew in the song’s promise.

"The Eternal Amen of Abraham Joshua Heschel:" by Eve Roshevsky


The 2008 Heschel-King Service marked the debut of a new book by TUJ Board Member and writer Eve Roshevsky, “The Eternal Amen of Abraham Joshua Heschel,” available at lulu.com.

For anyone who wishes they knew more about Abraham Joshua Heschel, this beautifully written booklet is “Abraham Joshua Heschel 101,” the perfect introduction to his thoughts and writings as a Rabbi, poet, philosopher, and social activist.

Eve has been immersed for many years in Jewish thought and writing, both personally and professionally. As a book editor at Doubleday she worked with Nobel-winner Isaac Baashevis Singer on his memoirs and also edited the work of Biblical scholars for the Anchor Bible; as an editor at Women of Reform Judaism, she edited a volume of spiritual writings by women of Reform congregations. Here at TUJ, we also know her as the author of one of our favorite essays describing her search for a spiritual home – see “Shul Shopping” at the TUJ home site.

More on the 2008 Heschel-King Award Recipient: Rabbi David Saperstein

Rabbi David Saperstein is the Director of the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism. Described in a The Washington Post profile as the “quintessential religious lobbyist on Capitol Hill,” he represents the national Reform Jewish Movement to Congress and the administration. During his 30 year tenure as Director of the Center, Rabbi Saperstein has headed several national religious coalitions. He currently co-chairs the Coalition to Preserve Religious Liberty, comprised of over 50 national religious denominations and educational organizations, and serves on the boards of numerous national organizations including the NAACP and People For the American Way. In 1999, Rabbi Saperstein was elected as the first Chair of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom created by a unanimous vote of Congress. (source: http://rac.org/aboutrac/leadershipandstaff/rds/)

Words of Martin Luther King:

"...I am cognizant of the interrelatedness of all communities and states....Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied to a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly..." (from Martin Luther King, Letter from the Birmingham Jail)

"Peace is not merely a distant goal that we seek, but a means by which we arrive at that goal."

Words of Abraham Joshua Heschel:

"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." (from Susannah Heschel, Praying with their Feet: Remembering Abraham Joshua Heschel and Martin Luther King)

"In a free society, not all are guilty, but all are responsible."


Find Out More: *









*TUJ automatically receives a percentage of any purchases made through these links.



TUJ Social Action Home