"Sinai Is Not Just a Symbol"; Neither Are Your Words

When I marched in Selma, my legs were praying. --Heschel (found in Abraham Joshua Heschel: Exploring His Life & Thought by John C. Merkle)

It's no coincidence that Heschel's first major scholarly work was on the biblical prophets: these men-- who called Israel to repent for their sins so as not to suffer God's wrath--would influence the rabbi throughout his life. Unsurprisingly, they influenced Martin Luther King, Jr. as well. The two modern day prophets were good friends, engaged in social justice together, and, as this quote indicates, performed the words of the prophets by beseeching America to mend its ways. Not only were his legs praying, but they were enacting what Heschel saw as God's will.

Abraham Joshua Heschel was born in Poland in 1907. He studied in Berlin, where he started his project on the prophets, but in 1938 the Gestapo expelled him back to Poland. Though he made it safely to America two years later, his three sisters and mother were killed in WWII. There's no doubt Heschel had his family in mind when he witnessed further state brutality perpetuated against African Americans in his new home.

The first attempted march from Selma to Montgomery was met with police brutality, and 17 protesters were hospitalized; March 7 would be dubbed "Blood Sunday." The second attempt was stopped with a court order. On March 25, 1965, when the protesters successfully made it the 51 miles, Martin Luther King said to a crowd of 25,000, "The end we seek is a society at peace with itself, a society that can live with its conscience. I know you are asking today, How long will it take? I come to say to you this afternoon however difficult the moment, however frustrating the hour, it will not be long." The Voting Rights Act would be passed on August 6, with the help of Heschel and the ancient prophets. Heschel died in 1970, but his words, which can't be separated from his actions, live on; however, they have not yet come to full fruition. Injustice still exists. As it was not sufficient for Heschel to merely write, it is not sufficient for us to merely read.