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MLK Day

Members of Bethel AME Church were welcomed at a special service honoring the life and legacy of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Pictured front row, third from left is Rev. Lisa Williams; back row, third from right is Rabbi Joshua Gray. Photo by Lloyd Newman

By Donna Newman 

A Friday night service at Temple Isaiah in Stony Brook honored the life and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. in advance of the official Monday holiday. The congregants of the Bethel AME Church of Setauket, led by Reverend Lisa Williams were invited to join the celebration.

The Church members got to experience a complete Reform Jewish Friday night service in which Rev. Williams participated with two readings from the prayerbook “Mishkan Tefilah” and delivered a powerful sermon that combined the philosophy of MLK and references to the week’s portion of the Torah that Rabbi Gray read, “Parsha Va’Era.” (Exodus 6:3) Va’Era translates in English to “and I appeared”, the first word God speaks in the parsha.   

The service ended with a powerful rendition of the anthem “Rise Up” by Andra Day sung by Rabbi Gray and cantorial soloist Meghan Gray, accompanied on the piano by Dan Fogel. A fitting and emotive send-off to the “Oneg,” where there are refreshments, and time to meet and mingle.

The post-service refreshments and other aspects of the event were coordinated by Social Action Chair Iris Schiff and her committee.

“The service was so beautiful and poignant,” Schiff said. “It was one of those times you could feel that all who were present had full hearts and were surely enriched by the experience.”

After the service, Temple Board Member Andrea Barbakoff sat in conversation with some of the Bethel guests.

“The members of Bethel AME Church were all very friendly,” Barbakoff said, “and they were eager to learn more about us, about Judaism, and about our traditions.”

One guest was especially interested in Temple Isaiah’s Torahs, according to Barbakoff. It was mentioned that one is a Torah on loan that had been rescued during the Holocaust. Long-time temple member and local historian Mort Rosen was able to relate the scroll’s history and how it came to be at Temple Isaiah.

“Several guests, after asking if they could possibly schedule a time to come back and get a close up look,” said Barbakoff, “were grateful when Rabbi Gray graciously offered to take them back into the sanctuary, where he opened the scroll for them to view. It was definitely a moving experience for us all.”

Rabbi Joshua Gray has made interfaith connections an important part of his rabbinate. The Thanksgiving Interfaith Service was held at Temple Isaiah in November.

“Jewish efforts toward ‘tikkun olam’ (repairing the world) must start with coming together and confirming that we share common values and goals,” said Rabbi Gray, “and that we must work together to create the world we wish to inhabit.” In the immortal words of the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.: “We must come to see that the end we seek is a society at peace with itself, a society that can live with its conscience.”

METRO photo

Each January, Americans honor the life and work of Martin Luther King, Jr. with a federal holiday celebrated on the third Monday in January each year. Born in Atlanta, Georgia, on January 15, 1929, King would grow up to become one of the most influential people of the 21st century.

King’s tireless activism during the Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s and 1960s improved the lives of millions of people, and his tragic assassination on April 4, 1968, marked one of the darkest days in American history. King’s oratory prowess is well-documented. Individuals across the globe are familiar with his “I Have a Dream” speech, which King delivered during the March on Washington less than a year before his death. Less familiar are some other notable facts about the life of Martin Luther King, Jr.

• If he were alive today, Martin Luther King, Jr. would still be years away from his 100th birthday. King was assassinated in 1968, when he was not yet 40 years old. Born in Atlanta in 1929, King could very much still be alive today and would have celebrated his 93rd birthday on January 15, 2022.

• King was an extraordinarily gifted student. At an age when many students were preparing to enter their sophomore or junior year of high school, King began his freshman year of college at Morehouse College. King enrolled at Morehouse when he was 15 after the school opened enrollment to junior high students in an effort to overcome a dip in enrollment related to World War II. King passed the entrance exam and enrolled in the fall of 1944.

• King was ordained as a minister prior to graduating from Morehouse. The Baptist ministry was something of a family business for the Kings, as Martin Luther King Jr.’s father, grandfather and great grandfather were all Baptist ministers. However, King did not initially intend to follow that path. He ultimately changed course and entered the ministry at age 18, graduating from Morehouse with a degree in sociology a year later.

• King survived a knife attack years before his assassination. King was stabbed in the chest with a letter opener during a book signing event in Harlem in 1958. His assailant, Izola Curry, was ultimately deemed mentally incompetent to stand trial. Though the attack did not kill him, King had to undergo intensive emergency surgery and was hospitalized for several weeks.

• Conspiracy theories surround King’s assassination. King’s assassin, James Earl Ray, was found guilty and sentenced to 99 years in prison. Authorities, including the United States Department of Justice, concluded Ray, a career criminal, acted alone. However, some, including surviving members of King’s family, believed his assassination was part of a conspiracy. Despite his tragic assassination in 1968, Martin Luther King, Jr. left his mark on the world. That legacy is even more remarkable when considering the unique twists and turns King’s life took prior to his death.

Martin Luther King, Jr., was a remarkable human being. Celebrations of his life can involve revisiting some of his more notable moments.

Edna White offers a section of clementine to her granddaughter, Alexandria McLaurin. Photo by Donna Newman

In today’s world, the loudest voices often preach a message of divisiveness and look to create an environment that excludes rather than accepts. This message runs contrary to the one preached by Martin Luther King Jr. and [his] vision for a just and peaceful future.

The invitation extended to community members was made in those words for an event titled We Thirst for Justice at the Bates House in Setauket Jan. 16 — the designated commemoration of the birth of the civil rights leader.

The event was organized by Michael Huffner, co-founder of the Community Growth Center with locations in Smithtown and Port Jefferson Station, in partnership with the All Souls Episcopal Church in Stony Brook. A newly formed service organization, The Spot — a new service group that provides resources, community and mentoring— and artist Alex Seel of the Center for Community Awareness facilitated a collaborative art project for the multifaith gathering. Each person was invited to record his/her vision of justice on a small square of colored paper. Seel, assisted by Vanessa Upegui worked to merge the squares into a colorful mosaic.

Huffner said he hoped the celebration would inspire people to work collaboratively for justice.

Vanessa Upegui and Alex Seel pause to display their art project. Photo by Donna Newman

“What seems like a small piece of paper can become a beautiful work of art when combined with others,” he said at the event. “What seems like a small voice becomes a sound capable of changing the world when combined with others … Dr. King’s message is simple. Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that. We must be the light; we must be the love that Dr. King spoke about.”

The Rev. Farrell Graves, spiritual leader of the All Souls Church, an associate chaplain at Stony Brook University and a founder of The Spot, added his take on the day’s significance.

“This is the joyful part of our work,” he said at the event. “We also have some more difficult work — to stand up for the common good. Freedom is for everyone, or it’s for no one. The cost of our freedom is constant vigilance, and by that I mean awareness, and I include in that self-awareness … If we don’t have the courage to look ourselves in the face, then fear and scapegoating take over. We start blaming others for our inadequacies … This is not yet the world that Martin Luther King envisioned. If we want to change the world, we must have the courage to change ourselves.”    

Seel stressed the importance of the fact that the civil rights movement of the ’60s was a collaborative effort and that such an endeavor is needed again to further the cause of justice in our country in our time.

“What we need now is leadership,” he said. “We need leaders who will bring different faith communities together. There needs to be a call to engage in a clear and effective goal.”

The event included live music and a diversity of foods. More than 65 people attended and, while the host organizations encouraged mixing and mingling, when approached, most people admitted they were sitting with people they already knew.