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Pasadena Jewish Temple’s Annual Martin Luther King Shabbat Service Friday Will Feature Climate Activist

Published on Thursday, January 5, 2023 | 6:59 am
 
One of Martin Luther King Jr.’s visits to Friendship Baptist Church in Old Pasadena. (Photo courtesy of Pasadena Museum of History/Pasadena Digital History Collaboration)

Martin Luther King Jr. Day, sometimes referred to as MLK Day is more than just a federal holiday marking the birthday of the prominent civil rights leader. People and organizations across the country honor Dr. King with events, marches and rallies to spread his messages of unity and equality on MLK Day.  

“People are encouraged to use the day to “reflect on the principles of racial equality and nonviolent social change espoused by Dr. King.”

While MLK Day is observed annually on the third Monday of January, each year, Jewish congregations throughout North America commemorate the Shabbat nearest MLK Day as Shabbat Tzedek – or Shabbat for Justice. 

The celebration remembers Dr. King’s life and work fighting for civil rights. It is also a time for reflection and recommitting to the struggle for racial justice. 

Locally, the Pasadena Jewish Temple and Center (PJTC) will honor Dr. Martin Luther King on Friday, Jan. 13, with a Shabbat service, typically a Shabat Tzedek. 

On this Shabbat, the Jewish community combines the traditional Jewish Shabbat prayers with Dr. King’s words, teachings and the memory of the hard-fought victories of the Civil Rights movement.

MLK Day is on Monday, Jan. 16 this year.

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Shabbat service at the PJTC begins at 7:30 p.m. Before that, at 7 p.m., a movie of Dr. King speaking will be presented at 7 p.m. This video will feature Dr. King’s speech at New York’s Riverside Church in 1967.

Climate activist Cynthia Cannady, Chair of the Pasadena League of Women Voters National Resource Committee and the NAACP Pasadena Climate Action Committee, has been invited to speak during this annual MLK Shabbat service.

Cannady also leads the Pasadena 100 Coalition, a group of 23 organizations pressing for a transition to 100-percent carbon-free electrical energy by 2030. Her presentation on Friday’s service will preview the program she will lead at the California African American Museum. She will also speak about how the struggle to combat climate change continues the legacy of Dr. King’s fight for environmental justice.

Cannady’s presentation will be followed by an Oneg Shabbat reception where people are invited to engage in group discussion on the evening’s theme.

During the event, Peter Dreier will be honored with the third annual Rabbi Marvin Gross Social Justice Award. 

Dreier is professor of politics and chair of the Urban and Environmental Policy Department at Occidental College and a member of the PJTC Social Justice Committee. He has fought for social justice during a long career.

The award is named after Marvin Gross, the original chairperson of the Social Justice Committee who was an ordained rabbi, a long-time community activist, and CEO of Union Station Homeless Services, a large nonprofit agency serving homeless people in the Pasadena area.

“Affordable housing, housing the homeless, organizing communities, and educating generations to the work of building a more equitable  society are among Peter Dreier’s passions,” PJTC’s Carl Selkin wrote last month. 

“His instrumental work on Measure ULA to tax the transfer of multi-million-dollar property in the city of Los Angeles resulted in a solid victory on November 8. Mayor Karen Bass and her successors will have the resources on a continuing basis to address so-far intractable challenges.”

The first annual MLK Social Justice Shabbat took place in 2019 at a time when Social Justice Committee members were deeply engaged in efforts to institute police reforms in Pasadena. 

Joining the local NAACP and Black Lives Matters, synagogue members were calling on the Pasadena Police Department to end racial profiling and the use of excessive force, particularly following several brutal encounters between local police officers and members of the local Black community. That first MLK Social Justice event was cosponsored by the PJTC and the local First AME Church.

To RSVP for Friday’s event, email sjcpjtc@gmail.com. 

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