Rabbi’s Column
What is the difference between a vacation and a journey? For the 25 of us that went with Etgar 36 on the Civil Rights Journey to the South, including Ed, Roni, Elaine, Marge, Ken and Lynne from Temple, we would each probably give a fairly lengthy answer. Before I go on, Iwant to offer a special thanks to Ed for helping with planning and making sure all of our folks could travel safely and with alacrity (our tour guide Scott’s favorite word).
The difference between a vacation and a journey? How could we not mention the emotional exhaustion of seeing and hearing the stories of African Americans through powerful and interactive museums, art installations, including a simple likeness of Rosa Parks waiting for a bus, memorials including the Lynching Memorial, walking over the Edmund Pettus Bridge and most importantly hearing from survivors of racist trauma including Sarah who had survived the bombing of the 16 th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham and whose sister did not? How can we not see the ridiculous way African Americans were kept from voting including through asking how many jellybeans were in a jar and being required to solve complex math problems as compared to simply asking white residents what the capital of the state was? How could we not compare living with KKK bombings and terror to Nazi Germany in the 1930’s? Especially as the mid-term elections were quickly approaching, how could we not see our country again taking away voting rights? And how could we not understand how all of this was a poisonous outgrowth of slavery?
We talked about the sermon given at Ebenezer Baptist Church and we sang freedom songs on the bus. We ate southern cooking at Martha’s Place, a restaurant owned by a woman who told us her story of struggling, found God and now gives previously incarcerated folks a second chance.
I believe the differences between a vacation and a journey, first of all, are emotional relaxation and, more importantly, the volume and depth of the call that stays with you to make a difference in other people’s lives.
I wish you all a Happy Thanksgiving. May our lives be filled with gratitude daily.