tagged: Hafatarot • the Open Siddur Project ✍ פְּרוֺיֶקְט הַסִּדּוּר הַפָּתוּחַ

💬 Four excerpts from a “Letter from a Birmingham Jail” by Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. (1963), cantillated by Rabbi David Evan Markus

Contributor(s):

David Evan Markus and Martin Luther King, Jr.

This is a haftarah comprised of excerpts from a “letter from a Birmingham jail” by Martin Luther King Jr. (16 April 1963). The haftarah was cantillated by Rabbi David Evan Markus for a public reading on MLK Shabbat (the sabbath preceding MLK Day). . . .

💬 “I have a Dream” by Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. (1963), cantillated by Rabbi David Evan Markus

Contributor(s):

Aharon N. Varady (editing/transcription), David Evan Markus and Martin Luther King, Jr.

In 2017, Rabbi David Evan Markus prepared the end of Dr. King’s famous speech read at the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom (August 28, 1963) with trope (t’amim, cantillation). The following year on Facebook he shared a recording of the reading hosted on Soundcloud. Rabbi Markus writes, “This weekend at Temple Beth El of City Island, I offered the end of Dr. King’s 1963 “I Have a Dream” speech, which I set to haftarah trope because I hold Dr. King to be a prophet. When my community applauded, I offered President Obama’s response, ‘Don’t clap: vote.’ And do more than vote: organize, donate, volunteer, help, heal, advocate. Only then, in Dr. King’s words quoting Isaiah 40:5, will ‘all flesh see it together.'” . . .

💬 Excerpts from speeches by Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. (1956-1968) selected by Rabbi Marcia Prager, cantillated by Ḥazzan Jack Kessler

Contributor(s):

Jack Kessler (trōpification), Marcia Prager and Martin Luther King, Jr.

These quotations from Dr. King’s speeches were edited by Rabbi Marcia Prager and set to Haftarah Trop by Hazzan Jack Kessler. This adaptation was first published in Kerem (Fall 2014), in Jack Kessler’s article, “English Leyning: Bringing New Meaning to the Torah Service.” . . .