open_content_license: Fair Use Right (17 U.S. Code §107 - Limitations on exclusive rights: Fair use)
Date: 2022-01-16
Last Updated: 2025-02-18
Categories: 🇺🇸 Martin Luther King Jr. Day Readings, Modern Miscellany
Tags: 20th century C.E., 58th century A.M., Cantillated readings in English, civil rights, Hafatarot, social justice, United States, צדק צדק תרדוף tsedeq tsedeq tirdof
Excerpt: 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). . . .
Content:
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). In 2022 (5782), MLK Day coincided with Tu biShvat and this selection of excerpts references a popular association made during many seders for Tu biShvat between the four glasses of wine and the four seasons.[1] That association dates to an insight offfered by Rabbi Arthur Waskow in his chapter on Tu biShvat in Seasons of our Joy (1981), p. 108: “These four [glasses of wine] may have represented the shift in the yearly seasons from the paleness of the winter through the awakening of the spring into the blooming summer and the riotous color of the fall.” Via their Facebook page, Bayit: Building Jewish writes:
This year #tubishvat coincides with #MLKDay weekend. From that spiritual confluence comes this setting of excerpts from Letter from a Birmingham Jail, set to haftarah trope by Bayit board chair R. David Evan Markus. Following the four-part structure of the traditional seder in which we journey through the four seasons and the four worlds, these four excerpts are keyed to each of those four worlds. Here is a slide show of the four excerpts, a link to the four slides on google drive, and a downloadable PDF of the text marked-up for your own chanting: https://yourbayit.org/mlktub/ #whatrabbisdo #buildingJewish
This resource was first announced via the Facebook pages of Bayit: Building Jewish with the intention that they be shared under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike license (“Please share with that license. Not intended to reserve rights.”).
That association dates to an insight offfered by Rabbi Arthur Waskow in his chapter on Tu biShvat in Seasons of our Joy (1981), p. 108: “These four [glasses of wine] may have represented the shift in the yearly seasons from the paleness of the winter through the awakening of the spring into the blooming summer and the riotous color of the fall.”
Contributor: David Evan Markus
Co-authors:
Name: David Evan Markus Bio: David Evan Markus (born 1973) is an American attorney, public officer, rabbi and spiritual director. He currently serves as Deputy Chief Counsel in the New York State Judiciary, Judicial Referee in New York Supreme Court, senior builder with Bayit: Your Jewish Home, and co-rabbi of Temple Beth-El of City Island (New York City, New York). Markus formerly served as Special Counsel to the New York State Senate Majority and co-chair of ALEPH: Alliance for Jewish Renewal. A leader of Jewish Renewal, Markus resides in Westchester County, New York. Website:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Markus Profile Link:https://opensiddur.org/profile/david-evan-markus
Name: Martin Luther King, Jr. Bio: Martin Luther King Jr. (born Michael King Jr., January 15, 1929 – April 4, 1968) was an American Baptist minister and activist who became the most visible spokesperson and leader in the civil rights movement. He is best known for his role in the advancement of civil rights using the tactics of nonviolence and civil disobedience based on his Christian beliefs and inspired by the nonviolent activism of Mahatma Gandhi. Website:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_Luther_King_Jr. Profile Link:https://opensiddur.org/profile/martin-luther-king-jr
