In March, 2022 70 congregants traveled to Georgia and Alabama on a Civil Rights Journey. Lin Saberski wrote about her experience on the trip, which was published in Monterey News this spring.
Gathering immediately after our March visit to The National Memorial for Peace and Justice in Montgomery, Alabama, it was obvious that my travel companions and I were deeply shaken. The silence of this thirty-nine member group, organized by Congregation Rodeph Sholom in New York City, was palpable and pained. The memorial, a project of Bryan Stevensonโs Equal Justice Initiative, opened to the public four years ago. It is, in the words of the brochure describing it, โthe nationโs first memorial dedicated to the legacy of enslaved Black people, people terrorized by lynching, African Americans humiliated by racial segregation, and people of color burdened with contemporary presumptions of guilt and police violence.โ Astonishingly, the memorial honors by name more than four thousand men, women, and children who are identified victims of lynching in the United States between 1877 and 1950.
Our accompanying clergy members were prepared for our reaction. After we had calmed a bit with some chanting, our group read aloud a statement our rabbi and cantor had prepared for us โbear[ing] witness to this monument marking unthinkable atrocity,โ and urging us to stand with open eyes and hearts. More reading aloud followed; quotes from Martin Luther King, Jr., Ta-Nehisi Coates, and Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel. Particularly apt for this memorial was Coatesโ statement from his book, Between the World and Me: โYou must never look away from this. You must always remember that the sociology, the history, the economics, the graphs, the charts, the regressions all land, with great violence, upon the body.โ
The National Memorial is striking in its originality and devastating in its impact. The names of the lynching victims are engraved into steel rectangles, one for each county where lynchings occurred. The rectangles hang from the ceiling of the square structure whose four connecting hallways are built around an open courtyard (pictured right).
As you enter the memorial, you stand on a flat wooden floor, the rectangles hanging from the ceiling, with the names easily visible at eye level. One has the names of twenty-three people, all murdered in one day. Then, as you turn the first corner, the floor slopes downward, and the rectangles hang increasingly higher. You quickly begin to feel that you are surrounded by hanging bodies, all with names, all conjuring images you desperately want to push away. But you canโt. Turning the next corner, to the third side, the hanging rectangles continue high above you, and at eye level you are flanked by parallel rows of steel panels, each engraved with the details of a lynching. An example: โElias Clayton, Isaac McGhie and Elmer Jackson were lynched by a mob of 10,000 people in Duluth, Minnesota, in 1920.โ Another: โAfter Calvin Mike voted in Calhoun County, Georgia, in 1884, a white mob attacked and burned his home, lynching his elderly mother and his two young daughters, Emma and Lillie.โ The fourth hallway has a cascading wall of water on the left, honoring the unidentified African American victims of lynchings whose names and numbers will never be known. And still the hanging rectangles accompany your journey.
In Montgomery our group visited The Legacy Museum, which includes in its name the unsettling words, โFrom Enslavement to Mass Incarceration.โ This is another profoundly stirring installation created by the Equal Justice Initiative. The museum powerfully and creatively uses different media to take you from the beginnings of slavery in the western hemisphere through the โterrorism of lynching and the humiliation of the Jim Crow Southโ that took place in defiance of Emancipation and the Civil Rights Movement. The last section of the museum documents the present-day mass incarceration of blacks grossly disproportionate to their numbers in the general population. Bringing the history into the present drives home The Legacy Museumโs disturbing message that โslavery did not end; it evolved.โ Though our time was shorter in Selma and Birmingham, there was much there to learn and experience. We had the privilege of hearing two passionate speakers who had marched from Selma to Montgomery for voting rights in 1965, and continue their activism today, one eighty-three and the other over ninety.
I have been to other memorials. The Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, DC; the 9/11 Memorial in New York City; Yad Vashem, in Israel, honoring victims of the Holocaust; and the National Museum of African American History and Culture, also in DC. Those, and others, I found deeply, deeply affecting. But my reaction to this trip and our two-day immersion in the history of slavery has been more lasting. Truly haunting. The National Memorialโs concept and emotional impact are extraordinary. The distress I experienced at that memorial only grew after visiting the other museums and historical sites.
Ultimately though, it was not only the repeated message or the effectiveness of the delivery that was so devastating for me. What was truly heart-wrenching was to stand on soil where African Americans, generation after generation, had been tortured and enslaved. That made the catastrophic history of American slavery and its aftermath real to me in a way nothing in my education or experience had done before. It went beyond telling an already familiar tragic history, asking, almost demanding, that I not only bear witness, but find a way to join in the continuing struggle to bring justice to African Americans who still endure Americaโs legacy of enslavement and discrimination.
It is a daunting task, and one I know my traveling companionsโand many othersโshare. Our group discussed some of the obvious options: learn more, share knowledge and experience, donate to organizations which promote equality, work to secure voting rights. Though it is easy to be disheartened, I find inspiration in the wisdom of others. The Legacy Museum has a statue titled โExode, No Home,” by Sandrine Plante, a life-size representation of a young black woman dressed in rags whose wrists are bound together with thick rope and whose gaze is both fearful and strong. Above her hangs a panel with the words of Phillis Wheatley, born in Africa and sold into slavery in Boston at seven years old, in 1761. Ms. Wheatley, the first African American to publish a book of poetry, was emancipated in 1773, shortly after her book was published.
She wrote:
โ[In] every human Breast, God has implanted a Principle which we call Love of Freedom; it is impatient of Oppression, and pants for Deliverance.โ
May the โLove of Freedomโ Ms. Wheatley affirmed so long ago keep us moving forward toward a more just and peaceful world.
โ Lin Saberski with thanks to Marilyn and David Rivkin for the photographs
The sculpture pictured to the right, the Nkyinkyim Installation by Ghanian sculptor Kwame Akoto-Bamfo, is in front of the National Memorial for Peace and Justice. โNkyinkyim” references the Ghanian Twi proverb, โLifeโs journey is twisted.โ Nkyinkyim is one of many West African Adinkra symbols. The literal meaning is “twisting,” but it also stands for “Initiative, Dynamism and Versatility.” This sculpture is the first thing you see as you approach the monument building, and is startling in the intensity of the suffering depicted. It is one of only a few sculptures in this country representing slavery.
Justin Callis (he/him), our Cantorial Intern, is a fourth-year student at Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in the Debbie Friedman School of Sacred Music. He is the recipient of the Reuben Peretz Abelson Prize for dedication to Yiddish Song, the Temple Israel of Boston Cantorial Prize, and the Lee Gura Memorial Prize for Aptitude in Synagogue Choral Music.
Sarah Adams, viola, performs locally with the New York Chamber Ensemble, theย Claring Chamber Players, the Sherman Chamber Ensemble, the Friends of Mozart, and the Saratoga Chamber Players.
Violinist Michael Roth is a native of Scarsdale, NY and received his early musical training with Frances Magnes at the Hoff-Barthelson Music School. He attended Oberlin College and Conservatory, continuing his studies with Marilyn McDonald. At Oberlin, he won the Kaufman Prize for violin and First Prize in the Ohio String Teacher’s Association Competition. He completed his Master of Music degree at the University of Massachusetts where he worked with the distinguished American violinist and pedagogue Charles Treger and was a recipient of the Julian Olevsky Award.ย Mr. Roth is currently associate concertmaster of the New York City Ballet Orchestra and has appeared in chamber music and as a soloist with the company, most recently in the debut of “Slice Too Sharp”, a ballet of Biber and Vivaldi violin concerti, and “After the Rain”, violin music of Arvo Part. In addition he is a member of the Mostly Mozart Festival Orchestra, Principal 2nd violin of the Westchester Philharmonic, the American Composers Orchestra and the New York Pops. He was concertmaster of the Vermont Mozart Festival Orchestra for many years and often appeared as soloist there, as well as at the Caramoor and Bard Music Festivals. He has played and toured internationally with the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra and the New York Chamber Soloists.
Known for his sweet and โsumptuousโ (New York Times) tone, American-born Doori Na took up violin at the age of four and began his studies with Li Lin at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. He quickly made his first performance with orchestra at age seven with the Peninsula Youth Symphony as the first prize winner of the concerto competition. Thereafter Mr. Na went on to win top prizes in The Sound of Music Festival, The Korea Times Youth Music Competition, the Chinese Music Teacherโs Association, The Menuhin Dowling Young Artist Competition, The Junior Bach Festival, VOCE of the Music Teacherโs Association of California, and The Pacific Musical Society. Receiving full scholarships to private high school Crossroads School of Arts and Sciences in Santa Monica, he moved to Los Angeles to study with renown violin teacher, Robert Lipsett, at The Colburn Music School. There he appeared as soloist with the Palisades Symphony, Brentwood Symphony, and Torrance Symphony. During that time, the summer of 2004 was Mr. Naโs first time at the Perlman Music Program where his expression and musical identity were greatly influenced. He has been a part of the program ever since and participated in many of their special residencies in Florida, Vermont, New York, and Israel.
Alan Goodis is a touring Jewish musician playing over 150 events a year. Born and raised in Toronto, Alan is a proud product of URJ Goldman Union Camp Institute. Noted for his dedication to building relationships and community through music, Alan tours throughout the US to serve as an Artist-In-Residence and performer at Temples, Youth Conventions and Jewish summer camps.
Julie Silver is one of the most celebrated and beloved performers in the world of contemporary Jewish music today. She tours throughout the world, and has been engaging audiences with her gorgeous compositions and liturgical settings, her lyrical guitar playing, her dynamic stage presence, and her megawatt smile for over 25 years.
Dan is a product of the URJ Jewish camping movement. He has toured Jewish summer camps across North America for the last 15 years. A classically trained singer, Dan received his Bachelor of Music degree in vocal performance at the University of North Carolina. In 1995, realizing the potential of music to make powerful connections with Jewish youth, Dan established the Jewish rock band Eighteen. Since that time, Dan and Eighteen have released 13 albums. Songs like, Lโtakein, Bโtzelem Elo-him, Kehillah Kedoshah, Chazak, Sweet As Honey, and Asher Yatzar have become Jewish communal anthems throughout North America.
Naomi Less is an internationally celebrated singer/songwriter, ritualist and educator. Beloved for her warm smile and inviting presence, communities celebrate her imagination and innovation, tenderness and pizzazz! Her original music is sung in worship communities worldwide. Naomi serves as Co-Founder, Ritual Leader and Associate Director of Lab/Shul and is a leader in amplifying women’s voices through her work at Songleader Boot Camp and her Jewish Women Rock show on Jewish Rock Radio. Naomiadvocates for people struggling with fertility journeys as a performance artist and speaker for Uprooted: A Jewish Response to Fertility Challenges. Fun fact: Naomi and her husband wrote the song shine/Yivarech’cha, a Friday night blessing, specifically composed for URJ Crane Lake Camp, sung every Friday night in the dining hall.
Her destiny became obvious to Joanie Leedsโ parents when, at the tender age of 2, Joanie grabbed the performerโs mic at a party and belted out the entire songโTomorrowโ from Annie. Jaws dropped! No one could remember ever hearing a big voice like that coming from one so tiny and certainly no one would have thought she would one day earn a GRAMMYยฎ Award for her original music.
A composer, multi-instrumentalist, and prayer leader, Elana Arian is one of the leading voices in contemporary Jewish music. Elanaโs music is part of Jewish life across the globe, and her compositions are sung in spiritual communities, summer camps, and synagogues from Louisville to London, from Chicago to the CzechRepublic, and everywhere in between. Elana just released her fourth album of original music, The Other Side of Fear, and her compositions have been published in countless Transcontinental Music collections. Elana serves proudly on the faculty of Hava Nashira (Oconomowoc, WI), the Wexner Heritage Foundation (Aspen, CO), Shirei Chagiga (London, England), and as an instructor at the Hebrew Union College in New York, where she teaches in the Debbie Friedman School of Sacred Music. Elana has performed at Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, Tanglewood, and perhaps most memorably, five separate appearances at the (Obama) White House. She lives in New York with her wife, Julia, and their two daughters, Maya and Acadia.
Known for his unique, engaging, and deeply soulful approach, Noah Aronson is considered one of the most sought after Jewish musicians in North America, making over 65 community appearances each year.
There is a reason why Time Magazine has listed Michelle in their Top Ten list of Jewish rock stars.
Kol BโSeder has been composing and performing contemporary Jewish music since the early1970s. Rabbi Dan Freelander and Cantor Jeff Klepper met as college students; over the past 50years they have released numerous CDs and songbooks. With Debbie Friedman (z”l) and others, they forged a new musical sound for American Jewish camps, schools and synagogues. Their songs, such as “Shalom Rav,โ โModeh Ani,โ and “Lo Alecha,” have become traditionalJewish melodies around the world. They are delighted to be inaugurating their fiftieth anniversary celebration by appearing in support of URJ camps, where they first composed and incubated many of their early songs.
Rabbi Mira Weller (she/her) received her ordination at Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in Los Angeles in May 2022. She studied Culture and Politics at Georgetown Universityโs School of Foreign Service and received her Masterโs in Jewish Education at the Rhea Hirsch School of Education at HUC-JIR. She is the proud recipient of awards for her studies in rabbinic literature, her work in Jewish education, and she was granted the Myrtle Lorch Pfaelzer-Monroe Pfaelzer Award for an Outstanding Female Rabbinical School Student (2022). Rabbi Mira speaks Hebrew and Spanish (so please practice with her!). She has a passion for uncovering new possibilities in the great wealth of our tradition and for making music inspired by Judaismโs many cultures. Her guilty pleasures include cupcakes, classical music, and philosophy.
New York bassist Roger Wagner enjoys a long and diverse career. As soloist, chamber musician, and orchestral bassist, Mr. Wagner has appeared on many of the world’s great concert stages.
Sarah Adams 
Leonard Bernstein described 
Praised by the New York Times as โirresistible in both music and performance.โ flutist, 
Margaret Kampmeier, 
Michael Roth
Our initiative for young children and their grown-ups provides a slate of offerings including Shabbat and holiday celebrations, music, classroom readiness programs, and new parent experiences. During the pandemic, we have leaned on $1m of seed funding for Sholom Sprouts established through this campaign as we offer age-appropriate virtual programs for our families with young children, who are the future of our community. We look forward to welcoming our littlest members and their grown-ups back to our new fifth floor, as well as hiring a Program Assistant to increase the capacity of Sholom Sprouts to grow. This program provides a crucial entry-point to the congregation and membership for young families.
