MLK event at Temple Israel

Temple Israel, 140 Central Ave., Lawrence, is hosting and sponsoring the ninth annual Greater Long Island Jewish Community Martin Luther King Jr. commemoration on Sunday, Jan. 16 at 4 p.m.

It is the largest coalition of local, national international synagogues to celebrate Dr. King’s life’s work. Organized by Rabbi Jay Rosenbaum, the spiritual leader of Temple Israel, who recognized the need to rekindle and strengthen the bonds between African-Americans and Jews, of which Dr. King was a major force being a champion of civil and human rights.

“What happens to one person of faith anywhere affects all people everywhere,” Rabbi Rosenbaum said. “This is especially important now in terms of the divisiveness we have seen in America and the acts of anti-Semitism, xenophobia and prejudice.”

The program will feature an address by Rabbi Joseph Potasnik, executive vice president of the New York Board of Rabbis, a professor and radio personality. It will also include Rabbi Marc Schneier, president of the Foundation For Ethnic Understanding, which he established with music and entertainment impresario Russell Simmons.

Rev. Victor Hall, pastor of Calvary Baptist Church in Jamaica, Queens and one of the leading African-American religious leaders in the nation will be the keynote speaker. The program will also feature the internationally renowned Calvary Baptist Church Choir, and a band that will commemorate Dr. King in word and song, and Deputy Counsel General of Israel Sholmi Kofman and other noted political officials.

This program, according to Rabbi Rosenbaum is a statement of Jewish unity as Reformed, Orthodox, conservative and Reconstructionists across the Long Island community come together.

“There is unity in our diversity,” said Rabbi Rosenbaum, who noted that Dr. King was a strong supporter of Israel and the past issue of Soviet Jewry.

From a historical standpoint, young people should be reminded of the work Dr. King did, Rabbi Rosenbaum said, and be shown the “willingness to take a stand side of right and make a difference in this world.”

In addition, to celebrating Dr. King’s legacy (Martin Luther King Jr. Day is Monday, Jan. 17.), the event displays the solidarity between the Jewish community and African-Americans in combating terrorism, religious fanaticism and those who use religion to divide instead of bringing people together.

“In these most difficult economic times in which we live it is especially important to take the message of Dr. King to heart that the net worth of an individual is measured not simply in what he earns, but also how he elevates and sanctifies the lives of others, his family, and the extended family we call humankind,” Rabbi Rosenbaum said. “This is a message of hope.”