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10 Jewish ways to mark Martin Luther King Day in New York this year
(New York Jewish Week) – This weekend, communities around the United States will celebrate the life and legacy of civil rights activist Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
Here in New York City, Jewish communities will honor King by hosting interfaith Shabbat dinners and discussions about social justice, as well as providing community service opportunities and screening films about King’s work and Black and Jewish relations.
Below are several Jewish offerings and events tied to MLK Day, which is observed as a national holiday on Monday, Jan. 15, which would have been King’s 95th birthday had he not been assassinated in 1968 at the height of his civil rights activism.
MLK Shabbat Services
Temple Emanu-El
The Upper East Side’s Temple Emanu-El will host their annual MLK Shabbat service virtually this year, in partnership with Reverend Gary V. Simpson and the Concord Baptist Church of Christ. The 6:00 p.m. service will celebrate the life and legacy of King and will be broadcast on Temple Emanu-El’s website as well as their Facebook and YouTube pages.
Central Synagogue
Join Central Synagogue on Friday night at 6:00 p.m. for a Shabbat service and a conversation with New York Congressman Ritchie Torres, who will talk about his advocacy on behalf of marginalized communities and the legacy of king. (Torres recently made an appearance at Riverdale’s SAR Academy, where the pro-Israel Democrat received a hero’s welcome.) The service will take place in person and will also be livestreamed.
Temple Shaaray Tefila
The Upper East Side’s Temple Shaaray Tefila will host an MLK Shabbat service featuring the Harlem Gospel Choir accompanied by Shaaray Tefila’s choirs Kol Rinnah, Shir Leadership and Shaaray School of Rock. The 6:15 p.m. Kabbalat Shabbat service will also be livestreamed on YouTube.
Congregation Beth Elohim
Brooklyn’s Congregation Beth Elohim will honor the memory of King during their 6:30 p.m. Shabbat service by discussing ways to come together to “help make this world a more just and compassionate place.” The service will be followed by a Shabbat dinner, where leaders from CBE’s various social justice initiatives will speak about their work and how to get involved. Register for the dinner here, tickets start at $36.
Volunteer Opportunities
Repair the World
The Jewish volunteering and community service organization Repair the World is hosting a number of opportunities throughout the weekend, including packaging care kits for migrants, prepping garden beds and painting artistic signs at urban gardens and clothing distribution for newly arrived migrants. The organization will also host “Songs of Sustenance,” a Shabbat event on Saturday at 1:00 p.m., when Rabbi Shir Meira Feit will guide a “spiritually nourishing song circle and niggunim” (wordless spiritual melodies).
On Sunday night at 7:00 p.m., Repair the World will host an immigrant art justice soiree at the Flatbush Jewish Center. The event includes a roundtable discussion over dinner with “leading local Brooklyn-based artists whose art reflects immigration and Jewish themes.”
Check out all the opportunities here. Locations are provided upon registration.
Stephen Wise Free Synagogue
The Upper West Side’s Stephen Wise Free Synagogue will hold a Shabbat of Service on Saturday at 1:00 p.m., where volunteers will help make sandwiches and pack up meals to feed hungry New Yorkers and resupply NYC community fridges. Sign up to volunteer here.
UJA Federation-New York
UJA Federation-New York will again host their annual MLK Day of Service on Monday. There are dozens of volunteer opportunities across the city, from park clean-ups and working at food pantries to making care packages for migrants, Holocaust survivors and people living in shelters. Take a look at all the opportunities here.
Met Council
Join the Met Council for their United through Service initiative on Jan. 15 at 12:00 p.m. to pack supplies for vulnerable New Yorkers, including Muslim New Yorkers and college students. Per a press release, the group will meet at the Met Council’s fulfillment center (171 Lexington Ave) to put together “1,000 emergency food relief boxes of Halal products, 500 Halal spice kits, 2,000 literacy kits for families with young children, 1,000 stress-relief kits for CUNY students, 140 food packages for those receiving ongoing and emergency food support from Met Council.” The group will be joined by New York Attorney General Letitia James, New York Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli and U.S. Rep. Jerry Nadler.
Film Screenings
“Rustin”
Join the Marlene Meyerson JCC Manhattan on Monday at 5:00 p.m. for a screening of “Rustin,” a biopic of Bayard Rustin, an architect of the 1963 March on Washington as well as a trailblazing advocate for gay rights and the plight of Soviet Jewish refuseniks. Produced by Barack and Michelle Obama’s production company Higher Ground, the 2023 film stars Colman Domingo and Chris Rock. Tickets for the screening start at $5.
“Rabbi On the Block” and “Books He Didn’t Burn”
The New York Jewish Film Festival is screening two documentaries in honor of King. “Rabbi on The Block” is about the efforts of Rabbi Tamar Manasseh, a Black rabbi devoted to building solidarity between Black and Jewish communities on Chicago’s South Side. The movie will screen on Monday at 6:30 p.m. and again on Tuesday at 4:00 p.m. “The Books He Didn’t Burn” screening on Monday at 1:00 p.m. explores the histories of racism and antisemitism as it delves into the remains of Adolf Hitler’s private library. Both movies are screening at the Walter Reade Theater. Tickets start at $17.
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The post 10 Jewish ways to mark Martin Luther King Day in New York this year appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
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After False Dawns, Gazans Hope Trump Will Force End to Two-Year-Old War
Palestinians walk past a residential building destroyed in previous Israeli strikes, after Hamas agreed to release hostages and accept some other terms in a US plan to end the war, in Nuseirat, central Gaza Strip October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa
Exhausted Palestinians in Gaza clung to hopes on Saturday that US President Donald Trump would keep up pressure on Israel to end a two-year-old war that has killed tens of thousands and displaced the entire population of more than two million.
Hamas’ declaration that it was ready to hand over hostages and accept some terms of Trump’s plan to end the conflict while calling for more talks on several key issues was greeted with relief in the enclave, where most homes are now in ruins.
“It’s happy news, it saves those who are still alive,” said 32-year-old Saoud Qarneyta, reacting to Hamas’ response and Trump’s intervention. “This is enough. Houses have been damaged, everything has been damaged, what is left? Nothing.”
GAZAN RESIDENT HOPES ‘WE WILL BE DONE WITH WARS’
Ismail Zayda, 40, a father of three, displaced from a suburb in northern Gaza City where Israel launched a full-scale ground operation last month, said: “We want President Trump to keep pushing for an end to the war, if this chance is lost, it means that Gaza City will be destroyed by Israel and we might not survive.
“Enough, two years of bombardment, death and starvation. Enough,” he told Reuters on a social media chat.
“God willing this will be the last war. We will hopefully be done with the wars,” said 59-year-old Ali Ahmad, speaking in one of the tented camps where most Palestinians now live.
“We urge all sides not to backtrack. Every day of delay costs lives in Gaza, it is not just time wasted, lives get wasted too,” said Tamer Al-Burai, a Gaza City businessman displaced with members of his family in central Gaza Strip.
After two previous ceasefires — one near the start of the war and another earlier this year — lasted only a few weeks, he said; “I am very optimistic this time, maybe Trump’s seeking to be remembered as a man of peace, will bring us real peace this time.”
RESIDENT WORRIES THAT NETANYAHU WILL ‘SABOTAGE’ DEAL
Some voiced hopes of returning to their homes, but the Israeli military issued a fresh warning to Gazans on Saturday to stay out of Gaza City, describing it as a “dangerous combat zone.”
Gazans have faced previous false dawns during the past two years, when Trump and others declared at several points during on-off negotiations between Hamas, Israel and Arab and US mediators that a deal was close, only for war to rage on.
“Will it happen? Can we trust Trump? Maybe we trust Trump, but will Netanyahu abide this time? He has always sabotaged everything and continued the war. I hope he ends it now,” said Aya, 31, who was displaced with her family to Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip.
She added: “Maybe there is a chance the war ends at October 7, two years after it began.”
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Mass Rally in Rome on Fourth Day of Italy’s Pro-Palestinian Protests
A Pro-Palestinian demonstrator waves a Palestinian flag during a national protest for Gaza in Rome, Italy, October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Claudia Greco
Large crowds assembled in central Rome on Saturday for the fourth straight day of protests in Italy since Israel intercepted an international flotilla trying to deliver aid to Gaza, and detained its activists.
People holding banners and Palestinian flags, chanting “Free Palestine” and other slogans, filed past the Colosseum, taking part in a march that organizers hoped would attract at least 1 million people.
“I’m here with a lot of other friends because I think it is important for us all to mobilize individually,” Francesco Galtieri, a 65-year-old musician from Rome, said. “If we don’t all mobilize, then nothing will change.”
Since Israel started blocking the flotilla late on Wednesday, protests have sprung up across Europe and in other parts of the world, but in Italy they have been a daily occurrence, in multiple cities.
On Friday, unions called a general strike in support of the flotilla, with demonstrations across the country that attracted more than 2 million, according to organizers. The interior ministry estimated attendance at around 400,000.
Italy’s right-wing government has been critical of the protests, with Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni suggesting that people would skip work for Gaza just as an excuse for a longer weekend break.
On Saturday, Meloni blamed protesters for insulting graffiti that appeared on a statue of the late Pope John Paul II outside Rome’s main train station, where Pro-Palestinian groups have been holding a protest picket.
“They say they are taking to the streets for peace, but then they insult the memory of a man who was a true defender and builder of peace. A shameful act committed by people blinded by ideology,” she said in a statement.
Israel launched its Gaza offensive after Hamas terrorists staged a cross border attack on October 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 people hostage.
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Hamas Says It Agrees to Release All Israeli Hostages Under Trump Gaza Plan
Smoke rises during an Israeli military operation in Gaza City, as seen from the central Gaza Strip, October 2, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas
Hamas said on Friday it had agreed to release all Israeli hostages, alive or dead, under the terms of US President Donald Trump’s Gaza proposal, and signaled readiness to immediately enter mediated negotiations to discuss the details.