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As Boston dedicates a massive monument to Martin Luther King, local Jews march in solidarity
BOSTON (JTA) – A month after Rev Martin Luther King, Jr. and Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel stood on the front line of the 1965 march from Selma, Alabama, to demand voting rights for African Americans, another march unfolded in Boston.
There, on April 23, 1965, King led more than 20,000 people on a march from Roxbury, the city’s historic Black neighborhood, to the Boston Common. They stretched for nearly a mile, in a historic moment for Boston and its Black community.
Now, in honor of both King’s birthday and the 50th anniversary of Heschel’s death, Boston Common is home to marchers again. On Friday, Jewish Bostonians and allies walked in a procession from the nearby Central Reform Temple to the park for the city’s dedication of a new monument of King and his wife and civil rights partner Coretta Scott King.
“We thought this would be a wonderful moment to rekindle the alliance between the African American Civil Rights community and the Jewish community,” Rabbi Michael Shire, the synagogue’s rabbi and a faculty member at Hebrew College told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency in a phone conversation a few days before the event.
King had professional and personal ties to the city he came to call his second home. He had earned his PhD in theology at Boston University. It was also the place where King first met and courted Coretta Scott, who was earning her master’s degree at the New England Conservatory of Music.
The Embrace, a massive sculpture and public memorial designed by renowned artist Hank Willis Thomas, honors the couple’s legacy and the role this city played in their lives. Unveiled Friday, the 20-foot-high bronze sculpture evokes the Kings in a hug that was inspired by a photograph taken in 1964, soon after the announcement that King had been chosen for the Nobel Peace Prize.
The Embrace is the largest American-made bronze sculpture in the country, according to Imari K. Paris Jeffries, executive director of Embrace Boston, the nonprofit leading the memorial.
“It is Boston’s Statue of Liberty,” he told WBUR.
The procession, which drew about 100 people, was meant to evoke the bond between the two giants of faith and the ties between the Black and Jewish communities represented by the Selma march, when Heschel famously carried a Torah scroll.
Rain cleared enough for the Boston Jews to carry a Torah of their own, which was rolled to this week’s portion, the beginning of the Book of Exodus. “It is a story of freedom and liberation,” Shire said before the procession. “As we march today, we will think about how that story is ever present in all of our lives.”
Jill Silverstein, a synagogue board member who cofounded its racial justice committee following the murder of George Floyd in 2020, said the committee members studied slavery and racism today, and engaged in self-reflection, said Silverstein, who watched the monument’s progress from her home nearby and called it “exquisite and different.” She said the march on Friday, which the synagogue group discussed with Embrace Boston leaders, is a first step in taking action as partners with others to combat racism.
“It‘s a rekindling of our commitment to racial justice, equity and equality,” Silverstein said.
The march comes at a moment of challenge. Antisemitic incidents and sentiments are on the rise, according to watchdog groups; Boston has been home to several in recent years, including the stabbing of a rabbi in 2021 that ignited shows of solidarity within the Jewish community. What’s more, several recent episodes have challenged Black-Jewish relations, including an extended antisemitic outburst by rapper Kanye West and the promotion of an antisemitic film by NBA star Kyrie Irving.
Emmanuel Church, an Episcopal congregation where the synagogue is located, and Congregation Mishkan Tefila, a Conservative synagogue in Brookline, were early partners for the event that the two synagogues intend as the first step to deepen their work with Black churches on pressing issues of racial and economic justice.
“In this atmosphere of antisemitism and racism, Blacks and Jews need to speak loudly in support of each other and against hatred and prejudice,” said Rabbi Marcia Plumb of Mishkan Tefilah in an email. (Plumb and Shire are married to each other.)
Among others who marched was Rabbi Jim Morgan, who leads congregations at both Harvard Hillel and for residents of Hebrew Senior Life communities, which sent a handful of residents to the event.
“There are people in my community who had taken part in the civil rights movement in the 1960s,” Morgan said.
Other cosponsors include the American Jewish Committee New England; the Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Boston; Jewish Alliance for Law and Social Action; the Miller Center at Hebrew College and Center Communities of Brookline, residences of Hebrew Senior Life.
On Friday evening, Reverend Liz Walker, co-chair of the Embrace Boston committee and the pastor of Roxbury Presbyterian Church, will speak at Central Reform’s Friday night Shabbat service,
“The moment is almost beyond words … because of what the Kings meant here in Boston,” Walker, one of Boston’s most prominent Black clergy members, told JTA by phone. She said she planned to speak about how, at a time of divisiveness and polarization, a memorial “that speaks of love, unity, courage and justice” stands out.
Describing King and Heschel as prophetic voices, Walker said, “Those relationships [between faith leaders and the community] are more vital than ever and have to be lifted up because they are going to guide the world through this kind of minefield of negativity and animosity.”
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Seeking funding for a Yiddish project for kids or young people?
די פֿישמאַן-פֿונדאַציע פֿאַר ייִדישער קולטור האָט געמאָלדן אַז זי נעמט שוין אָן סובווענץ-אַפּליקאַציעס אויף נײַע פּראָיעקטן פֿאַרן יאָר 2027. די פּראָיעקטן דאַרפֿן האָבן פֿאַר אַ ציל דאָס שטאַרקן ייִדיש ווי אַ לעבעדיקע שפּראַך, באַזונדערס בײַ קינדער און דער יוגנט.
דער טערמין פֿאַר אַפּליקאַציעס פֿאַרן יאָר 2027 איז דער 7טער נאָוועמבער 2026. די אויסגעטיילטע סובווענצן וועט מען מעלדן אין דעצעמבער.
אַלע אַפּליקאַציעס מוזן זײַן אָנגעשריבן אויף ייִדיש און דאַרפֿן נאָכפֿאָלגן די אַפּליקיר-אָנווײַזונגען וואָס איר קענט געפֿינען דאָ.
אַפּליקאַציעס וועלן ווערן באַטראַכט אויף קאָנקורס-יסודות. מען בעט מען זאָל אַרײַנשיקן אַן אַפּליקאַציע (מיט אַלע נייטיקע בײַלייגונגען) דורך בליצפּאָסט צו:
applications@fishmanfoundation.org
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Democrats leader Golan approached by man with knife on Israeli election day
(JTA) — JERUSALEM — Israel Police arrested a man carrying a large knife after he approached Yair Golan, head of the Democrats party, as Golan was campaigning in Tel Aviv on Election Day.
“Contrary to reports, no stabbing attempt occurred,” the police spokesman said in a statement.
The police said officers at the scene noticed a “suspicious object” protruding from beneath the coat of a man standing nearby. When they stopped him for inspection, they found a knife in his possession.
In a statement, Golan’s party said the man approached Golan “in a threatening manner” and that “when Golan’s security guards blocked him, a large knife slipped from beneath his clothing and fell to the ground.”
Police described the suspect as a Jerusalem resident in his 20s. He was arrested and taken to a local police station for questioning. They said the investigation “is ongoing.”
Following the incident, Golan said “incitement and violence will not deter us.” In a statement to the press he blamed the attack on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s negative campaigning and highlighted the ties between one of his spokespeople and Qatar.
“This is the direct result of the poison machine operated by Netanyahu and his Qatari agents. I call on everyone who cares about security and democracy to go out and vote now, so that we can ensure the country we love so dearly becomes a free and safe place once again,” Golan said.
This article originally appeared on JTA.org.
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Rebellion PAC’s antisemitic political ad could incite violence against Jews
Israel did not cause high grocery prices in America.
Israel is not the reason you don’t have free universal healthcare.
But a new political ad from Rebellion PAC depicts struggling young parents grocery shopping in Michigan and putting back a dozen eggs because of U.S. military aid to Israel, saying they can no longer afford basics like bananas because they are funding healthcare in Israel. The ad ends by saying Republican Senate candidate Mike Rogers is for “them” — Democratic candidate Abdul El-Sayed is for you.
Rebellion PAC, an independent entity that legally cannot coordinate with campaigns or parties, is proudly promoting a political ad that is deeply misleading, inflammatory and dangerous for American Jews. The ad uses classic tropes blaming Jews for economic and social woes, the same propaganda used historically by antisemitic regimes in Nazi Germany and the USSR. The target in this ad is the Jewish state, but the familiar subtext remains: your family is suffering because Jews are taking your money.
This would be antisemitic in any context, but in the current climate it is wildly irresponsible. American Jewish communities are facing unprecedented domestic terror threats and a historic crisis in antisemitism.
In Michigan, where this ad is aimed at voters who may decide control of the U.S. Senate, an armed domestic terrorist drove a car packed with improvised explosives into Temple Israel. The intent was a mass casualty event aimed at killing as many Jews as possible, including the children in the preschool. Brave security team members stopped the attack, but the attacker was only a few feet from perpetrating what could have been the deadliest terror attack on U.S. children since Oklahoma City.
American Jews make up only 2% of the population, but according to the FBI, Jews made up 63% of religion-based U.S. hate crimes in 2025 — and roughly 14% of all reported hate crimes.
Every candidate across the spectrum, including El-Sayed and Rogers, should disavow and condemn the dangerous rhetoric in this ad. This ad takes real problems — the exploding cost of groceries and healthcare — and blames them on Israel. This is classic antisemitic propaganda.
El-Sayed’s campaign distanced itself from the ad without condemning its content.
“This ad is not affiliated in any way with the Abdul for Senate campaign,” El-Sayed campaign spokesperson Roxie Richner said in an emailed statement. “Abdul is focused on pushing back against Trump’s agenda that is raising prices for Michiganders. No one speaks for Abdul but himself and his campaign.”
It’s worth noting that the El-Sayed campaign did not disavow the content of the ad and only issued a statement via email. El-Sayed himself did not issue a public stance on social media or criticize the inflammatory and dangerous content of the ad. His response is wholly inadequate—it does nothing to confront the antisemitism in the ad, it simply points out his campaign did not make it.
Contrast this with his former opponent, Rep. Haley Stevens, who lambasted the ad on X, stating, “This type of fearmongering about Israel is wrong.” she went on to say, “Do we need to lower costs by building more homes, securing people’s health care, and creating a fairer federal tax code? Yes, we do!! How we do so is not by blaming the high costs of our goods on the only Jewish homeland in the world.”
El-Sayed should unequivocally condemn this ad and its content, not just distance himself from it. Every candidate should stand firmly against antisemitic rhetoric in electoral politics.
When bad actors tell people their economic problems are caused by Israel, it inevitably creates a dangerous situation for Jewish Americans. Though public opinion polls show falling support for the Jewish state, it’s difficult for Americans to take those frustrations out on Israel directly, so local American Jews become a convenient target for their misplaced anger. This is exactly what happened in Michigan at Temple Israel. A Hezbollah sympathizer took his anger on Israel out on the local Jewish population.
Americans are facing real issues. But Israel is not the cause. Our grocery bills are higher for a variety of complex reasons. Grocery inflation started during the pandemic with disrupted supply chains. Production costs have risen. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine raised global grain prices. Bird flu drove up the price of eggs. Tariffs have also impacted food prices.
In terms of healthcare, a Nov. 2025 Gallup poll found that 46% of Americans preferred a government-run healthcare system, while 48% preferred a system based mostly on private health insurance. Cutting or ending U.S. military aid to Israel would not change the fact that Americans are deeply divided on how we should address our healthcare systems’ deep-seated problems. That would require American lawmakers to agree on and enact changes to how our own system is financed and organized. This is an issue of political philosophy — not lack of funds. Israel is not preventing the U.S. from organizing or financing our own healthcare system. Ending military aid to Israel would neither reverse those food-price pressures nor establish universal healthcare. The ad offers struggling Americans a scapegoat for their hardships—and American Jews face the danger of being treated as that scapegoat’s local representatives.
Rebellion PAC’s co-founder and former Executive Director Brianna Wu decried the ad, stating, “I would have quit as executive director rather than produce this,” calling the ad “awful.” We should all follow her example.
Candidates, thought leaders and elected officials must all come together and condemn this dangerous and antisemitic ad. American Jews are already being discriminated against, attacked, and in severe cases, murdered by people who hold them responsible for Israel. Political leaders must reject rhetoric that puts an even larger target on our backs by turning us into scapegoats for America’s economic struggles and healthcare failures.
The post Rebellion PAC’s antisemitic political ad could incite violence against Jews appeared first on The Forward.
