More than 150 Reform Jewish rabbis are taking turns marching with the NAACP from the Deep South to the U.S. capital to promote social justice. The group so far has included two rabbis from Congregation Emanu-El in San Francisco who joined in for part of the march.
The Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism and the Central Conference of American Rabbis are participating in the NAACP’s Journey for Justice, an 860-mile march from Selma, Alabama, to Washington, D.C.
The march, which started Aug. 1 and will end Sept. 15, commemorates the 50th anniversary of the Voting Rights Act. Organizers from the NAACP, the nation’s oldest civil rights organization, said they want to bring attention to issues such as economic inequality, education reform, criminal justice reform and voting rights in each of the five states they visit on the march.
When the marchers arrive in Washington at the end of Rosh Hashanah, they will be welcomed, on behalf of the Reform movement, at the Washington Hebrew Congregation for an interfaith service, teach-in and rally. — jta