Sermon : On Making Bonds Stronger Than Barriers

I wish that God would intervene, grab the African-American and Jewish-American communities and shake some sense into them. I know that relationships are complex and multifaceted, and the one that exists between our two minority communities is no less so.

But our problems and our differences are exacerbated by public perception. Legitimate issues of discord and strife make the news, whether it’s in the New York City streets or on the campuses of UCLA or Cal State Northridge. There are real and, in many instances, justified complaints that we have about each other. But in the age of the sound bite the perceptions of African Americans and Jewish Americans toward each other are instantly formed. Thus, it should not be surprising that there does not seem to be any latitude in our relationship. Only the bad news catches our eye; we assume that there is no good news. And the negative stereotypes we have about each other persist.

That is why “covenants” are important. A covenant is a solemn agreement between two entities, valid and enforceable only through the willful exercise and sincerity of the parties involved. As our covenant with God as partners in working in the world provides room for growth, change, sin and then forgiveness, so must the relationship between African Americans and Jewish Americans be covenantal. Whereas the word “contract” implies formal, legal, cold and impersonal agreement, “covenant” denotes feeling, passion and mutually earned respect.

There are 16 synagogues and 16 churches in Los Angeles that have entered into an African-American/Jewish-American covenant. Those covenants are some (surely not all) of the good news that exists in the relationship between African Americans and Jewish Americans in Los Angeles. Wilshire Boulevard Temple and Second Baptist Church plant trees together in MacArthur Park. First AME Church and Temple Isaiah are immersed in an adult study class, Temple Israel of Hollywood and Messiah Baptist Church have a series entitled “Ask the Rabbi, Ask the Pastor,” Kehillat Israel and Abundance of Christ Church have created an internal organization called “Two Cultures and One Heart,” Temple Beth Hillel and Faithful Service Baptist Church will visit the Museum of Tolerance together. All the covenants annually enjoy pulpit exchanges, with clergy, choirs and congregants reaffirming, through community prayer and song, the solemnity of our covenants. When we work, pray and sing together, the bonds prove stronger than the barriers.

Whereas a contract might facilitate some peaceful coexistence, a covenant does not guarantee peace at all, but rather a real relationship. The blessing of a covenantal relationship is that it can absorb the dissonance and disappointments because of its inherent intimacy. African Americans and Jewish Americans, clergy or lay people, through these covenants, know each other face to face. Covenants provide the grass-roots bonding but we must as well be circumspect with regard to public denouncements that erode the less visible gains made in real and sustained contact with each other.

Our memory, inspiring and compelling though it may be, of rabbis and pastors marching arm-in-arm with Martin Luther King is only yesterday’s news. Time and circumstance have used up the goodwill created in the ‘60s. Today, rabbis and pastors, African Americans and Jewish Americans must link arm-in-arm and create a history that will inspire the next generation.

In these post-L.A. riot years, we must establish ties with all peoples who constitute the marvelous, multiethnic mosaic that is Los Angeles. But concurrently, there is no reason to discard old coalitions and old friends. Barriers, real and imagined, have tested the relationship between African-Americans and Jewish-Americans. These covenants are testimony that barriers have not undermined the bonds we enjoy. There is some good news. There just needs to be more of it--in the press and in the pulpit.