A Still-Potent Partnership?

During the strife-ridden days of the civil rights movement, two men of God sought to undo some of the uglier works of man.

As he battled to dismantle America’s apartheid, a charismatic African American preacher was joined in the fight by a bearded rabbi. The image still resonates today: blacks and Jews, arm in arm, foot soldiers struggling down the path to freedom.

This week and next, synagogues throughout the Los Angeles area will commemorate the life’s work of the two men: the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel, whom some have called the most significant Jewish philosopher and theologian of the 20th century.

Joint King/Heschel observances, such as the one held Friday at Calvary Baptist Church of South Los Angeles and Temple Kol Tikvah of Woodland Hills, are among the more visible symbols of what some view as a continuation of that once-potent partnership.

Still others in the black and Jewish communities see relations between the two groups as being either strained or in somewhat of a holding pattern, just marking time with no lightning rod issue fostering divisions and no human or natural calamity causing them to coalesce.

“At this moment, things have been quiet,” said Rabbi Robert Gan of Temple Isaiah on West Pico Boulevard in Los Angeles. In the past, he noted, issues such as the civil rights struggle tended to galvanize people.

Now, he doesn’t think the black and Jewish communities are as active jointly on social issues as they used to be. “Maybe we are searching for an agenda that we can rally around,” he said.

Rabbi Steven Jacobs of Temple Kol Tikvah warned that people should not confuse quiet with complacency.

“On the street you may not see it,” he said, “but there has been some very significant work that’s been done very quietly over the years.”

Jacobs and other clergy noted that there are now many formal and informal “sister” relationships between Southland synagogues and African American churches. These ecumenical connections, which include joint worship services and pulpit exchanges, began in many cases as the embers cooled after L.A.’s 1992 civil disturbance. The efforts have helped foster continuing dialogue and greater understanding on both sides, clergy said.

“I believe the relationship is better now than it’s ever been,” said the Rev. Perry Jones, who heads the predominantly black Messiah Baptist Church on Crenshaw Boulevard, which has a long-standing relationship with Temple Israel of Hollywood.

Citing decreased Jewish flight from the Fairfax district in Los Angeles and improved one-on-one relations, Jones added, “I believe that if there was a need to come together, to work [on a specific problem], we would come together without hesitation.”

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Many clergy said joint celebrations of the lives of Heschel, who died 25 years ago last month, and King help remind members of both groups of their shared history.

The two men “charged us to transcend the cleavages that distract us from the solidarity of our goal and to publicly unite against the twin evils of racism and anti-Semitism,” said Rabbi Harold Schulweis of Valley Beth Shalom in Encino.

One of the largest King Day observances will bring together not only Jews and African Americans but Bahais, Native Americans, Catholics and a host of other religious groups.

Now in its 10th year, the annual celebration hosted by the San Fernando Valley Interfaith Council is set for 7 p.m. Monday at Temple Beth Hillel in North Hollywood.

“The King program is a diamond,” said Rabbi Aaron Kriegel of Temple Ner Maarav in Encino. “It’s the cake that we give ourselves for the work that we do all year.”

Later this year, congregants from Kriegel’s temple and members of the Greater Community Missionary Baptist Church, a predominantly African American congregation in Pacoima, will embark on a joint visit to Israel--testament, observers said, to the strength of the bond the two groups have formed.

“I don’t believe the relationship could be any closer than it is,” said Kriegel, who also serves as vice president of the Interfaith Council.

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But relations between blacks and Jews are not without their sticking points, chief among them the varied reactions to Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan.

While many Jews see the controversial figure as an anti-Semite, many African Americans embrace his philosophy of self-help economics and empowerment of blacks.

“The community has still to deal with the role of Minister Farrakhan,” said Rabbi Harvey Fields, who along with John Mack of the Urban League heads the African American/Jewish Leadership Connection. “That certainly doesn’t do us any good. It exacerbates matters between the two communities. It’s still a burr in the side of our relationship, and I think we have to acknowledge that that’s an issue.”

Mack and several African American clergy said that while they can understand many Jews’ distaste for Farrakhan, they feel it’s time to move the dialogue beyond that hot-button topic.

“There will be some issues around which our constituents will never agree,” Mack said. “And perhaps Farrakhan is one such issue. I’m not going to personally waste my time debating it every time we meet.”

Both blacks and Jews have acknowledged that negative stereotyping continues to be a problem.

One local rabbi who marched with King in the 1960s confessed that he is afraid to walk the streets of South-Central and would view young black males approaching him on the street as a threat.

“There is absolutely no question but that too much stereotyping takes place in both communities,” Mack said. “There are some within the Jewish community who buy into the myths about African Americans . . . and think all young black males are gangbangers.”

In the African American community, he said, stereotypes persist about Jewish control of Hollywood.

“These are some of the kinds of issues we have to realize are there and represent a continuing challenge,” Mack added.

“One of our goals [in the Leadership Connection] is to help people get past that . . . and get to know each other as human beings.”

All in all, Mack said, he is heartened by the progress made thus far, though he knows there is much work ahead.

“We understood from the beginning that this would not be a bed of roses,” said the veteran civil rights worker. “We must have a long-term vision and not allow ourselves to become tired and give up.”