Jews Joined Black and Protestant political and religious leaders in a city-wide observance yesterday of the birthday of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., the late leader of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. It was the fourth such observance since Dr. King was shot down by an assassin four years ago. Services at the Canaan Baptist Church in Harlem were attended by two Jewish representatives, Rabbi Harold Saperstein, president of the New York Board of Rabbis, and Rabbi Marc Tannenbaum, director of the inter-religious affairs department of the American Jewish Committee.
The audience that packed the church included a number of yeshiva students and Jewish girls. The two rabbis wore yarmulkas and were surrounded after the service by blacks who embraced them and offered expressions of good will. Rabbi Tannenbaum, who spoke on behalf of Jewish friends of Dr. King, recalled how in 1967 the Negro civil rights leader denounced anti-Semitism as “not only immoral” but a device “used to divide Negroes and Jews who have actively collaborated in the struggle for justice.” Rabbi Tannenbaum also recalled that Dr. King condemned anti-Zionism and stated that “Israel’s right to exist as a state in security is incontestable.”
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
