Rabbi Rubinstein and his wife Kerry recently traveled to Memphis to visit the National Civil Rights Museum and Stax Records, where soul legends like B.B. King and Otis Redding recorded their famous hits.

Recognizing that these artists represent a pivotal time in American music and the Civil Rights movement, Rabbi Rubinstein and Kerry sought out their friend Rabbi Micah Greenstein (pictured above, lower right) of Temple Israel Memphis, who both helped to build the museum and sits on its board, to provide more context.

“[Rabbi Greenstein] toured us around both institutions, sharing his contagious passion for Memphis, civil rights and the ongoing struggle for social justice,” said Rabbi Rubinstein.

During their tour, Rabbi Greenstein shared his reasons for moving to Tennessee to lead a Southern Jewish congregation:

On April 3, 1968, despite threats to his life, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., came back to Memphis, Tennessee to support a strike by the city’s garbage workers for a 10-cent raise and better working conditions. There were many death threats against his life that spring, not only in Memphis but wherever he went.  When asked why he would risk his life for sanitation workers, he said in his final Memphis sermon: “The question is not, ‘If I stop to help this man in need, what will happen to me?’ The question is, ‘If I do not stop to help the sanitation workers, what will happen to them?’”

I have had a lifelong interest in black-Jewish relations. The day I moved to Memphis, the National Civil Rights Museum was being dedicated and I met the heroes who held King when he died (Billy Kyles) and led the marches with him (Maxine Smith).  In writing a book chapter on “Southern Rabbis and Black Civil Rights” in the early 90s, my involvement in race relations deepened. Why do I as a religious Jew identify so strongly with the history and yearnings of King’s movement?  It comes from my life and faith as a Jew and the animating idea of Judaism - the tzelem elohim, the image of God inherent in every human being.

What this means is that while race will always exist, it should never have to matter.

The Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. is the only religious leader for whom a national holiday is named.  And his core message is based on Jewish teachings. It would have made far more sense for this Christian minister whose people were suffering to invoke Jesus as the motif for the civil rights struggle, but King did not choose the theology of Jesus. He chose the story of the Jewish people instead, the universal message of Passover, to emphasize that the God to Whom our thanks are due is a God who wants all people free, not just some.

Rabbi Rubinstein is posting updates and photos from Sabbatical on his Facebook page.