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Shared Dreams: Martin Luther King, Jr. & the Jewish Community
Many people are familiar with the story of Jewish support for the American civil rights movement, but this history has another side--
one that has not been fully told until now.
"Outlines a compelling image of relations between the two communities.... In Shared Dreams, Rabbi Schneier reiterates our commonality, as upheld by Martin Luther King, Jr., and fuels the reader to continue to work for the advancement of race relations among all God's children."
--from the Preface by Martin Luther King III
Shared Dreams brings to life the impressive, surprising, and long-neglected history of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s efforts in support of the Jewish community. This is a story that sheds new light on the commitment and the relationship between the Jewish and African-American communities as they have struggled together to fight for justice and civil rights in our nation, and our lives.
one that has not been fully told until now.
"Outlines a compelling image of relations between the two communities.... In Shared Dreams, Rabbi Schneier reiterates our commonality, as upheld by Martin Luther King, Jr., and fuels the reader to continue to work for the advancement of race relations among all God's children."
--from the Preface by Martin Luther King III
Shared Dreams brings to life the impressive, surprising, and long-neglected history of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s efforts in support of the Jewish community. This is a story that sheds new light on the commitment and the relationship between the Jewish and African-American communities as they have struggled together to fight for justice and civil rights in our nation, and our lives.
- GenresHistory
240 pages, Hardcover
First published October 31, 1999
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
June 4, 2026
A POWERFUL BOOK DETAILING THE COMMON WORK OF DR. KING AND JEWS
Rabbi Marc Schneier (b. 1959) is president and co-founder of the Foundation for Ethnic Understanding (which focuses on improving Jewish/Black and Jewish/Muslim relations); he also served as vice-president of the World Jewish Congress.
The Preface by Martin Luther King III to this 1999 book explains, “I had just been named the 4th president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, the organization co-founded by my father… One of the first letters of congratulations was from Rabbi Schneier. It included an invitation to speak on the state of Black/Jewish relations in the United States at Yeshiva University. A friendship grew from that invitation… My discussions with my friend, Rabbi Schneier, often centered around the American civil rights movement and the work of my father. I was impressed that Marc not only knew intimately the history of my father’s work with the civil rights movement, he was also well-versed in the history of my father’s connections to the Jewish community… [This book] is the culmination of that effort… Rabbi Schneier has gone to great lengths to compile the complex story of the cooperation, and sometimes angst, between blacks and Jews during the civil rights movement in the context of Martin Luther King Jr.’s life. From the account of his friendship with … Rabbi Joshua Heschel… to anti-Semitic elements within the movement itself, Rabbi Schneier examines different aspects of the relation between my father and the Jewish community… The history of Americans of African descent and Jewish descent is the story of two groups of people who have suffered uncommon persecution but have persevered with uncommon faith. This is our common ground. We share the dream of a beloved community where one can live without the threat of racism, poverty, or violence.”
Rabbi Schneier wrote in the Introduction, “No black figure of the period received as much allegiance from people sympathetic to civil rights as did Martin Luther King Jr. And no segment of the white community provided as much---and as consistent---support for King as did the Jewish community. Jewish support for King… is a story worth telling fully, and that is done here in relation to Dr. King and his efforts. But little has been told about King’s support for issues that almost exclusively concerned the Jewish community, such as easing discrimination against Jews in the Soviet Union and assuring the safety and security of the State of Israel… the fact that there was … a two-way street between King and the Jewish community is both impressive and surprising. King did what he could for the Jewish people … He understood that a people who fought for their rights were only as honorable as was their concern for the rights of all people. Jews should be proud of their participation in the civil rights struggle… it is emblematic of what the sages call ‘tikkun olam,’ the mandate for Jews to repair the world… We hope that the story told here will encourage Jewish people and people of all faiths in such efforts in the future.” (Pg. xiii-xiv)
He notes, “Clearly, Jewish theology and history… almost require that Jews help others. But… the majority of those Jews who went South to help blacks or who demonstrated in their own communities or gave money to the movement were neither rabbis nor adherents of Orthodoxy. It was just the opposite. In fact: most Jews who participated in the movement were the LEAST religious of Jews… it would not be the most traditionally observant Jews who would be in the forefront of helping blacks get justice. Instead of Orthodox Jews leading the way, it was Reform and Conservative Jews, as well as those who were not affiliated with any movement within Judaism.” (Pg. 15-16)
He recounts, “The Freedom Rides had begun in May 1961 under the auspices of CORE… Since 1946, the Supreme Court has barred segregation in interstate-regulated vehicles and facilities. But all the states of the Deep South flouted that ruling and had separate facilities for whites and blacks at bus stations. CORE, which wanted to publicize such practices, organized groups of volunteers to ride South and try to integrate those facilities… In the meantime, the Reform movement’s Union of American Hebrew Congregations had urged its membership to get involved. ‘It is essential that there be direct Jewish religious participation in the bus rides.' Subsequently, nearly two-thirds of all white Freedom Riders were Jewish.” (Pg. 70)
The National Conference of Christians and Jews held in Chicago in January 1963 “provided the first meeting between [Abraham] Heschel and King, who spoke in Chicago. That encounter developed into a life-long friendship and intellectual bond. Moreover, the two men raised strikingly similar cries. Each quoted the prophet Amos: ‘Let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like a mighty stream.’ Both quoted theologian Reinhold Niebuhr. And both understood that the sins of racism demanded the fierce and compassionate presence of prophets who could … ‘draw upon themselves the excess poison in the world…’” (Pg. 136)
On March 25, 1968, “King spoke at the annual convention of the Conservative movement’s Rabbinical Assembly. As he entered the hall… he was greeted by a thousand rabbis singing, ‘We Shall Overcome.’ Heschel … introduce[d] his friend to the assembly… King, said Heschel, was a modern-day prophet, his voice was equal to that of the Prophets of Israel and his presence was ‘a sign that God was not forsaking the United States of America. God sent him to us… His mission is sacred; his leadership is of supreme importance to every one of us.’” (Pg. 141)
He reports, “Like King, Heschel also opposed the Vietnam War. On April 4, 1967, both were on the podium at an anti-war rally in New York City at The Riverside Church. There, before rabbis and priests and ministers and anti-war protesters, King assailed the war as a corrupt distraction from the indispensable need to reform America at home to attend to its poor and its cities and its own racial tensions and divisions… King’s speech antagonized members of the civil rights establishment who felt he was abandoning his constituency.” (Pg. 142)
He continues, “When King was killed a year later, Heschel deeply grieved. King, he said, ‘was one of the great prophetic spirits we had in this century… He brought great blessing to the world---to all of us concerned with the rights of men.’ Heschel traveled to King’s funeral in Atlanta with SCLC workers… Heschel was the only Rabbi who delivered a eulogy… On the walk back, [Peter] Geffen and [Mickey] Shur asked Heschel, ‘What do we do now?’ Heschel responded, ‘You must teach the children, so they may remake the world.’” (Pg. 142-143)
He points out, “And despite the growing antipathy between Blacks and Jews, especially as SNCC and other black organizations became more radical, [King] always maintained an allegiance to Jews and refused to indulge in another side of the same hatred that had targeted blacks for so long… Nevertheless, by the mid-1960s, a new dynamic between blacks and Jews had begun to assert itself, especially among Northern blacks… Anti-Semitism found root among blacks because its virus had contaminated them while they … were in poverty, inadequate ghetto housing, and job discrimination in the North---which had largely been untouched by the civil rights movement… Blacks saw Jews prospering and living in fine suburban homes or uptown apartments while they themselves suffered in poverty amid roaches and drugs and crime. Their ‘rights’ had improved, but the quality of their life had remained static.” (Pg. 171-173)
He reports, “To hide their overt anti-Semitism, black radicals adopted a platform condemning Zionism. King quickly unmasked this charade: ‘You declare… that you do not hate the Jews, you are merely ‘anti-Zionist.’ And I say, let the truth ring forth … When people criticize Zionism, they mean Jews---this is God’s own truth. Anti-Semitism… has been and remains a blot on the soul of mankind. In this we in full agreement. So know also this: Anti-Zionist is inherently anti-Semitic, and ever will be so…’” (Pg. 178)
He concludes, “In a sense, we have come full circle from the days when Dr. King admonished in his book, ‘Stride Toward Freedom’ … For, while we can acknowledge the long way American society has come since Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat… we should not yet assume that the road to justice and equality is finally free of resistance and barriers… we must always remember that the battle for human rights is a common one and a mutual one, a battle which… demands that all of us put our collective shoulders to the wheel of decency. In this way we can---together---achieve that most grand of goals: a world no longer tarnished by the slanders of bigotry or the disturbances of intolerance. A world… very much like the one envisioned by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.” (Pg. 194-195)
This book will be of great interest to those studying Dr. King, and Jewish/Black relations.
Rabbi Marc Schneier (b. 1959) is president and co-founder of the Foundation for Ethnic Understanding (which focuses on improving Jewish/Black and Jewish/Muslim relations); he also served as vice-president of the World Jewish Congress.
The Preface by Martin Luther King III to this 1999 book explains, “I had just been named the 4th president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, the organization co-founded by my father… One of the first letters of congratulations was from Rabbi Schneier. It included an invitation to speak on the state of Black/Jewish relations in the United States at Yeshiva University. A friendship grew from that invitation… My discussions with my friend, Rabbi Schneier, often centered around the American civil rights movement and the work of my father. I was impressed that Marc not only knew intimately the history of my father’s work with the civil rights movement, he was also well-versed in the history of my father’s connections to the Jewish community… [This book] is the culmination of that effort… Rabbi Schneier has gone to great lengths to compile the complex story of the cooperation, and sometimes angst, between blacks and Jews during the civil rights movement in the context of Martin Luther King Jr.’s life. From the account of his friendship with … Rabbi Joshua Heschel… to anti-Semitic elements within the movement itself, Rabbi Schneier examines different aspects of the relation between my father and the Jewish community… The history of Americans of African descent and Jewish descent is the story of two groups of people who have suffered uncommon persecution but have persevered with uncommon faith. This is our common ground. We share the dream of a beloved community where one can live without the threat of racism, poverty, or violence.”
Rabbi Schneier wrote in the Introduction, “No black figure of the period received as much allegiance from people sympathetic to civil rights as did Martin Luther King Jr. And no segment of the white community provided as much---and as consistent---support for King as did the Jewish community. Jewish support for King… is a story worth telling fully, and that is done here in relation to Dr. King and his efforts. But little has been told about King’s support for issues that almost exclusively concerned the Jewish community, such as easing discrimination against Jews in the Soviet Union and assuring the safety and security of the State of Israel… the fact that there was … a two-way street between King and the Jewish community is both impressive and surprising. King did what he could for the Jewish people … He understood that a people who fought for their rights were only as honorable as was their concern for the rights of all people. Jews should be proud of their participation in the civil rights struggle… it is emblematic of what the sages call ‘tikkun olam,’ the mandate for Jews to repair the world… We hope that the story told here will encourage Jewish people and people of all faiths in such efforts in the future.” (Pg. xiii-xiv)
He notes, “Clearly, Jewish theology and history… almost require that Jews help others. But… the majority of those Jews who went South to help blacks or who demonstrated in their own communities or gave money to the movement were neither rabbis nor adherents of Orthodoxy. It was just the opposite. In fact: most Jews who participated in the movement were the LEAST religious of Jews… it would not be the most traditionally observant Jews who would be in the forefront of helping blacks get justice. Instead of Orthodox Jews leading the way, it was Reform and Conservative Jews, as well as those who were not affiliated with any movement within Judaism.” (Pg. 15-16)
He recounts, “The Freedom Rides had begun in May 1961 under the auspices of CORE… Since 1946, the Supreme Court has barred segregation in interstate-regulated vehicles and facilities. But all the states of the Deep South flouted that ruling and had separate facilities for whites and blacks at bus stations. CORE, which wanted to publicize such practices, organized groups of volunteers to ride South and try to integrate those facilities… In the meantime, the Reform movement’s Union of American Hebrew Congregations had urged its membership to get involved. ‘It is essential that there be direct Jewish religious participation in the bus rides.' Subsequently, nearly two-thirds of all white Freedom Riders were Jewish.” (Pg. 70)
The National Conference of Christians and Jews held in Chicago in January 1963 “provided the first meeting between [Abraham] Heschel and King, who spoke in Chicago. That encounter developed into a life-long friendship and intellectual bond. Moreover, the two men raised strikingly similar cries. Each quoted the prophet Amos: ‘Let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like a mighty stream.’ Both quoted theologian Reinhold Niebuhr. And both understood that the sins of racism demanded the fierce and compassionate presence of prophets who could … ‘draw upon themselves the excess poison in the world…’” (Pg. 136)
On March 25, 1968, “King spoke at the annual convention of the Conservative movement’s Rabbinical Assembly. As he entered the hall… he was greeted by a thousand rabbis singing, ‘We Shall Overcome.’ Heschel … introduce[d] his friend to the assembly… King, said Heschel, was a modern-day prophet, his voice was equal to that of the Prophets of Israel and his presence was ‘a sign that God was not forsaking the United States of America. God sent him to us… His mission is sacred; his leadership is of supreme importance to every one of us.’” (Pg. 141)
He reports, “Like King, Heschel also opposed the Vietnam War. On April 4, 1967, both were on the podium at an anti-war rally in New York City at The Riverside Church. There, before rabbis and priests and ministers and anti-war protesters, King assailed the war as a corrupt distraction from the indispensable need to reform America at home to attend to its poor and its cities and its own racial tensions and divisions… King’s speech antagonized members of the civil rights establishment who felt he was abandoning his constituency.” (Pg. 142)
He continues, “When King was killed a year later, Heschel deeply grieved. King, he said, ‘was one of the great prophetic spirits we had in this century… He brought great blessing to the world---to all of us concerned with the rights of men.’ Heschel traveled to King’s funeral in Atlanta with SCLC workers… Heschel was the only Rabbi who delivered a eulogy… On the walk back, [Peter] Geffen and [Mickey] Shur asked Heschel, ‘What do we do now?’ Heschel responded, ‘You must teach the children, so they may remake the world.’” (Pg. 142-143)
He points out, “And despite the growing antipathy between Blacks and Jews, especially as SNCC and other black organizations became more radical, [King] always maintained an allegiance to Jews and refused to indulge in another side of the same hatred that had targeted blacks for so long… Nevertheless, by the mid-1960s, a new dynamic between blacks and Jews had begun to assert itself, especially among Northern blacks… Anti-Semitism found root among blacks because its virus had contaminated them while they … were in poverty, inadequate ghetto housing, and job discrimination in the North---which had largely been untouched by the civil rights movement… Blacks saw Jews prospering and living in fine suburban homes or uptown apartments while they themselves suffered in poverty amid roaches and drugs and crime. Their ‘rights’ had improved, but the quality of their life had remained static.” (Pg. 171-173)
He reports, “To hide their overt anti-Semitism, black radicals adopted a platform condemning Zionism. King quickly unmasked this charade: ‘You declare… that you do not hate the Jews, you are merely ‘anti-Zionist.’ And I say, let the truth ring forth … When people criticize Zionism, they mean Jews---this is God’s own truth. Anti-Semitism… has been and remains a blot on the soul of mankind. In this we in full agreement. So know also this: Anti-Zionist is inherently anti-Semitic, and ever will be so…’” (Pg. 178)
He concludes, “In a sense, we have come full circle from the days when Dr. King admonished in his book, ‘Stride Toward Freedom’ … For, while we can acknowledge the long way American society has come since Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat… we should not yet assume that the road to justice and equality is finally free of resistance and barriers… we must always remember that the battle for human rights is a common one and a mutual one, a battle which… demands that all of us put our collective shoulders to the wheel of decency. In this way we can---together---achieve that most grand of goals: a world no longer tarnished by the slanders of bigotry or the disturbances of intolerance. A world… very much like the one envisioned by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.” (Pg. 194-195)
This book will be of great interest to those studying Dr. King, and Jewish/Black relations.
Displaying 1 of 1 review