Dear Congregation Beth Ohr,
Let my people go!
It's a quirk of our intersecting secular and religious calendars that Martin Luther King Jr. Day always falls on a weekend when we read part of the exodus story as our weekly Torah portion.
In this week's Torah portion, VaEra, Moses and Aharon tell Pharaoh that God has ordered him to let the Israelites go. When Pharaoh refuses, the plagues begin. Parashat VaEra contains the first seven of the ten plagues!
Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s last speech is popularly known by the title, "I've Been to the Mountaintop." Towards the end of the speech, given the day before he was assassinated, he said,
"Like anybody, I would like to live a long life. Longevity has its place. But I'm not concerned about that now. I just want to do God's will. And He's allowed me to go up to the mountain. And I've looked over. And I've seen the Promised Land. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight, that we, as a people, will get to the promised land!"
Fifty years after King's untimely death, and as we read the story of our own exodus from Egypt, we have to ask ourselves, have we reached the promised land, or are we still in the midst of the plagues? Are all Americans truly equal in the sight of the law, enjoying life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness? Are we like King and Moses, standing on the mountaintop, looking into the promised future, hoping it will be better than the present? How can we work to make our world a better place for all people?
CLICK HERE to listen to Go, Tell it on the Mountain
Arranged and recorded by Cantor Sarah Myerson (voice) and Ilya Shneyveys (voice, guitars, ukuleles) Song by Mary Allin Travers / Milton T. Okun / Noel Paul Stookey / Peter Yarrow, based on an African American spiritual. Read more about the history of the song and its connection to the civil rights movement here. Listen to Cantor Myerson and Ilya Shneyveys perform another Peter, Paul and Mary song here.
Go tell it on the mountain, over the hill and everywhere
Go tell it on the mountain, to let my people go
Who's that yonder dressed in red, let my people go
Must be the children that Moses led, let my people go
Who's that yonder dressed in red
Must be the children that Moses led
Go tell it on the mountain, to let my people go
Go tell it on the mountain, over the hill and everywhere
Go tell it on the mountain, to let my people go
Who's that yonder dressed in white, let my people go
Must be the children of the Israelite, let my people go
Who's that yonder dressed in white
Must be the children of the Israelite
Go tell it on the mountain, to let my people go
Go tell it on the mountain, over the hill and everywhere
Go tell it on the mountain, to let my people go
Who's that yonder dressed in black, let my people go
Must be the hypocrites turnin' back, let my people go
Who's that yonder dressed in black
Must be the hypocrites turnin' back
Go tell it on the mountain to let my people go
Tell it on the mountain, over the hill and everywhere
Go tell it on the mountain to let my people go
Wishing you a Shabbat Shalom, and a meaningful Martin Luther King Jr. Day,
Cantor Sarah Myerson
