by Noah Diamondstein
The Poor People’s Campaign was meant to gather us all together before the Capitol Building back in 2020. There was such momentum and frustration boiling over in American society as the Trump presidency entered its final year, and a massive gathering to make our voices heard was just what we needed in those dire days. Little did we know! Instead, after a long pandemic delay, we finally gathered on June 18th, 2022 for the Poor People’s Campaign’s Moral March on Washington and to the Polls—and what a gathering it turned out to be!
The Poor People’s Campaign is an intrepid organization and movement with dynamic leadership that Temple Sinai has partnered with in the past, and I was honored to participate in and strongly continue that partnership as a rabbi of this amazing community. Before the main march, our Temple community came together with much of the greater Jewish contingent in the march for a Shabbat experience. This experience was co-created by Jewish leaders from multiple denominations and geographic locations, many of whom I deeply admire and respect. We met several times on Zoom to curate and craft an experience that would not only animate us Jewishly, but that also would be multi-vocal and demonstrate that the Jewish community was a partner community with so many others in the fight for social justice in America. We heard from Native American leadership, Muslim leadership, Jews of multiple genders and races (including Temple Sinai’s own Dietra Reiser), and even Rev. Dr. Liz Theoharris, one of the Co-Chairs of the PPC, who joined us and offered an invocation of her own at our Shabbat experience.
What we put together was just what we needed to galvanize us for a day of protest. We focused on breath as a theme and heard readings which showed how injustice was not only making it difficult for individuals to ‘breathe,’ but our country and planet as well. In and around our tent at Freedom Plaza, we sang loudly and proudly in beautiful harmony the liturgy from our siddur: “God, the soul-breath you have placed within me is pure…” “Let all that breathes use that breath to praise God…” “The breath of all that lives blesses the name of the Eternal…” That deep breath would sustain us through the day, and a shofar blast sent us forth to march together down to the Capitol and heard inspiring words and powerful music from representatives of all ages, genders, races and creeds. We chanted together: “Youth–Elder, Elder–Youth!” “Not one step back!” and we meant it. We aspired together to build the country, and the world, from love, and to make it real with the power of our voices and votes.
The Torah teaches that we must chase after Justice—and to drive the point home it repeats the word! “Tzedek! Tzedek tirdof!” “Justice! Justice shall you pursue!” abjures the book of Deuteronomy. Temple Sinai will never rest in that pursuit, and I look forward to the next chance to partner with PPC as we continue the fight and move forward together—not one step back.
