Friday evening Shabbat service with sermon by Rabbi Gittelsohn, “By the Bombs Bursting Light”, November 14, 1958. Wyner Archives of Temple Israel of Boston.

TI-AV_90062-001

Item Information

Title:
Friday evening Shabbat service with sermon by Rabbi Gittelsohn, “By the Bombs Bursting Light”, November 14, 1958. Wyner Archives of Temple Israel of Boston.
Description:
Friday evening Sabbath service at Temple Israel led by Rabbi Roland B. Gittelsohn and Rabbi Robert Shapiro with a sermon by Rabbi Gittelsohn. The sermon’s subject is the recent bombing of the Atlanta Hebrew Benevolent Congregation, where no one was hurt but there was extensive damage. He states that there were 83 explosions of synagogues, churches, schools and the homes of Black leaders in the South between January 1957 and October 1958. The violence, Gittelsohn posits, is the consequence of a contemptuous disregard of law and order in the South following court-ordered desegregation and by Southern politicians’ encouragement of the citizenry to defy the law. He states that synagogue bombings, therefore, occur because rabbis and Jewish institutions support integration. Rabbi Gittelsohn argues that wherever the human rights of Blacks or any other minority are in jeopardy, the human rights of Jews are insecure. He asks for moral leadership from the highest levels of the US government, especially President Eisenhower, and calls for the end of Senate Rule 22, the filibuster that enables a Congressional minority to weaken the Civil Rights Act of 1957 by preventing the Department of Justice from prosecuting state officials who violate civil rights law. Jews, he concludes, must insist on responsible leadership in their community; they can lobby the Senator from Massachusetts who refuses to vote to end the filibuster. Choral music performed by the Temple Israel Choir, Herbert Fromm, conductor.
Speaker:
Gittelsohn, Roland Bertram, 1910-1995
Speaker:
Shapiro, Robert W., 1928-1999
Musical director:
Fromm, Herbert
Creator:
Congregation Adath Israel (Boston, Mass.)
Date:
November 14, 1958
Format:
Audio recordings (nonmusical)
Location:
Temple Israel of Boston
Wyner Archives
Collection (local):
Past Voices, Audio Recordings, 1934-1979
Subjects:
Reform Judaism--United States
Jewish sermons--United States
Synagogue music--Sabbath services--United States
Civil rights movements--United States--History--20th century
Race discrimination--United States--History--20th century
Segregation--Law and legislation
Bombings--Southern States--History--20th century
Places:
Massachusetts > Suffolk (county) > Boston
Extent:
1/4" audio tape (1 hour, 35 min., 02 sec.)
Permalink:
https://ark.digitalcommonwealth.org/ark:/50959/b5647g40x
Terms of Use:
No known copyright restrictions.
This work is licensed for use under a Creative Commons Attribution No Derivatives License (CC BY-ND).
CC BY-ND icon
Language:
English
Hebrew
Preferred Citation:
Friday evening Shabbat service with sermon by Rabbi Gittelsohn, “By the Bombs Bursting Light”, November 14, 1958. Audiovisual Collection, Audiovisual Collection, Wyner Archives of Temple Israel of Boston.
Notes (funding):
This project was supported by a Recordings at Risk grant from the Council on Library and Information Resources (CLIR). The grant program is made possible by funding from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.
Notes (historical):
Rabbi Roland B. Gittelsohn (1910-1995), social justice activist, Zionist, and writer, was Senior Rabbi of Temple Israel from 1953-1977 and Rabbi Emeritus thereafter. He served as founding rabbi of Central Synagogue in Rockville Center, NY from 1936-1953. During WWII, he became the first Jewish Marine Corps chaplain, and, in 1945, he delivered a moving, oft-quoted eulogy on brotherhood at Iwo Jima. After his retirement he was a co-founder of ARZA (the Association of Reform Zionists).
Rabbi Robert W. Shapiro (1928-1999) was Assistant Rabbi at Temple Israel from 1957-1960. He served as the rabbi at Temple Emanu-El of Marblehead, MA (1962-1992), focusing on pastoral work, outreach, and interfaith activities.
Herbert Fromm (1905-1995), Temple Israel’s organist and Music Director (1941-1973), was a German-born conductor and composer forced to leave Germany in 1937. A prolific composer of religious music, much of which became part of the standard synagogue repertoire, and secular works, he also published many articles and essays and several books.
Identifier:
TI-AV-90062.001