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Creation From Nothing*Rabbi Frank WaldorfLast April, I attended a meeting of the Jewish Community Relations Council Black-Jewish clergy dialogue and listened to a dream articulated by the Reverends Eugene Rivers and Ray Hammond. Their Ten Point Coalition wanted to recreate in Dorchester the educational and communal organizing success of Freedom Summer 1964. The task seemed messianic in its proportion; but they were determined to press ahead. On August 18th, I witnessed the miracle which these remarkable clergymen had accomplished in a few short months. In the assembly room of the Oliver Wendell Holmes School in Dorchester, I was privileged to meet a sampling of the 28 college students, 55 high schoolers and 55 middle schoolers who learned, grew, and thrived this summer thanks to the vision and imagination of their devoted leaders. . . . A sophisticated team of Harvard Business School students has undertaken a formal evaluation of Freedom Summer '94. Their report will hardly be able to express the earnestness, enthusiasm, articulateness, and humor that were evident in the season-ending "show and tell." Lives have been changed and uplifted. A solid base has been set for further growth. As Gene Rivers brought the session to a close, he gazed two decades into the future and pre-dicted that future leaders of Boston and its Black community would emerge from the alumni of Freedom Summer '94. The dream articulated in April had been translated into solid substance. I found profound satisfaction in knowing that many Jews and Jewish organizations had encouraged the project and had provided a generous proportion of the funding. My visit to Freedom Summer '94 renewed my passion for the social justice agenda that has been an important part of Reform Judaism since my childhood. Amos, Isaiah, and Jeremiah first articulated God's commitment to a just society at a time in history when "might made right." Their remarkable vision permitted them to see beyond the facts of their time. Their words penetrated into hearts of people who wanted to resist but were swayed by the truth they heard. The power of that prophetic vision is as valid today as it ever was. It is comforting that we have in our midst courageous leaders who stake their lives and their ministry on the truth the prophets perceived. May God strengthen their hearts and hands; and may we gladly march at their side. *Excerpted from the Temple Sinai Bulletin (Brookline, MA), October 1994. Click here to return to the Boston Review Series, Freedom Summers.
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