April 4th is a Jewish holiday. It’s the yortseit (death anniversary) of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. who was assassinated on that date in 1968. Martin Luther King, Jr. was an activist not only on behalf of the civil rights movement, but was also an activist for peace and for workers’ rights. He was in Memphis that day to support striking sanitation workers. On April 4th, we remember that Jews and Black Americans marched together in support of all those causes, and that there can be no civil rights, workers’ rights or peace alone – each supports and strengthens the others. In the words of the Mishnah, “the more justice, the more peace.”
