This Month in Black/Jewish History

On September 9, 1963, the tragic bombing at the 16th Street Baptist Church stole four beautiful young girls from this world: Addie Mae Collins (14), Cynthia Wesley (14), Carole Robertson (14), and Carol Denise McNair (11). Each one was dressed in their Sunday best ready to celebrate the youth service. The blast shook the Church and community of Birmingham to its core, shattering the complacency of Birmingham’s bystanders, and galvanizing civil rights activists across our country in the fight for the cause of racial equity in America.

Three days later, a shaken, angry and repentant Rabbi Milton Grafman stood before Birmingham’s Temple Emanu-el on the eve of Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year that marks the opening of the Days of Awe and the Days of Repentance. After having attended the funeral for the four girls, Rabbi Grafman delivered an unprepared and extemporaneous sermon (the first time he had ever done so in his decades of being a rabbi). He called his congregation and the community of Birmingham to accountability. 

“Let’s stop being liberals in your parlors and your offices. I know of only two men in our (Jewish) community… who have had the guts to challenge Connor and Wallace and segregation and the whole problem of integration and everything else. Those of you who keep talking about what ought to be done. What have you done? I’m not asking you to go out and lead a crusade. But in heaven’s sake, can’t you do at least what I have done and join with other Christians.”

Reminding the congregations that the savage individuals responsible for the bombing were rabidly anti-Semitic, Rabbi Grafman added, “If they get away with this, nobody’s going to be safe, and the first ones that will not be safe will be the members of the Jewish community.”