We are happy to announce that a 15 minute excerpt from
Praying With
My Legs:
The Spiritual Witness of Abraham Joshua Heschel
is now on
view in Paris at the
Musée d'art et d'histoire du Judaïsme
.
The exhibition looks at how Moses has been viewed through the ages
and interpreted through the sometimes competing lenses of different cultures and religions.
In the American section of the exhibition, "
Go Down, Moses: Jews and Blacks in the
United States,"
Moses is seen through the lens of the American civil rights movement,
with a focus on the unlikely, yet close relationship between religious thinker and activist Abraham Joshua Heschel and civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr. Both freely
evoked Moses and the Exodus in their speeches and writings about the Black American struggle for dignity and equal rights.
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Abraham Joshua Heschel & Moses video
installation at the Musée d'art et d'histoire du Judaïsme.
© Mahj/Christophe Fouin, 2015
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The video, Abraham Joshua Heschel & Moses, is comprised of
two parts. The first deals with Heschel's understanding of what Moses experienced and encountered at Mount Sinai, where, according to the Hebrew Bible and Jewish tradition, he received the Ten Commandments, and indeed the entire Torah, in a revelation from God.
The second part of the video focuses on Heschel's relationship with Martin Luther King, Jr., and their partnership in the civil rights movement, centering on a shared prophetic understanding of justice and redemption.
In the wake of the recent tragic events in Paris, Heschel's words about group prejudice
and hatred resonate all the more strongly:
"God is either the father of all men or of no man."
"
There is no reverence for God without reverence for man.
"
The exhibition runs through February 21, 2016.
* * * *
If you would like further information about Praying With My Legs, the documentary work-in-progress on Rabbi Heschel -- including how to sign
up for the mailing list, arrange a
work-in-progress screening, and how to help it toward completion -- please have a look
at our website:
If you would like to support the film by making a year-end
tax-deductible donation,
please go to:
Thank you!
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Abraham Joshua Heschel, 2nd from right, with Ralph Bunche and Martin Luther King at the Selma-to-Montgomery Voting Rights March,
March 21, 1965. AP Images
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With best wishes,
Steve Brand
Ways & Means Productions
285 Riverside Drive, #15D
New York, NY 10025-5228 mobile: 646 207 8450 tel: 212 254 0167 waysandmeans@earthlink.net
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Praying With My Legs is a production of Ways & Means Productions. It has received major funding from the Righteous Persons Foundation, the Alan B. Slifka Foundation, the Gershon Kekst Foundation, the Andrew and Marina Lewin Foundation and the Memorial Foundation for Jewish Culture. |