Rev. Al Sharpton's High Holidays Repentance

Last week about 20 rabbis from the Los Angeles area participated in a High Holiday sermon writing workshop called "Punching Up Your Holiday Sermons." These pre-Rosh Hashanah sermon workshops for rabbis are nothing new, but this workshop had a twist. It paired the rabbis with Hollywood screenwriters who helped them come up with more engaging sermons.

It's possible that Rev. Al Sharpton has been more helpful to rabbis writing their High Holiday sermons this year than these talented screenwriters. His recent mea culpa may be the subject of many sermons heard in synagogues this High Holiday season.

Rev. Al has been in the news a lot lately. Just the other day it was announced that he will be hosting his own show on MSNBC to be called "PoliticsNation," which will debut on Aug. 29. Sharpton will become the network's only African-American host.

This is good news for Sharpton, who made headlines recently when he wrote an apologetic op-ed in the NY Daily News, in which he admitted to making mistakes during the racially fueled Crown Heights riots 20 years ago. Sharpton has long been blamed for inflaming tensions between blacks and Jews in the Crown Heights neighborhood of Brooklyn in 1991. It all began when a car in the late Lubavitcher Rebbe's motorcade struck and killed an African American boy. Many argue that Sharpton incited the angry crowd leading to the fatal stabbing during the riots of Jewish student Yankel Rosenbaum.

In his apology, Sharpton wrote, "Twenty years after the Crown Heights riots, the city has grown, and I believe I have grown. I'd like to share a few of my reflections about the choices I made, including the mistakes, with an eye toward advancing racial understanding and harmony."

Sharpton concluded his op-ed with a reflection from an experience he had at the Jewish Theological Seminary. He wrote:

I would have shared a story about what happened when, as a young man, I was brought to the Jewish Theological Seminary by one of the civil rights leaders who had been an aide to Dr. King.

That day, I was introduced to Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel. Rabbi Heschel had marched with Dr. King in Selma in support of the Voting Rights Act. For doing so, Heschel was attacked by some in his community who were very conservative and thought a theologian should stay in his proper place. He gave me a book and autographed it and, as we talked, I asked him about Dr. King -- the man and the hero.

That's when Dr. Heschel said to me: "Young man, only big men can achieve big things. Small men cannot fulfill big missions. Dr. King was a big man."

Crown Heights showed how some of us, in our smallness, can divide. We must seek to be big. Next weekend, we will unveil the monument to Martin Luther King in Washington. I will speak at the ceremony along with members of the King family and the President of the United States.

I will continue to think about the value of the lives of Gavin Cato and Yankel Rosenbaum as I look up at the big statue of Dr. King. I will look towards the heavens and I will wink at Rabbi Heschel.

Not everyone seems to be ready to move on, even if it has been 20 years since the Crown Heights riots. Last week, Sharpton was forced to back out from a scheduled panel discussion on the riots at the Hampton Synagogue after the synagogue's rabbi, Marc Schneier, came under fire for the event by Yankel Rosenbaum's family, among others.

I think we should take Sharpton at his word. A cynic might say that he believed he needed to apologize for his role in the riots in order to get his show on MSNBC. However, after reading his apology, I feel it is sincere. Many apologies by celebrities these days take place before the guilty individual has really had an opportunity to think about their mistakes, not to mention most of those apologies have been written by publicists. Sharpton had 20 long years to consider what he did and appeared contrite in his published apology.

What Sharpton did is what we call teshuvah (repentance) in Judaism and it is precisely what is called for before and during the High Holidays. Sharpton's apology will be a fitting example for rabbis to share with their congregations on Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur.

Rev. Al Sharpton restated what he did in the situation and then explained why it was misguided and why he won't do it again. I'm sure 20 years ago Sharpton never thought he'd ever be able to apologize for his actions during the Crown Heights riots, but he just might become an example to the Jewish community for doing teshuvah. The two unnecessary deaths in 1991 must be remembered and mourned, but the time has come for the black and Jewish communities to move on from the Crown Heights riots.

Black-Jewish relations have certainly improved in the two decades since Crown Heights. A recent video on the Funny or Die website demonstrates just how much commonalities exist between blacks and Jews. In fact, two of the artists mentioned in the song (the Jewish performer Drake and the Jewish biracial artist Lenny Kravitz) have collaborated on a new track called "Sunflower" for Kravitz's upcoming album Black and White in America. Maybe Sharpton will have Drake and Lenny Kravitz perform on his new MSNBC show.

Rabbi Jason is on Facebook and blogs at Blog.RabbiJason.com.

 

Follow Rabbi Jason Miller on Twitter: www.twitter.com/rabbijason

Comments

[RabbiJason]

11:04 PM on 09/05/2011

Thank you for all your comments on this post. It's not an easy decision whether to accept Sharpton's supposed apology or not. This was a horrific episode in our country's history and especially with regard to Black-Jewish relations. The two deaths are not equal. One WAS the result of a car accident. The other was a vindictive hate crime.

As many of you have stated this was the worst pogrom on U.S. soil.

Yet, in Judaism we try to take people at their word when they repent and go through the teshuvah process. I think that is what we must do in the case of Rev. Sharpton. We shouldn't FORGET, but at this point we can FORGIVE.

[massjim]

10:53 PM on 08/30/2011

Actually, no. Have you seen his show? Not a come together and talk about issues, but about inciting hatred of the right. Just like his buddy Lawrence O'Donnell. That's why MSNBC hired him, his proven ability to play on bad emotions.

[Dosadi]

09:43 PM on 08/30/2011

I like this. Over the years I have found that it often takes a bigger man to accept an apology than it takes to give one. That is the situation we face in the world today. Too many people refuse an apology. They feel the apologist is doing it out of some ulterior motive. This hurts you not the apologist. The apologist is required to submit apologies for his actions but you the receiver have a choice. To refuse to accept is easy but to accept one requires a moral decision to put aside politics and classifications. Accepting the apology of one who has hurt you will actually benefit you but only if you sincerely accept and not just give lip service. Whether Mr. Sharpton has truly repented is not for our minds to decide, that is between him and his maker. Our job is to attempt to rise above the turbulent surface of anger and/or fear and discover the smooth waters that are the river of forgiveness.

[Rick S Geiger]

02:00 PM on 08/29/2011

Well, we can have judgments about whether Mr. Sharpton is sincere in his apology, but as Jews, we know that the sincerity can only be judged by HaShem. Personally, after reading the apology, I would be willing to give him the benefit of the doubt, but is more my father's influence that is it a true judgment. What Mr. Sharpton must do, according to Jewish law, is to sincerely personally apologize to anyone that he hurt, after that, G_d will likely forgive him. In Jewish law we are taught that we can even change the past with acts in the present, and we can do that by so deeply and sincerely engaging in Teshuvah (repentance) so that all the bad acts in the past become mitzvahs, good deeds. I can say that I hope Mr. Sharpton is sincere as I think he believes in G_d and thereby he knows there is no true redemption without an conversation with G_d.

[bergerqueen]

07:41 AM on 08/29/2011

"The two unnecessary deaths in 1991 must be remembered and mourned"
The death of the Gavin Cato was an accident. He was accidentally hit by a car that swerved to avert an on-coming vehicle. The death of Yankel Rosenbaum was a murder by a bunch of angry thugs. Why not describe exactly what happened rather than continue to find some kind of equivalence. That is really what angers members of the community who do not want to let the issue be forgotten.

[andrewsullar]

03:19 PM on 09/05/2011

Agreed. When do you ever hear someone bring up the white woman who's rape and/or murder was the catalyst for a lynching? We never hear someone refer to the woman's name or make it sound like cause and effect. The only difference here is it was a CAR ACCIDENT, UNINTENTIONALLY. The KKK had better excuses for their actions, also they didn't loot. Maybe I'm cynical but I don't believe people committ over 250 muggings due to mourning. It was opportunism, plain and simple. I've never had to explain to any white person that it is not okay to kill an innocent black person cause some other black person committed a car accident, rape, murder, etc.

[Mike from NYC]

12:29 AM on 08/29/2011

I think he already changed a lot by the time he was running for senator. He was sounding very reasonable and thoughtful especially compared with his past antics. I thought it was great that he was not being the troublemaker that time, and to my surprise I haven't seen the old Sharpton in the many years since.

[see-ellen2001]

02:23 PM on 08/28/2011

Did he say those three magic words I. AM. SORRY. ?

[maxfax]

11:21 PM on 08/26/2011

I believe he has changed, haven't you in the past 20 years?

[p c r]

04:40 PM on 08/27/2011

I hav changed in my manners and dress, as well as my social status, but my essense (soul, if you will) is the same. I still abhor violence, prejudice and cruelty. I am still compassionate and empathetic to the plight of others.
Basic character does not change. Sometimes, as people age, they learn how to hide their basic character from others more effectively.

[JerseyGirl4Obama]

09:40 PM on 08/30/2011

I believe character grows as we grow. Although I have been a fan of your past posts, in this post of yours, we disagree. I am not particularly a Sharpton fan but I can see and hear changes in him over the years.

[BurtonDesque]

08:47 PM on 08/26/2011

Nothing coming out of Sharpton's mouth is sincere.

[Json]

05:28 PM on 08/26/2011

"A cynic might say that he believed he needed to apologize for his role in the riots in order to get his show on MSNBC."

Well I am a cynic and I am saying exactly that. I find his apology to be unconvincing and extremely conveniently timed.

[luebla]

09:08 PM on 08/28/2011

Conveniently timed for whom? I am sure you & everyone that has lived their life have made mistakes. I think some of your ingrained racism becomes obvious. If the country can forgive bill clinton - who was elected & held the highest office (& disrespected it-if Pres. Obama did something like that-you would go beyond impeaching him) in the land & must I say-had a "mouthy indiscretion"-than why can't Al Sharpton be forgiven? Would it be a case of double standard on your part?

[Mitchell Gilbert]

01:52 PM on 08/26/2011

I certainly do not take him at his word; nor do I think that his disingenuous, very sanitized, Madison Avenue manufactured mea-culpa was worth the paper it was written on. And let's not forget that contributing to the worst pogrom against the Jewish people in North America, was not the only shameful incident Sharpton was associate with! As Eli Wiesel has noted, only the victims of evil can forgive what has been done.
MSNBC Has Damaged Its Own Credibility By Hiring Al Sharpton http://wp.me/p1Jt6N-3F /via @wordpressdotcom

[Bob Helweil]

02:48 PM on 08/26/2011

Mitchell , read Rabbi Miller's article again. Moreover, watch and listen to Rev. Sharpton. Try to believe in REPENTENCE and REDEMPTION. I have been watching Rev. Sharpton on MSNBC--He is doing a great job and MSNBC desrve kudos for hiring him. I do hope that you are just a cynic and not a hater. Reconsider!

[Serina Cox]

08:25 PM on 08/26/2011

Sure, it's a good move, to hire a leading black leader 14 months before the elections. It gives him time to turn all the black votes back toward Obama.