“Why We Pray With Our Feet: A Conversation with Cohosts Emelda and Trudy”

This is how Emelda Decoteau and her mother describe the first episode of their podcast:

What does it mean to pray with our feet? How can we spark change through conversation one moment, one day at a time? What is the biblical basis for activism (Proverbs 31:8–9, Matthew 25:40, Amos 5:24, and Isaiah 54:6–7).

All this and more on our first episode lifting up the intersection of faith and social justice / activism.

We delve into:

Sharing God’s grace and love with folks who have different lived experiences than us.
Why activism must be intersectional—immigrant children in detention centers, folks caught in the web of mass incarceration, climate justice, dismantling white supremacy—all of it is connected.
The story behind the phrase “pray with our feet,” a quote from Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel.
How we connect to God through our creativity.
Why we’re so excited for you to hear our upcoming guests, some include: Rev. Amanda (founder of Raising Imagination, an online community, and co-pastor at Middle Church); Avril Sommervile, activist and writer (Journey of a Life on Purpose); Rev. Lyvonne Proverbs (founder of Beautiful Scars and Emmy award–winning media producer); and Dr. Marisela Gomez, author, activist, and public health physician. Watch her TEDx talk.

Tags

“If Not Now” Play from the Sabbath Variations

A one-act play that was written to inaugurate the 24:6 Theater Company as part of The Sabbath Variations. Heschel’s The Sabbath was a jumping off point for these one-act plays.

The story of this theater company was shared in Yoni Oppenheim’s reflection.

JTS Memorial Service for Martin Luther King Jr

Ratner Center for the Study of Conservative Judaism Sound Recordings, JTS Library. Digitization and cataloging funded by a grant from the National Historical Publications and Records Commission (NHPRC).

Heschel’s thoughts on King on the first yahrzeit (anniversary) of his death. Heschel speaks from 12:50 to 15:50.

Martin Luther King’s life is an unfinished symphony. It is our task at this memorial service to remember him, to be committed to his ideas.

Heschel in Ottawa, 1968 or 1969, Exploring “Shabbat as Spiritual Sanctuary”

Link to JTS Library

Edward K. Kaplan Research Collection on Abraham Joshua Heschel, The Library of the Jewish Theological Seminary, New York, New York, ARC.2021.07.000, (Box 27:105). Digitization and cataloging funded by a grant from the National Historical Publications and Records Commission (NHPRC).

Annotation

Side A. Opening remarks (01:40min.) — Introducing Abraham Joshua Heschel (04:32 min.) — Lecture / Abraham Joshua Heschel (32:29) — Side B. Lecture [continued] / Abraham Joshua Heschel (21:33 min.) — Questions (01:33 min.) — Thanking Professor Heschel / Hugo Leventhal (03:24 min.) — Closing remarks (03:22 min.)

King and Heschel at the Rabbinical Assembly Conference

On the evening of March 25, 1968, 10 days before he was assassinated, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. appeared at the 68th annual convention of the Rabbinical Assembly, where he was introduced by Abraham Joshua Heschel. The event took place at the Concord Hotel in Kiamesha Lake in the Sullivan County Catskills.

Heschel’s remarks start at the 3:30 mark.

Digitzed Audio at the JTS Library

JTS. Institutional Recordings, The Library of the Jewish Theological Seminary, New York, New York, R.G. 42, (Box 79, AV_0898). Digitization and cataloging funded by a grant from the National Historical Publications and Records Commission (NHPRC).

Additional Text:

Transcript of Heschel and King’s remarks

Audio

“Why We Pray With Our Feet: A Conversation with Cohosts Emelda and Trudy”

“If Not Now” Play from the Sabbath Variations

The Spiritual Audacity of Abraham Joshua Heschel from “On Being”

“Be Here Tomorrow” Podcast with Kenyon Phillips

JTS Memorial Service for Martin Luther King Jr

Heschel in Ottawa, 1968 or 1969, Exploring “Shabbat as Spiritual Sanctuary”

King and Heschel at the Rabbinical Assembly Conference