Bard Prison Initiative and Learning with Rev. William Barber

I’m very excited to share that BHA will be hosting the Bard Prison Initiative (BPI) during Mincha on January 27. Details and more information are here.

The work that BPI does is so important because America is a country of mass incarceration, with more than 2.3 million people behind bars, and a wildly disproportionate number of them are people, particularly men, of color. I’m excited for our community to learn more about efforts to recognize the essential human dignity of every person - even those who are behind bars.

Mass incarceration was part of what I had the great honor of learning about yesterday with Reverend William J Barber II.

Rev. Barber is the president of Repairers of the Breach, an organization which seeks to build a moral agenda which “uplifts our deepest moral and constitutional values to redeem the heart and soul of our country.” They refuse to accept that the most important moral issues of the day are prayer in public schools, abortion, and property rights, instead insisting that our national moral issues are how we treat the vulnerable - poor, women, LGBTQ people, children, workers, immigrants, communities of color, and the sick.

I’ve heard Rev. Barber’s speeches, I’ve read his books and now I’ve learned with him in person. I don't know if I have ever been as impressed with a moral leader in America as I am with Reverend Barber.

His spiritual commitment inspires me. I fail far more often than I succeed, but my spiritual ambition is to be as Moshe was, an עבד נאמן, a servant aligned with the will of the Source of all Life. The Torah and its traditions are my best tool for doing that. In Reverend Barber I see a spiritual commitment which not only echoes and amplifies my own, but which is the basis of my own commitment to justice.

Beyond that, his focus on policy results inspires me. As the president of the North Carolina NAACP, he built a fusion coalition which brought together folks from a diverse array of racial, religious and economic backgrounds. This only happened as the result of many one-on-one conversations and many community meetings, plenty of which I’m sure were too long, too boring and too inconveniently scheduled. Yet it was in part the strength of that coalition which led to the defeat of Governor Pat McCrory, a Tea Party darling.

If we ever hope to fulfill the words of the prophet Amos, and bring about a time when justice rolls down like waters,    and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream, it will be because communities like Beacon Hebrew Alliance banded together with organizations like the Bard Prison Initiative and Repairers of the Breach.

I hope you’ll join me and this whole community as we step forward towards justice.