Orthodox Jewry And The Civil Rights Movement

In our time, the Orthodox community has reclaimed its voice in the fight for social justice. In particular, Orthodox students in colleges and day schools regularly volunteer to serve on activist missions in America and abroad. I recall my astonishment in 2006 as part of a 300-person YU delegation that traveled to a Save Darfur rally in Washington, D.C.

To explain that return to activism, we might offer a whole new set of historical variables unrelated to the efforts of earlier Orthodox preachers and protestors. Still, we may nevertheless take stock and celebrate the work of those who labored before us.