Sermon by Rabbi Milton Grafman, September 19, 1963
Rabbi Milton Grafman found himself caught between the realities of southern Jewish life and civil rights activists. In 1963, Birmingham's 16th Street Baptist Church was bombed, killing several African American children. Rosh Hashana began that same Tuesday evening. In his sermon on Rosh Hashana morning, Rabbi Grafman expressed his horror at the violence and asserted that white citizens in Birmingham needed to help make things right.
Courtesy of the American Jewish Archives