When we recall Bloody Sunday — March 7, 1965 — in Selma, Alabama, the names of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., Andrew Young and John Lewis roll off the tongue. Rarely does one hear about Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel.
But Heschel was there, alongside King at the front of the march, having brushed off warnings that he would be risking his life.
Indeed, Heschel was the “prophet” in the cause of civil rights, Young states in a new film.
“It was almost like you had somebody walk right out of the Old Testament and get in the front of the line,” he says.
The film — “Spiritual Audacity: The Abraham Joshua Heschel Story” — captures not only Heschel’s courage under fire on civil rights, but also his stands on other moral challenges of his day: the Vietnam War, the plight of Jews in the Soviet Union and other injustices.
“If I see evil in another human being, it is an indication there must be evil in me and vice versa,”…
