The community is invited to a special Shabbat Service in honor of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. on Friday, January 17, 2025, at 7 p.m. at Beth Israel, 2501 Shore Road, Northfield, NJ 08225. The service will feature the Third Annual Beth Israel/NAACP Spirit of MLK Awards presented to six area high school seniors, as well as a keynote address from a national award-winning author and participation from community religious leaders and choirs.
Rabbi Michael L. Feshbach and Cantor Marshall Portnoy will lead a Shabbat service that intersperses traditional Jewish liturgy with readings about civil rights, including Dr. Martin Luther King’s iconic “I have a dream” speech. There will be performances by Beth Israel’s new choir, led by Cantor Portnoy, and the Inspirational Choral Ensemble of the Second Baptist Church of Atlantic City, led by Pastor Collins Days.
The keynote address will be given by Michael Twitty, winner of the National Jewish Book Award for Kosher Soul: the Food and Faith Journey of an African American Jew. Twitty is a culinary historian and food writer from the Washington D.C. area. He has appeared on Bizarre Foods America with Andrew Zimmern, Many Rivers to Cross with Henry Louis Gates and Taste the Nation with Top Chef’s Padma Lakshmi. His 2017 book, The Cooking Gene, traced his ancestry through food from Africa to America and from slavery to freedom. It was a finalist for The Kirkus Prize and The Art of Eating Prize and a third-place winner of Barnes & Noble’s Discover New Writer’s Awards in Nonfiction. The Cooking Gene then won two James Beard Awards in 2018, for best writing as well as book of the year, making him the first Black author so awarded.
A highlight of the evening will be the Third Annual Beth Israel/NAACP Spirit of MLK Awards by Rabbi Michael Feshbach and Imam Amin Muhammad to six local high school students: Elon Lomax, Atlantic City High School; Charlene Harlan, Atlantic County Institute of Technology; Keniyah Johnson, Cedar Creek High School; Ethan Hirsh, Egg Harbor Township High School; Gavin Batohie, Mainland Regional High School; and John Howard, Pleasantville High School. The students submitted essays on what they would change in the community, nation, or world in the spirit of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. As part of the service, the students will read their essays.
A special reception will follow the service in Beth Israel’s Ashner Auditorium Social Hall. All are invited to attend.
The largest Reform congregation on the Mainland in South Jersey, Beth Israel is a warm and welcoming home to generations of families who play a vital and integral part in synagogue life. A full-service congregation, Beth Israel welcomes diversity, interfaith families, LGBTQ Jews and partners, Jews of color, and all types of modern Jewish families, wherever they may be found on their personal Jewish journey. For more information on our educational programs, contact us at (609) 641-3600 or email us at bethisrael@cbinorthfield.org. Learn more at Beth Israel at https://bethisraelnorthfield.org.
