Jan. 16, 2026 – Vaera

Pillar of Strength When Things Keep Getting Worse: Rosa Parks and the 70th Anniversary
of the Montgomery Boy Boycott

We gather tonight for Martin Luther King Jr. Shabbat after another long and difficult week for our nation. The message of tonight’s speaker, Professor Nikki Brown, promises to bring hope and inspiration after the death this week of Claudette Colvin, who was arrested for refusing to give up her seat before Rosa Parks engaged in the same act of protest; the arson attack on Beth Israel Congregation in Jackson, Miss., our sister Reform congregation and Institute of Southern Jewish Life partner; and anger and outrage in Minneapolis in the aftermath of the killing of Rose Nicole Good by an agent of ICE.

From last Friday morning through this past Monday night, I was with our 10-grade students at a Religious Action Center’s social justice seminar for teens in Washington. When our students met with staffers from Sen. Mitch McConnell and Rep. Andy Barr’s offices to lobby for the Pray Safe Act, they shared personal stories of the antisemitic bullying they have experienced. They also included a nugget of hard truth: “Things will get worse before they get better.”

This assertion bears out in the opening chapters of Exodus we read this month, just as it did during the Civil Rights Movement. In last week’s Torah portion, the result of Moses confronting Pharaoh is more work and more beatings. The plagues that start in this week’s portion and extend into the next do nothing to improve living conditions for the enslaved Hebrews until the death of the firstborn proves to be more than Pharaoh and his inner circle can endure. The Montgomery bus boycott lasted for more than a year. Reverend King and Reverend Ralph Abernathy’s homes were firebombed as were four Black Baptist churches. Scores of boycott leaders and carpool drivers were indicted. Hundreds of boycotters lost their jobs. Families that were barely scraping by chose to scrape by with even less.

In 1963, Dr. Abraham Joshua Heschel said the following at a conference on race and religion: “At the first conference on religion and race, the main participants were Pharaoh and Moses. Moses’ words were: ‘Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, let My people go.’ While Pharaoh retorted: ‘Who is the Lord, that I should heed this voice and let Israel go? I do not know the Lord, and moreover I will not let Israel go.’ The outcome of that summit meeting has not come to an end. Pharaoh is not ready to capitulate. The exodus began, but is far from having been completed. In fact, it was easier for the children of Israel to cross the Red Sea than for a Negro to cross certain university campuses.”

May the courage of Rosa Parks and others who risked so much during the Montgomery bus boycott remind us that real progress demands persistence and sacrifice. May the words of Dr. Heschel remind us that while the names and nations of pharaohs differ, their attitude and aggression remain the same. And may the message of tonight’s speaker move us to take sustained action in the name of truth, justice and peace.

Shabbat Shalom,
Rabbi David Wirtschafter