Roni Ben-David, Director of Social Justice and Inclusion
Here are 6 ways you can honor Dr. Martin Luther King’s legacy.
- Music can open our hearts and help us feel connected to one another and our environment. Check out the MLK 2026 Music Festival in Yerba Buena Gardens (SF) this Monday, Jan. 19th. 1 – 3:30 on the lawn. Free and open to all ages!
- Participate in service! “Repair the World” is offering two opportunities:
Habitat Restoration (SF, Jan. 17 @ 10 am)
Housing Justice project with Jewish Teens (Jan. 18, location TBD)
You can soak up the sun as you volunteer with Golden Gate Parks or East Bay Regional Parks too! - Visit the Museum of the African Diaspora and experience special dance, film, art, and music programs. It’s free to the public on Monday!
- Feel inspired at the annual Interfaith Eveningsong, where participants offer prayers, music, and inspirational readings from various religious and spiritual traditions. “The event’s atmosphere is one of reverence and hope, invoking Dr. King’s dream of a world where people of all faiths and backgrounds can join hands in the pursuit of social justice.” On Jan. 18th, 3pm, at Grace Cathedral (SF.)
- Check out some of Dr. King’s most powerful speeches by streaming them while walking in nature or hanging out on the couch!
- Smile at a neighbor, call a relative, buy coffee for the stranger behind you in line…our tradition teaches that even small acts of kindness are significant, and likely have a ripple effect beyond our understanding!
P.S. Check out this “Talmud of MLK Jr’s Speech” provided by AJWS!
“Love is creative and redemptive. Love builds up and unites; hate tears down and destroys. The aftermath of the ‘fight with fire’ method which you suggest is bitterness and chaos, the aftermath of the love method is reconciliation and creation of the beloved community. Physical force can repress, restrain, coerce, destroy, but it cannot create and organize anything permanent; only love can do that.”
—Martin Luther King, Jr., 1957
