Rabbi Aryeh Cohen

Rabbi Dr. Aryeh Cohen, whose most recent book is "Justice In the City: An Argument from Rabbinic Sources," teaches rabbinic literature at the Ziegler School for Rabbinic Studies of the American Jewish University in Los Angeles, where he chaired the Rabbinic Studies program from 2001-2005. He is a board member of Clergy and Laity United for Economic Justice—Los Angeles, and T'ruah: The Rabbinic Call for Human Rights, and a past president of the Progressive Jewish Alliance. He was a founder of the Jewish Community Justice Project in partnership with Bet Tshuvah; the JCJP trains mediators to help bring resolution to non-violent crimes by facilitating a conversation between victim and offender. He blogs at Justice in the City.

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Faith and Practice

A Time for Righteous Rage (Not Macho Anger): Martin Luther King Jr & the Modern-Day Mishnaic Sage

By Rabbi Aryeh Cohen

Around this time every year we memorialize the Martin Luther King who was a peacemaker, a conciliator, a lover and not a hater. In reality, the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr was the master of the thunderous cadences of righteous rage. The Jewish community is rightfully proud of the picture of Abraham Joshua Heschel marching with Martin Luther King and thousands of others into and through the forces of evil in Selma, Alabama.

We must, however, ask ourselves: “What have we done to earn that legacy?”

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