By Philip Sean Curran, Staff Writer
Some inside the Princeton Jewish Center held hands Monday night as Catherine Williams sang in her soprano voice the words of the civil rights song “We Shall Overcome.”
An estimated 150 to 175 people gathered at the synagogue on Nassau Street for an annual Martin Luther King Jr. Day celebration, an ecumenical service that rotates between houses of worship.
The roughly 90-minute service, led by different clergy members, celebrated the slain civil rights leader’s life.
Rabbi Adam Feldman, leader of the synagogue, used his introductory remarks to tie in King Day falling on the same date as President Barack Obama’s ceremonial swearing in to a second term.
”How incredible it was to watch an African-American speak today from one end of the Washington Mall, when it was 50 years ago when another great African-American spoke from the other end of that same mall,” he said. “As I said to my children when we watched it earlier today, if it was not for the speech that Dr. King made in front of the Lincoln Memorial in 1963, I’m not sure President Obama would have been able to make his speech in front of the Capitol building today.”
Song and prayer were woven into the service, one of two locally marking King Day. Earlier in the day, Princeton University had a service on campus in Richardson Auditorium.
In her sermon, the Rev. Muriel Burrows, pastor of the Witherspoon Street Presbyterian Church, the historically black congregation founded in the 1830s, spoke out against gun violence and defended addressing politically sensitive topics from the pulpit.
”I believe it is our houses of worships’ fear of being political that disables our prophetic voice, leaving us with as Dr. King said a weak, ineffectual voice with an uncertain sound,” said Ms. Burrows, a native of South Africa. “Too often, the houses of worship whisper or say nothing at all, blessing the status quo with our preaching, helping the eyes of those who would make greed their god to remain blind.”
In his remarks, Mr. Feldman recalled the contributions of rabbis to the civil rights struggle, including the late Joachim Prinz and Abraham Heschel. In the lobby of the synagogue, there were photos of Mr. King with both men.
He recalled how the center’s past rabbi, Everett Gendler, was involved with Mr. King in the civil rights struggle in the 1960s.
”Many people who are still connected to this congregation share many stories with me about Rabbi Gendler and his passion for this cause and their admiration for his work.”

