Title: A Human Rights Odyssey: From Dreams Deferred to Reconciliation
Author: Jeffrey Gale
Publisher: Page Publishing, Inc.
ISBN: 979-8893157949
Pages: 537
Genre: Fiction / Religion & Spirituality
Synopsis
It is August 2014. Rabbi Isaac Levin’s dream has been realized. Rodef Tzedek synagogue has provided a home for secular and other faith-based organizations in northern Manhattan. This community center would become a “city on a hill,” a model of interfaith cooperation.
Two tragedies spoke out against this wonderful milestone: the shooting of Michael Brown, an African American man in Ferguson, Missouri; and the murder of Tina Fontaine, a young indigenous girl in Winnipeg, Manitoba. As Rabbi Levin comes to terms with these senseless deaths, he reflects upon the events of his past that have molded his passion for social justice.
Isaac Levin’s human rights odyssey begins in the suburbs of St. Louis during the Civil Rights Movement. There he is influenced by a progressively minded school system, inspired by a rabbi who marched with Martin Luther King and befriended by a brilliant warm-hearted Black student. The odyssey takes him to the inner city of Hamilton, Ohio where he tutors Black children, to a courtroom in Birmingham, England where he is an eyewitness to discrimination against People of Color, to Paris where he meets his French cousin who saved the lives of Jewish children during the German occupation, to three cities in the former Soviet Union, Moscow, Leningrad, and Kiev where he teaches and comforts refuseniks, to a federal penitentiary where he fights for justice for the Jewish inmates, to the Canadian cities of Winnipeg and Regina, where he witnesses the hardships of First Nations people and prepares a Cree girl for bat mitzvah, to Long Island where he leads his congregation through the horrors of 9/11 and seeks to combat Islamophobia, to America’s Deep South and Washington, DC, where he co-leads an interfaith Civil Rights mission, and finally back to his former high school where he shares his insights with a new generation of young people.
A Human Rights Odyssey is a heartwarming story of the spiritual growth of Isaac Levin through the decades. It speaks lovingly of the people who mentored him throughout his journey and the power of a lifelong interracial friendship. It is a plea for all of us to embrace the wonderful diversity of humanity, to treat all people equally, and to build an inclusive society.
About the Author
Rabbi Jeffrey Gale was born in St. Louis, Missouri. He grew up during the intense years of the Civil Rights movement which has heavily impacted upon the trajectory of his career. He received his bachelor’s degree from Miami University in Oxford, Ohio and became an ordained rabbi at Leo Baeck College in London, England. Rabbi Gale served pulpits in England, Canada, and the United States. As a pulpit rabbi in England, he was an active member of the Soviet Jewry Committee of the Reform Synagogues of Great Britain and made two trips to the former Soviet Union in 1981 and 1983. As a prison chaplain in Jackson, Michigan, he was a champion of civil rights for inmates. In Canada, he heavily interacted with the indigenous community. In Wantagh, New York, he lead his congregation through the turbulent days surrounding 9/11 and fought mightily against Islamophobia. In Washington Heights, he volunteered at an afternoon school for Latinx youth and became involved in the sanctuary movement. Rabbi Gale’s passion for social justice is profoundly reflected in his writing. At present, he is retired and is devoting much of his time to writing.