Rabbi Saul Berman addressed the entire Yeshivat Frisch student body and faculty on Monday, as part of the school’s Martin Luther King Jr. Day commemoration. Rabbi Berman, a renowned professor of Jewish Studies at Yeshiva University and adjunct professor of law at Columbia University, was also a civil rights activist who marched in Alabama at the height of the nonviolent protest movement led by Dr. King in the 1960s. In his talk, Rabbi Berman discussed historical events from the Civil Rights period as well as recounted personal stories from his time in Selma.

In addition to Rabbi Berman’s talk, Frisch’s Judaic and general studies departments incorporated MLK Day throughout Monday’s classes. The Chumash and Talmud departments learned Torah sources, including excerpts from Civil Rights era shiurim, about universal human dignity; the history department examined the life and activism of Dr. King and discussed via historical and contemporary sources how his legacy can be brought into the 21st century; the English department delved into photographs, speeches and letters from the era of segregation and the Civil Rights Movement; and the math department explored specific areas of racial inequality through the lens of data literacy.