Last night, I attended the Bergen County community-wide MLK commemoration at Temple Emeth in Teaneck. Their sanctuary was packed. The honoree, an Episcopalian minister from Teaneck, spoke highly of their church’s partnership with one of the shuls in town in stocking and maintaining their food pantry. The mayor spoke, as did the county executive. It was an uplifting community evening.

Besides myself, I counted two other
chovshei kippot in the 500 or so folks there. One of them was the rabbi of Temple Emeth. Since Temple Emeth was the host, I’m guessing there were a good number of their members there, and perhaps some from Beth Sholom as well. I’m new in Teaneck, so I’m not aware of past politics that would keep the Orthodox Jewish community from participating in this event. But I was embarrassed, especially when the minister heaped praise on the Jewish community, that we were conspicuously absent. I know that our frum community takes great pride in being active participants in TVAC. But last night, in our Bergen MLK event, where were the kippot?