My Legs Were Praying

Succinct, inspiring biography of a bridge-building Jewish leader, supplemented by 15 black-and-white photographsOn March 21, 1965, Martin Luther King, Jr. and other civil rights organizers led 8,000 protesters on a 54-mile march from Selma to Montgomery. They invited a distinguished group of national religious figures to join them in the front lines. One of these was Abraham Joshua Heschela gifted Jewish scholar, teacher, and speaker, whose recent book, The Prophets (1962)a detailed study of the ancient biblical champions of justice and mercywas a source of great inspiration to Dr. King and others.As Heschel walked arm-in-arm with his colleagues, he was easy to spot in the crowd: He was a short, stocky man with flowing white hair, a bushy beard, who wore a dark yarmulke (Jewish head covering). Like the prophets of old, Heschel believed that standing up for othersparticularly the most vulnerable members of societyis a sacred obligation. He later wrote, the religious person must seek to hold God and humankind in one thought at one time, suffering harm done to others, making compassion ones greatest passion.Heschel first learned these essential values as a child in Eastern Europe. This little book is his story.