June 7, 2024
– Pastor Carl Day
Culture Changing Christians Founder and President
This week, Pastor Carl Day of Culture Changing Christians, a close partner of the Jewish Federation of Greater Philadelphia’s Jewish Community Relations Council, shares a message about the importance of allyship between the Jewish and Black community.
Greetings Family,
I’m Pastor Carl Day of Culture Changing Christians, and I wanted to share a recent experience that was truly sobering, humbling and a blessing as part of our New Golden Age partnership with the Jewish Federation’s Jewish Community Relations Council.
For three days, members of Culture Changing Christians and members from the Jewish community led by the Jewish Community Relations Council embarked on a journey throughout Washington D.C. to take a deeper dive into our shared and respective histories and experiences both nationally and internationally. We spent a day at Capitol Hill lobbying and advocating for causes and issues that our communities are facing. This is only one step in how we are taking action beyond becoming aware of our issues – action that is much needed.
We spent a full day at the Holocaust Museum and the African American Museum. The experiences I had at these museums were truly gut wrenching and mind blowing, showcasing the resilience of our communities. Seeing the horrific histories, atrocities, and levels of hatred we have faced, while acknowledging the fight of our people that has led us to this very moment in history, was tough to see.
The resiliency of our people throughout these times, the will to remain hopeful in spite of massive amounts of loss and displacement of families, has shown me why we must continue to contend for the greater good. We are more advanced and resourced today than those that laid it all out on the line before us.
Throughout my tears at seeing the history, where millions of Jews and Blacks were slain, packed on trains and boats against their own will, I was reminded that the ancestors of both of our communities have had it far worse. We have no excuse to not join in this fight. We must not give up!
This experience also reminded me that there are many deep tragedies that are happening right now both nationally and globally due to the root of this very same hatred and evil.
Now is not the time to be negligent in being so focused on our own struggles that we neglect to see other’s issues and oppression. After spending time at those museums, I believe that those tragedies were some of the biggest drivers to the ultimate separation of the Black and Jewish communities. Some had become silent in their own success, and others became solely focused on their own suffering.
This same type of hatred has now reared its ugly head amongst both communities in America. The wakeup call is here, and instead of avoidance, we must choose action for all of our communities, lest we give way for victory to evil.
My hope is that we continue to create pathways to truly support each other and lean on our faith to never lose hope in this fight.
Understand that our compassion for everyone else beyond our communities is important too, so that our witness before this world will be one of love, unity, justice and peace, the way G-d would desire it.
May G-d Bless Us All.
A Message from Michael
I want to thank Pastor Day for his insightful words and his continued allyship. Advocating for the shared interests of our respective communities has always been, and will continue to be, a priority of the Jewish Federation. Now more than ever, we must rely on the strength and solidarity of our allies to help us through these tragic times.
This past week, a number of Hezbollah rocket attacks in northern Israel triggered a series of rapidly growing fires. Even though many news sources did not share this story, our team in Israel was able to send us information about these fires soon after they broke out.
As a volunteer firefighter, I know how deadly and dangerous fires like this can be, and I pray for the safety of everyone living in northern Israel.
Am Yisrael Chai.
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