Juneteenth Shabbat With Cory Booker

In honor of Juneteenth Shabbat, Temple Emanu-El is honored to welcome Senator Cory Booker, the junior United States senator from New Jersey.

In 1863, President Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation, officially freeing 3.5 million enslaved African-Americans in the Confederate states. However, the order was not enforceable until Confederate states came under Union control. Tragically, as the Union Army gradually moved across the South, many slaveholders fled to Texas to evade freeing the enslaved people they held and concealing their freedom from them. Nearly two and a half years later, on June 19th, 1865, freedom finally came to the 250,000 enslaved Black residents of Galveston Bay, Texas on June 19, 1865, a holiday celebrated in the Black community as Juneteenth ever since and, since 2022, as a US federal holiday.

As Jews, we have a special appreciation of the importance of commemorating emancipation, as we do every Passover. We are honored that Senator Cory Booker has agreed to join us this year, as we observe 158 years of liberation and remember the suffering of previous generations who did not survive to experience it.

The former mayor of Newark, NJ, first elected to the US Senate in 2013, Senator Booker has a long history as a voice for those who have been left out and as an activist on behalf of those left behind. Although a Baptist, he also has a long relationship with Judaism and the Jewish community. Having studied Torah and served as co-president of the L’Chaim Society when he was a Rhodes scholar at Oxford University, he co-founded the Shabtai Global Leadership Society while at Yale Law.

Welcome to Temple Emanu-El. Whether near or far, we’re glad you could join our congregational family to welcome Shabbat with us. Services are every Friday at 6:00 PM and Saturday at 10:30 AM. If you have questions or are considering membership, call us at 212-744-1400.

Questions? Please contact us at 212-744-1400 or temple@emanuelnyc.org.