Past Is Prologue – Dr. Martin Luther King’s Advice and October 7

March 25, 1968, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. delivered the keynote address at the Borscht Belt’s Concord Hotel to the annual Rabbinical Assembly of Conservative Rabbis.  He spoke to a very receptive audience about his upcoming Poor People’s March on Washington, D.C. He spoke about how ignorance, hatred, and bigotry’s enduring power are linked to economic injustice, lack of opportunities, and poverty.  He took questions afterward about the disturbing rise of antisemitic Black voices, such as H. Rap Brown and Stokely Carmichael, and the enduring problems between Israel and the Palestinians.

No one, in their most horrifying nightmares, could know that ten days later, Dr. King would be assassinated by a vicious, bloodthirsty racist in Memphis, Tennessee.

Dr. King had come to the Concord at the behest of Rabbi Everett Gendler.  The Rabbinical Assembly was honoring Dr. King’s long-time friend and ally in the American Civil Rights movement, Rabbi Abraham Heschel.  Rabbi Gendler, too, was a friend and ally of Dr. King. They had shared a cell in Georgia after being arrested for protesting hate and discrimination.  The two had marched together in Selma, Alabama, across the infamous Edmund Pettus Bridge.

Fifty-six years later, Rabbi Gendler’s daughter spoke at the dedication of the Borscht Belt Historical Marker Projects’ dedication of its eighth marker, The Borscht Belt ~ Concord Hotel, Breezy Cornes & Kiamisha Lake.  The marker is sited on the former grounds of the Concord Hotel, today the dynamic Resorts World Catskills Hotel and Casino.

The double-sided historical marker preserves the incredible story of the Borscht Belt. The Belt was the safe haven for Jews, just 90 miles north of New York City in Sullivan County, where they were welcome to relax and escape antisemitism. The Jews built a world that contributed to and changed American society, industry, culture, and economics for the better.

Historical markers have deeper stories than the few words that are on them.

William Shakespeare wrote, “Whereof what’s past is prologue; what to come, in yours and my discharge,” in his play The Tempest. In less prosaic words, the future is shaped by our decisions today. One of the images on the marker is of Dr. King speaking at the Assembly.

After completing his remarks, Dr. King took preselected questions.

He rejected that antisemitism was deeply ingrained in the Black society.  He said, “I think … antisemitism which we find in the black community is almost completely an urban Northern ghetto phenomenon, virtually non-existent in the South.”

He spoke about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

“On the Middle East crisis, we have had various responses. The response of some of the so-called young militants again does not represent

the position of the vast majority of Negroes. There are some who are color-consumed, and they see a kind of mystique in being colored, and

anything non-colored is condemned. We do not follow that course in the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, and certainly, most of

the organizations in the civil rights movement do not follow that course. I think it is necessary to say that what is basic and what is needed

in the Middle East is peace. Peace for Israel is one thing. Peace for the Arab side of that world is another thing. Peace for Israel means security,

and we must stand with all of our might to protect its right to exist, its territorial integrity. I see Israel, and never mind saying it, as one

of the great outposts of democracy in the world, and a marvelous example of what can be done, how desert land almost can be transformed

into an oasis of brotherhood and democracy. Peace for Israel means security and that security must be a reality. On the other hand, we must see what peace for the Arabs means in a real sense of security on another level. Peace for the Arabs means the kind of economic security that they so desperately need. These nations,

as you know, are part of that third world of hunger, of disease, of illiteracy. I think that as long as these conditions exist there will be

tensions, there will be the endless quest to find scapegoats. So there is a need for a Marshall Plan for the Middle East, where we lift those

who are at the bottom of the economic ladder and bring them into the mainstream of economic security.”

Dr. King’s answer was loudly applauded.  The solution for peace seemed simple.  The solution was economic and educational opportunity between Israelis and the Palestinians.

From 1967, after Egypt’s defeat in the Six-Day War, until 2005, Israel maintained a tight physical and economic grip on the Gaza Strip.  In a radically different approach to Gaza taken by Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, seemingly echoing the past prologued advice of Dr. King and the Rabbin Assembly from the Concord in 1968, Israel unilaterally withdrew from Gaza.

With the implementation of the plan, IDF installations and forces were removed, and over 9000 Israeli citizens living in 25 settlements were evicted. By September 22, 2005, no Jew remained in the Gaza Strip.  All the built-up infrastructure, industries, agricultural improvements, and even established businesses, such as a huge flower export business, were turned over to the Palestinian Authority.

The Gazans moved into the former Jewish areas and burned the synagogues, destroyed the hothouses, and shredded the gifts of economic improvement almost immediately.  Two years later, in 2007, Hamas took over the Gaza Strip.

From 2007 to October 6, 2023, Hamas took in billions of dollars of economic, social, and educational aid intended to better the lives of Gazans.  Hamas redirected most of the funding away from a path to live with Israel in peace.  Hamas built an incredible labyrinth of military tunnels while smuggling in through Egypt vast armaments. Hamas built factories for missiles to rain down on Israel.  Hamas corrupted Gazan children’s futures, reducing their educational system to hate, bigotry, and ignorance.

On October 7, returning Hamas and ordinary Gazans, after the blood horror on the Israelis, were met by crowds in Gaza cheering, throwing candy, deprecating kidnapped living and the corpses of Israeli dead brought back as macabre hostages.

Dr. King’s heralded advice, idealistically promoted by generations of Rabbis since, became the Jewish death cries of October 7, 2023.

It had gone very wrong.

Dr. King’s advice was not wrong.

President Ronald Regan warned, Trust but Verify.

Israel trusted but arrogantly did not verify.

The “Verify” part of a future peace will have to be etched in stone forever but not with Hamas, lest past becomes prologue again.

The Borscht Belt ~Concord, Breezy Corners, Kiamisha Lake text reads:

“This property was once part of the Concord Hotel. The largest Borscht Belt hotel, the Concord boasted 1,200 guest rooms, a football-field sized dining room, a 3,000-seat theater called the Imperial Room, a “Monster” golf course, and many luxurious amenities overlooking Kiamesha Lake. It hosted acts such as Judy Garland, Tony Bennett, Barbra Streisand, Jerry Seinfeld, Joan Rivers, and Aretha Franklin. In 1968, Martin Luther King Jr. delivered the keynote speech at the Rabbinical Assembly Convention at the hotel 10 days before he was assassinated. The Concord closed in 1998. This property was also once part of Breezy Corners Bungalow Colony. Breezy Corners had its own nightclub, The Revolution Room, where some of the biggest names in 1960s and 1970s music played, including Jethro Tull and Fleetwood Mac. Breezy Corners closed in 2008.  Along with about 20 hotels and 20 bungalow colonies other notable Kiamesha destinations were the Gibber, Gradus and Mayfair Hotels.”