Social Action

Celebrate Juneteenth!

Adat Shalom is proud to co-sponsor, along with many other Jewish congregations and churches, activities celebrating the federal holiday of Juneteenth.  June 19,1865 is the date that  U.S. troops enforced the Emancipation Proclamation and freed the last enslaved Black Americans in Texas, three years after the Proclamation was announced.

Adat Shalom is co-sponsoring two sets of partially overlapping Juneteenth programming, involving activities coordinated, respectively, by Washington Hebrew Congregation and the Scotland Community of Potomac. We hope Adat Shalom members will participate in them.

The WHC Jews of Color Affinity Group has put together a series of events (https://www.whctemple.org/event_tag/jews-of-color/) beginning on June 13th with the showing of a short film, “Black x Jewish” at the DC JCC, followed by a panel discussion including the film’s director, Lacey Schwartz Delgado. A Juneteenth Community hybrid Shabbat Service (in person at Temple in DC) on June 16th will feature Rabbi Micah Lapidus and Baptist gospel singer Melvin Myles who have created music to bring people together and overcome differences. WHC is also promoting the Scotland Juneteenth festivities on June 19th, with a particular focus on an interfaith social justice discussion about “What It Means to be a Good Neighbor.” This will take place at the Cabin John Village Mall, from 9am – 4pm.

The Scotland Community has an extraordinary array of activities planned for the extended Juneteenth weekend (https://www.juneteenthscotland.org/schedule). Of particular interest, on June 16th a service will take place at the Doubletree Hotel in Gaithersburg from 6pm – 8pm, on “How to Make Change”, celebrating the 90th birthday of Joyce Siegel, a pioneering supporter of Scotland. On June 18th, Scotland will host a kosher breakfast ($20) and Interfaith Worship Service at the Doubletree Hotel from 9:30am – 11am, with the theme, “Zion: A People, A Place, A Praise”. Rabbi Evan Krame, from The Jewish Studio and a former Adat Shalom Torah School teacher, will be one of the clergy participating in the service.

Monday, June 19 Scotland AME Zion Church Juneteenth Celebration Potomac, MD: Join in the Juneteenth Celebration at the Scotland AME Church in Rockville at Cabin John Mall and Cabin John Regional Park.