1.....Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel (d.1972) and his martini came to mind as I read this “On Faith” assignment: “We know what ‘Jewish identity’ has meant in the past. What will it mean in the future? How does a minority religion retain its roots and embrace change?"

Of all the Jews I have known, Abe Heschel best represents the Jewish mind in its affirmation of roots, exploration of range, and adjustment to change. A master of Judaism’s formative literature, he lived a profound spirituality through his Orthodox, Reform, and Conservative periods, had more Christian readers than any other rabbi of his time, and was a vigorous proponent of justice in ecumenical and political life.

2.....His martini? My sharpest memory of him is not the public image of his marching at Selma with Martin Luther King Jr. It was of a cocktail party. We were in close conversation, both of us leaning on the curve of a Steinway. When I mentioned the name of the then-President of the United States, Richard Nixon, Heschel so trembled with rage that, fearing its spilling, he set his martini down on the piano. (Also, so that he could use both hands to talk.) Of Selma, he later said “My feet were praying.” Of that experience at an authors’ Manhattan party, he could have said “My hand trembled.” (As for Nixon, a few years later, in his last interview with David Frost, he confessed that he had betrayed everyone and everything he ever loved.)

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