Shabbat Heard Around the World: A Call to Conscience

Daniel Sieradski, New Milford Class of '98 and former publisher and editor-in-chief of Jewschool, a popular weblog, has never placed value in "talking the talk." He's all about "walking the walk."

He believes that to reach people you must touch them--with your words, with your actions, with your passion for what you believe is right. 

Called a "fresh faced iconoclast ... redefining American Judaism," by B'nai B'rith Magazine in 2005, and included in The Forward 50, as one of the 50 most influential American Jews, Sieradski is not one to put much weight on those accolades. To change the world he believes that you must be an agent of that change. 

For Sieradski, Occupy Wall Street is a community affair. "This is my city taking a stand," he says. He believes that it's the most inspiring and empowering event that has served to bring people together since 9/11.

Yom Kippur coincided with Shabbat this year. What has become the "Shabbat heard around the world," began as a suggestion by a rabbi that Sieradski organize a Yom Kippur Kol Nidre at Occupy Wall Street.

Sieradski had already organized a small Shabbat at the demonstration the week before for a few friends, and the suggestion that he organize a Yom Kippur Kol Nidre, which was only two days away, "was crazy."

However, Sieradski slept on it, and when he awoke he decided to do it and started to notify his friends through Facebook and Twitter. 

Sieradski went to the Occupy Wall Street General Assembly to help him find a large well-lit space where he could hold the service because there was no room in Zuccotti Park, the site of the protest. He was instructed to use the plaza of Brown Brothers Harriman, a building directly across from Zuccotti Park. By using this site for Yom Kippur service, he would also, in effect, be expanding the occupation.

In his invitation, Sieradski informed people to be prepare for the possibility of being arrested and told them to be polite should that happen. Nothing happened. 

What did happen was Facebook, Twitter and Tumblr. After he sent his initial notices to his friends, people let their fingers do the walking to spread the word of the Yom Kippur Kol Nidre service, resulting in a gathering of approximately 1000 people. Many were a part of the movement, many were not, but all gathered together in circles around a table with a blue tablecloth, a vase of flowers and a Torah on loan from an Orthodox synagogue that was carried in a box five long city blocks to the service by Jeanette Friedman, Sieradski's mother.

The service was led by Avi Fox-Rosen, a musician and singer, and Sarah Wolf and Getzel Davis, students at the Jewish Theological Seminary of America and Hebrew College. Sieradski said that every denomination of Judaism was represented.

Having all those people gathered together in one spot partaking in such a peaceful, solemn ceremony, illuminated by the glow of the lights from the Brown Brothers Harriman building was "the most meaningful Jewish prayer sevice I've ever attended," Sieradski said. 

Central to the Yom Kippur Kol Nidre service is the reading of Isaiah 58 where Isaiah, speaking for God, says: "Is this what you call a fast? This is what I call a fast: Let the oppressed go free. Break every chain. Share your food with the hungry. Clothe the naked when you see him. Do not ignore a needy relative. Then, and only then, will the light beat the darkness. Only then will your wounds heal." 

To understand these words is to know the essence of Daniel Sieradski, he said. Hearing those words spoken during Occupy Wall Street with the hum of energy from Zuccotti Park reverberating over the service, Sieradski felt that they were "fulfilling the exhortation of the prophet Isaiah to stand with those in need against those in power."

On Wednesday, Sieradski is planning on putting up a sukkah. "It will be interesting to see if the police ask us to remove it."