The quiet voices

the long version

By exploring the motivations and subsequent behavior of a variety of rabbis in different parts of the South both before and during the civil rights struggle, the contributors in this volume provide a more complete understanding of the involvement of southern rabbis with black civil rights. The essays in this volume are among the first detailed case studies of both well-known and hitherto little-known individuals whose actions were based on their beliefs in prophetic Judaism, their consciousness of the Jewish historical experience, and their own exposure to discrimination. Contrary to earlier research that found limited southern rabbinical support for the civil rights movement, this volume demonstrates that rabbis did act even when concerned with personal security and desire for acceptance.