Op-Ed: Martin Luther King’s Dream Wasn’t His

Writing for media platform Medium, Crown Heights comedian Moshe Kravitsky shares his thoughts on Martin Luther King Jr. Day:

Recently, I was sitting in the back of an Uber car. If there’s one thing Jews know how to do in the cavernous space of awkward silence, it’s shmoozing. So the driver and I are exchanging thoughts and he tells me how he’s down on his luck financially. He references how the guys who founded Uber; Travis Kalanik and Garret Camp are insanely wealthy now that Uber is valued at approximately 50 billion dollars. “Also” he added “it’s not fair because they were wealthy to begin with. I’ll never be rich, and will struggle my whole life.”

“You know what we should do?” I said. “We should come up with the next Uber. Me and you. Right here and now.”

“You have an idea?” he asked.

I thought a bit and said “How about this. People want ice-cream at all hours of the day and night. Winter, summer. So why not start an Uber app for Ice-cream truck drivers?” Think about it, folks. A husband with a pregnant wife would gladly shell out a minimum $20 delivery charge instead of leaving his home at 2 am for a large chocolate-chocolate chunk milkshake; not to mention having to find a parking spot when he gets home. I gave the guy full rights to run with the idea and claim his billions.

But his earlier words struck a chord with me. Should we just chalk it up to this being one of those “dumb luck” Scenarios? The conversation went deeper.

“Let’s think about this.” I said. “Before there was Uber, the founders had to wait for a taxi in the rain one too many times in order to think ‘There has to be a better way to do this. Those specific circumstances lead to the birth of Uber. And though they’re billionaires today, this is no case of dumb luck. G-d looked down in the world and saw several million unemployed people in desperate need of a way to support their families, and set the stage so that the founders would wait one too many a time for a taxi in the rain, and VIOLA! Millions of drivers can now feed their families. Nothing’s by accident! Not the exact dates the founders needed a taxi, not the rain or gusts of wind that irked them, and certainly not even the stench in the street (if there was one) that made them think ‘ENOUGH!’

One last idea with Uber, how many millions of combined hours did uber save its passengers in waiting for a taxi to stop for them this month alone?

Today is Martin Luther King Day.

It’s frightening to think that just several decades ago, an exhausted mother with groceries and children in tow were forced to sit/stand in the back of the bus even though there were plenty of available seats in the front. Or that laundromats would hang up signs that read “We wash for white people only!”

It makes your blood boil! Why?! On whose authority was any of this okay?!!! Call me crazy for getting angry and pointing a finger at the self-righteous white oppressors of society back then, but just because you’ve got more strength in muscle to bully others around doesn’t make you a better anything! The so-called “leaders” back then were nothing more than hungry savages who disguised their thirst for blood with an easy excuse “Well, it’s not like we’re condemning them to slavery again. We’re just suggesting that they’re not as human as the rest of us, and therefore, segregating them is the right thing to do for the good of the future of this society. And so, just like you don’t let cattle ride in the same train car as you, we’ll keep them on the back of the bus; separate from the rest of us.”

Irrrrrrrgg! How did anyone let this fly!?

And then came Dr. Martin Luther King. A humble and humbled leader who just had ”it!”

The sincerity, the honesty, the diplomacy, the charm, the VOICE, THE DREAM, THE TRUTH! He had …….“IT”

The words the world needed so badly to hear it hurt. The message that “ALL MEN ARE CREATED EQUAL” And that one day in the not so distant future we will live in a nation where people “will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.”

As I am a Chabad Lubavitcher Hasidic Jew, living in Crown Heights Brooklyn, and have studied the teachings of the Lubavitcher Rebbe, I can share with you today that Just as Joseph’s dreams weren’t his and openly proclaimed to a sleepless Pharoh looking for the meaning of his disturbing dreams “what God is doing He has told Pharaoh.” through the dreams.

Within a few years of Pharoh’s dream, the entire land of Egypt had food to eat because Joseph recognized that this was more than just a dream. This was a G-dly communication readying the world to batten down the hatches as a famine is coming. And it was something none of Pharoh’s star-gazers or necromancers could have ever foreseen. Only through the humble transparency of Yosef who connected to G-d’s thoughts and direct NEEDS was Yosef able to save millions of Egyptians from certain death by hunger.

And so too only several decades ago. The world was STARVING for truth, for LIFE, and to rid itself of baseless hatred. Precisely then, G-d introduced a “Dream” to the world through one of its most transparent, humble soft-spoken and sincere dreamers of our time. One of the boldest LEADERS of our times; Dr. Martin Luther King; whose voice still radiates today with millions and BILLIONS of smiles on the faces of little children, of the children of yesteryear who grew up in a BETTER world because of this giant, and with countless hashtags of social media users seeking to rekindle the flame of their surroundings with the fire once held by Dr. King.

But let us remember where the fire came from. Without a question, beyond any doubt, from G-d Almighty who entrusted his DIVINE communication with one of the greatest leaders of our time; Dr. King. Yes, I know this wasn’t an actual dream….but maybe it was. Somehow, the ideas in his mind couldn’t be contained to just his mind any longer. It had to pave the way in a very real tangible world that’s longing to free itself of the darkness of oppression.

On that note, let us also remember that G-d has a Dream, a NEED for ALL of us to serve HIM with every thought, deed, and action of ours. The circumstances in which we find ourselves today — all of our challenges, most inner desires, struggles, triumphs OUR DREAMS — THEY’RE. NOT. OURS. They are G-dly communications in our lives that point us in the direction in which G-d NEEDS us to serve Him.

In closing, this Tuesday night will mark the 65th anniversary of the Passing of the Previous Lubavitcher Rebbe; Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak Schneerson whose life’s mission was to ensure the carrying of the Torch of Judaism will still proceed through 2016 and beyond. To do this meant fighting the communists who tried ever-so-hard to extinguish the flames of humanity by wiping the values of the Torah away from the world.

In 1951, one year after his passing, his son in law, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson took the mantle of Leadership of Chabad, and continued the mission by showing every single follower how to become a leader, and sending thousands of Rabbis all over the world to kindle millions of Jews and non-jews alike..

You too must know that you are a leader. The very proof is that much like Dr. King, you have a dream. So long as you understand where dreams, desires to do good, and all source of blessings of life come from, don’t be afraid to to share those dreams with others. For maybe your dream, followed by your actions will be the one the world is waiting for. The one G-d needs to come and wake us all up to an era where the ultimate dream of one world unified under ONE G-d will finally become more……than just a dream.

Moshe Kravitsky lives in crown heights, and raises funds for Yad L’Shliach, a humanitarian fund which helps support Emissaries of the Lubavitcher Rebbe; struggling financially with the personal needs of their family. Moshe is also an actor and youtuber. In the summer, when racial tensions were on fire, Moshe made this video on the subway to show the world no matter who you are, or where you come from, we can all aspire to be more! The video has 259k views to date: http://bit.ly/1PbITrh.