Highway Adopted by Neo-Nazi Group Renamed for Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel

Aaron Keyak — June 22, 2009 – 2:35 pm | Civil Liberties | Civil Rights Comments (1) Add a comment

When the neo-Nazi National Socialist Movement adopted a highway in Missouri last year, state officials felt powerless to stop it. But this week, they turned the tide by passing a bill through the state legislature renaming that same stretch of highway “Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel Memorial Highway.” After escaping Nazi Germany, Heschel moved to America and became a leader of American Jewry and prominent Civil Rights leader - becoming friends with the Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. and marching with him at the Selma Civil Rights March in 1965.

Missouri State Rep. Sara Lampe, the sponsor of the bill, commented that “Memorial highways are about people we honor and we value. Adopt-a-Highway signs are self-requested. Any business can request a sign.” The governor of Missouri has expressed support and is expected to sign it into law soon. To read more, click here.

**UPDATE: Susannah Heschel, Rabbi Heschel’s daughter and a Jewish theologian in her own right, has expressed her disapproval of this bill. In an article in the Bufalo News this week, she said:

“I don’t want Nazis stomping on a highway named for my father… It may be an attempt to teach the neo-Nazis a lesson, but I think it’s an affront to my father’s dignity to attach his name to a neo-Nazi highway.”

Click here to read more about Susannah Heschel’s thoughts.

 

 

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