Rabbi arrests during Civil Rights movement remembered

The St Augustine Jewish Historical Society informed Historic City News reporters that the largest mass arrest of Rabbis in the United States occurred here in St Augustine on June 18, 1964.

Society members, guests and interested participants, will gather to mark the 49th anniversary of the arrests at 12:00 noon, on Tuesday, June 18th across the street from the arrest site; now the Hilton Garden Inn, located at 32 Avenida Menendez in St Augustine.

A week after Rev Dr Martin Luther King, Jr was arrested here, he appealed to his friend, Springfield, New Jersey Rabbi Israel Dresner, to come down to St Augustine “with as many Rabbis as possible”.

Rabbi Merrill Shapiro, President of the St Augustine Jewish Historical Society, was a religious schoolteacher at Temple Sha’arey Shalom in 1964 when fifteen Jews were arrested while praying in an integrated group in front of the restaurant of the Monson Motor Lodge.

During the 20-minute ceremony, presenters will read the two-page letter written by the Rabbis written from their cell in the St Johns County Jail on the nights of June 18 and 19, 1964.

There is no charge and no advance arrangements need be made. The commemoration event is open to the public. All are welcome.