Press release from Monmouth Reform Temple
In an announcement earlier this week, Monmouth Reform Temple announced that social activist and motivational speaker Keshia Thomas will be the special guest speaker at the Shabbat evening service on Friday, March 11. During the service that begins at 7 p.m., Ms. Thomas will speak on the topic of “The Power of One.”
Keshia Thomas gained national prominence as a teenager in Ann Arbor, Michigan. In 1996, in an incident pictured here, she threw herself on a white man to protect him from the beatings of an angry mob who believed he was a supporter of the Ku Klux Klan. A high school student at the time, she chose to become a human shield for a man she did not know. That moment propelled her on a path of social justice that reverberates through her to this day. Last summer, she participated in America’s March for Justice, walking the entire 1000 mile path from Selma, AL, to Washington, DC.
“Meeting Keshia brought new light into my justice work,” Rabbi Marc Kline of Monmouth Reform Temple explains. “She is a tremendous young lady with a passion bent on changing the world.”
Ms. Thomas adds that “The biggest thing you can do is just be kind to another human being. It can come down to eye contact, or a smile. It doesn’t have to be a huge monumental act.”
For further information, visit Monmouth Reform Temple here or call (732)747-9365.
