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The Importance of Yom Hashoah and that We Never Forget

Yom HaShoah has just passed. We were privileged to hear two presentations for our Yom Hashoah Commemoration at ENJC April 17^th evening, along with a beautiful video of an interview I did with Sandra Weissman. Each of these presentations highlighted the eternal aching of the next generation for their parents' suffering, alongside a compelling drive to articulate the wisdom it teaches us, not just of being vigilant, but also activist in our own lives to help fashion societies which are tolerant and respectful of difference.

Beyond our commitment to help nurture a “never again” society for all minorities, the Shoah cannot help but remind us that life for the Jewish people is never fully safe. This conclusion seems inevitable in the face of evidence that Nazism took over a society that was formerly known as the most philosophically and culturally enlightened. No literature was more sublime than Heine or Goethe or Lessing, and no philosophy more brilliant than that of Emmanuel Kant. And yet socioeconomic conditions, combined with the worst and most deep-seated hatred and distrust of Jews, fostered the rise of the Third Reich. This paradox is part of what is entrenched in most every Jewish psyche: The inner knowledge that the irrational can suddenly seize minds and hearts and be unleashed by unseen forces. This phenomenon must be watched vigorously to the highest degree possible and guarded against.

As Rabbi Avi Killip points out, “perhaps no one has illustrated this connection more clearly and hauntingly than the Israeli poet, Haim Gouri, in his poem Heritage. He draws a direct line from Isaac in the Akeidah to Shoah survivors, to us, and continues straight through to every future generation; our survivors and the victims of the Holocaust teach us and impart their wisdom in us vicerally, just as we learn from our very first Patriarchs and Matriarchs… יצחק כמסופר לא הועלה כקרבן Haim Gouri begins in his contemporary Israeli poem–Isaac, as the story goes in the Akedah, was not sacrificed. He lived for many years, saw what pleasure had to offer, until his eyesight dimmed. But he bequeathed that hour to his offspring. They are born with a knife in their hearts.

There are arguments to be made that the United States of America is still very much a golden and safe harbor for Jews and minorities because it has pluralism as an intrinsic part of her social fabric. The U.S. Constitution and the Bill of Rights guarantee the freedom of worship, assembly and expression. But of course that very freedom also endangers Jews and subjects them to hate speech, which is rife and manifold as social media platforms proliferate and as academia has taken a sharp turn and a deep dive into “group think” and self-censorship.

I could go on but I think all of you know, as I do, that most American Jews feel less safe on these welcoming shores than we did ten years ago and even five years ago. No longer do we easily say that “these things could never happen in America.” The extreme left has never been as entrenched and as extreme in Congress or in academia as it is now. The extreme right has never been as emboldened as it is since 2017 in Charlottesville, VA or in 2018 in Pittsburgh, PA. Verbal abuse has now progressed to violent assault in Munsey and Brooklyn by Islamist and Nation of Islam radicalized individuals. In May of 2021, after Israel defended herself against a thousand missiles raining down on her, university departments, celebrities, faculty unions and US activists shared tweets like “Israel is a genocidal state” and “Hitler was right.” These extreme elements are twisting that knife with which we were born, courtesy of Abraham and Isaac, and due to the wisdom imparted in us by the history of antisemitism.

Besides vigilance and activism to fight against intolerance wherever it rears its ugly head is the defense of BELONGING--belonging to a loving faith community. Our observance of Yom HaShoah was well received by the 50 who attended, but where was the buy-in from our greater membership? We are now endeavoring to expand our minyan ranks to assure that we have in-person minyanim every night at 8:15 pm. Why are we worried about the lack of a minyan? Isn’t that part of the solution to combatting the rise of antisemitism and building a sense of comfortable acceptance and Jewish pride? Let's take comfort and joy in our collective companionship and numbers. Let’s provide our own antidote to rising disdain and to unfair characterizations of Jews and the Jewish State.

       By this same standard, it is imperative that we support and reinforce that right of the Jewish people their ancestral home. It has been legitimized by three thousand years of connection to the Land of Israel and to Judaea, which is why we are called Jews to begin with. The attempts to delegitimize this connection of our tribal inheritance and to discredit our religion and our peoplehood is as outrageous as it is infuriating. A solution is in the offing if the Palestinian leadership ever decide to sit down at a negotiation with the starting point that a Jewish State has a right to exist. Until it does so, ‘ends around’ attempted through the International Criminal Court and the United Nations Committee of Human Rights will come to naught. AS ISRAEL SOON will be celebrating its 75^th anniversary of independence as a modern nation state, and in the offing of “Yom Yerushalayim,” Rabbi Pamela Barmash, on Sunday, May 21 at 6:15pm, one of the Rabbinical Assembly’s brightest lights, will be presenting “Jerusalem if the Biblical Imagination,” about which she has authored a book. This truth is regularly challenged by anti-Israel revisionists. Please show your support, both in body in spirit, by attending our felafel dinner and this important ENJC program celebrating the miracle of the Zionist State. LET’S MAKE THIS A RESOUNDINGLY WELL- ATTENDED EVENT THAT REPRESENTS MANY MEMBERS. You may call the office to RSVP so we know how much falafel to prepare.

 It's your moment to step up

וַיְצַ֣ו מֹשֶׁ֗ה וַיַּעֲבִ֨ירוּ ק֥וֹל בַּֽמַּחֲנֶה֮ לֵאמֹר֒ אִ֣ישׁ וְאִשָּׁ֗ה אַל־יַעֲשׂוּ־ע֛וֹד מְלָאכָ֖ה לִתְרוּמַ֣ת הַקֹּ֑דֶשׁ וַיִּכָּלֵ֥א הָעָ֖ם מֵהָבִֽיא
Moses thereupon had this proclamation made throughout the camp: “Let no man or woman make further effort toward gifts for the sanctuary!” So the people stopped bringing

At the end of the book of Exodus we encounter the one, and probably only time, where a Jewish leader had to ask the Jews to stop donating! Talk about your abundance mindset! Imagine having enough so much gold, and silver and animal skins that you had to start turning people away. I, for one, can tell you, that here at the East Northport Jewish Center, we are still accepting as many dolphin skins as you are willing to donate (and can procure without upsetting the people at PETA too much.) 

Oy! To live in such a time where everyone wanted to participate, and give, and the only real issues you had was in which tent you piled all the crimson thread, and in which tent you piled all the royal purple threads. Alas, we do face challenges, and it is easy to look back to this story from our past and be wistful. Heck, we don’t have to go back quite so far. We can look back to the boom in the founding and growing of synagogues post World War II, or even the huge numbers of involved congregants we, along with most other congregations had in the 1980’s and yearn for “The Good Old Days.” But, if you’re hoping I have the answer to bringing back the days of hundreds of congregants attending Shabbat services every Shabbat and jam packed tribute booklets for a “Man of the Year” dinner, alas, I don’t have those solutions. But maybe those aren’t necessarily the challenges we should be struggling to achieve. Similarly, I’m really not sure what we would do with even ONE dolphin skin, let alone hundreds. But what are the challenges we can and should address as we hopefully approach the light at the end of this pandemic? What are the main places we should focus our strength and energies? I’ll give you a hint. Let’s start with what we’re good at. When I was struck by an automobile on the way to shul, I was overwhelmed by the outpouring of love and affection and support from our congregants—both those whom I have weekly or daily interactions with, as well as even those who some might consider “three times a year” Jews, yet nevertheless felt the very Jewish need to fulfill the obligation of Biqor Holim, via e-mails, phone calls, or the delivery of delicious delicacies hand-cooked, or provided by our community’s one and only Kosher eatery: Pastrami ‘N Friends. (Talk to our President Robin Kain if you want to purchase gift certificates!) When I was unable to lead services, the Rabbi was not left to fend for himself, but our congregants stepped up to help lead, either via our Zoom offered minyanim, or our in-person hybrid Shabbat services. We are a community of doers and givers. We are truly the heimish community, who might actually have needed a Moses to tell them when enough has been given. (I should add, that, our freezer is now full, and there’s only so much corned beef I can consume at one time, but thank you for the continual offers!) 

Sure, if you read the Pew report, it sure seems like doom and gloom, and I’m not going to bother to repeat the statistics that portray a very real and very scary outlook for our future, not only at ENJC, but as Jews, nay as ANY organized religion faces in the years to come. But instead of focusing on the negatives, let us double-down on our positives. What gifts can YOU bring to the East Northport Jewish Center? What skills do you possess that might be helpful to our community? What hidden talents might brighten someone’s day? Do you know how to read Torah or Haftara? Can you deliver a sermon or D’var Torah? Can you lead any part of our services? Let’s take a step forward here. Are you willing/able to learn new skills to help our community? Give a man a fish and he eats for a day, but teach a man to make Gefilte Fish, and he can start a global empire under the Mrs. Adler’s label! If you can read Hebrew, I can teach you how to lead a prayer service. Whether the relatively short 15-minute evening minyan we host each weeknight, or either parts of the Friday and/or Saturday morning services. It’s never too late to learn how to chant from the Torah or Haftara. Not so skilled in Hebrew? Thanks to such resources as the website Sefaria, it is easier than ever to write a D’var Torah, and I would be happy to show you how to research a week’s Torah Portion and bring insights from your own life into a message to deliver to the congregation. 

As we hopefully have more and more in-person events back in our community, it’s time to think about other activities we can be doing at the ENJC. Before the pandemic, we had wonderful sessions on learning to play mah jjong led by our dearly departed congregant Jodi Saperstein, as well lessons in canasta. I hope to be teaching a group on how to play bridge, with the help of Renee Rubin soon. Howie Lewin gave a great talk on researching family lineages, that contained only a merciful few of his terrible puns. We had a growing pickleball contingent coming on Sunday afternoons before we had to close down for insurance reasons. What other skills or knowledges can you teach or offer to our ENJC family?  Of course, we can’t always expect that we’ll be able to implement every idea, and just because you are an expert at swallowing knitting needles, doesn’t mean that Sue Kazazz will necessarily be able to fit into our schedule, but it never hurts to let us know. What we do here at ENJC is give back, and help each other, so let us focus our gifts to improve the lives of our members. 

וְעָשָׂה֩ בְצַלְאֵ֨ל וְאׇהֳלִיאָ֜ב וְכֹ֣ל אִ֣ישׁ חֲכַם־לֵ֗ב אֲשֶׁר֩ נָתַ֨ן ה׳    
חׇכְמָ֤ה וּתְבוּנָה֙ בָּהֵ֔מָּה לָדַ֣עַת לַעֲשֹׂ֔ת אֶֽת־כׇּל־מְלֶ֖אכֶת עֲבֹדַ֣ת הַקֹּ֑דֶשׁ לְכֹ֥ל אֲשֶׁר־צִוָּ֖ה הֹ׃
Let, then, Bezalel and Oholiab and all the skilled persons whom God has endowed with skill and ability to perform expertly all the tasks connected with the service of the sanctuary carry out all that God has commanded.

Neither Bezalel, nor Oholiab were known to be especially pious Jews. They weren’t priests. They weren’t Rabbis, or especially learned in Jewish rituals. It’s doubtful they could have sung even Adon Olam in a tuneful way (possibly because it would be thousands of years before Adon Olam would be written). But they were skillful. Bezalel is noted as being highly artistic and skilled. But even that isn’t a barrier to participation. Bezalel’s assistant, Oholiab, is not mentioned as having any particularly extraordinary skills at all. He was a doer more than a leader, he knew when and where his help was needed and he volunteered. Now is the time for all of us to volunteer to bring ENJC out of this pandemic and into the future. The Rabbi and I don’t need you to be Moses or Aaron. If you’re a Bezalel, and bring special skills, great. But even if all you have is a willing and giving heart and want to help, or even just become more involved as a participant at ENJC, now is your moment. 

Fighting Racism 
There are no words that convey our outrage, grief and our exasperation at the loss of 21 in Uvalde,TX, 19 of which were children 10 yrs old and less, with their lives, dreams, plans, joy and comfort robbed from them and their families forever. My prayer is that every resource goes to these bereft sons and daughters, parents, siblings grandparents and loved ones, so as to help them emerge from this tragedy and somehow honor and memorialize their children by moving forward and continuing in spite of unbearable grief. God, our precious parent, give the surviving families the gift of resilience.