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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 17th 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 75th 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.