What are you remembering today?

What first comes to mind when you think of Memorial Day? 

Many people would respond the long weekend or the beginning of summer.  This is no accident.  In 1971, Congress passed a law to schedule four national holidays on Mondays to give federal workers a three-day holiday weekend. 

Over the weekend, I heard a number of people comment on the contrast between Israel’s Memorial Day, Yom HaZikaron, and ours.  In Israel, it seems to be much more meaningful.  The whole country stops and remembers.  In the US, the closest we seem to come to national commemoration is by attending a parade or attending a barbecue.

While Memorial Day in the US may have morphed into the opening of summer, it has a long history of reflection and commemoration.  Did you know that Congress authorized a national moment of remembrance to take place at 3:00 pm?

Personally, I have vivid memories of watching the scenes from Arlington National cemetery including the laying of a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknowns.  (I’m actually watching it right now with my family.)  There is something powerful about the formality, dignity, and gravity that mark these memorial ceremonies.  We encounter the sacrifice of those who allow us to live freely, and we have the chance to ponder those events and ideals which are greater than ourselves.  Even if we did not serve to defend our country or even know people who did, we are clearly the beneficiaries of their sacrifice.

Such is the power of memory.  Memory connects us with the past and unites those with a shared experience or history.  Think of a conversation you may have had that brought to mind something from the past.  All of a sudden, you are transported back to that place or time to relive a formative experience or reconnect with people who made an impact on you.

Rabbi Jonathan Sacks captures the power and essential role of memory:

There is a profound difference between history and memory. History is his story – an event that happened sometime else to someone else.  Memory is my story – something that happened to me and is part of who I am.  History is information.  Memory, by contrast, is part of identity.  I can study the history of other peoples, cultures and civilizations.  They deepen my knowledge and broaden my horizons.  But they do not make a claim on me.  They are the past as part. Memory is the past as present, as it lives on in me.  Without memory there can be no identity.

The Chief Rabbi’s Haggadah (Essays) p. 29

We are blessed to live in the United States.  As Jews, memory is not only a function of the mind, it is a sacred obligation.  We invoke memory in our religious observances and to connect with our past.  We recently observed Yom HaShoah and Yom HaZikaron, two modern days of memory and purpose. 

The image above is of my grandfather’s discharge from the US Army following his service in World War Two.  I know it is not Veteran’s Day.  (Even fewer people commemorate that one.)  My grandfather was able to leave Germany and come to America in 1938 and bring over his parents and siblings in 1940 before serving his new country honorably.  This family memory is part of my Memorial Day observance.  Without my grandfather’s experience, I would not be here.  Without so many other experiences, none of us would.

Today, we have another opportunity:  To honor the sacrifice of so many in shaping and maintaining this great country and to reflect upon the power of memory in helping us lead more meaningful lives.

God bless America!

In Israel, even the bathrooms are Jewish

Yes.  It's a picture of me rappelling down Machtesh Rimon in southern Israel.  I'm here with the Ramaz 8th grade for their class trip.  It's been an amazing whirlwind week as we go from north to south and then Shabbat in Jerusalem.

Being in Israel is an incredible reinforcement of being part of a diverse Jewish people.  One encounters Jews with origins all over the world.  Also, one sees identifiable Jews in all sorts of roles, positions, and jobs not found in the diaspora.  When was the last time you met a sanitation worker with tzitzit?

This makes Israel one giant "Jewish living laboratory."  Consider the following:

The bathroom in the vicinity of the attractions in Mitzpe Ramon requires paying a 2 shekel entrance fee.  For a long time (this is my 10th consecutive Ramaz Israel trip), an attendant manned the front door and also kept the restroom clean.  It was actually a "family business" operated by a fascinating Black Hebrew couple whose children are IDF veterans and professionals.  This year, the attendant was gone.  Instead, there was a sign that said, "Please pay 2 shekel to use the restroom inside the store and receive the code to enter."

Now, I bet you see where this is going.

The code remains the same all day.  All it takes is one person paying 2 shekel, and the code is now public knowledge for all.  In addition, since there is no attendant, someone could wait right outside the door and wait for another person to exit and just go right in.  I saw both of these scenarios play out while I tried to figure out the new arrangement.  (In one case, as one person exited, his friend asked, "Shilamta - Did you pay?" and received the response,
"Betach she'lo - Of course not!"

Personally, I paid the 2 shekel to get the code that I already had heard everyone exchange outside.  But I wondered what other people thought of this.  So, being that I was on a trip with students and teachers in a public place full of Israelis, I asked around.  Responses ranged from "Of course, one should pay" to "They don't care" to "They used to charge to pay people to keep the  place clean; now it's a mess and it's not fair to have to pay."

I found myself thinking that this a class on Jewish ethics in the making. And it involves all sorts of Jewish characters in a Jewish state!

In a strange way (I'm talking about a bathroom here!), the episode made me think about how amazing it is to have a Jewish country.  Forget the coalition politics and security challenges, Israel is an amazing, inspiring, miraculous exercise in applied Jewish living.

Even the bathrooms in Israel tell a story and can connect us to a diverse set of Jewish characters and a question of Jewish ethics.

Holy: How?

How do we understand the idea of holiness?  What does it mean when we say, “Be holy” (Vayikra 19:2) or “That is so holy!”

Some of the more common answers to this question are that holy refers to being special or important or sublime or elevated.  Holiness means to refrain and separate from the physical and embrace the spiritual.  Holiness means to live with higher purpose.

There are “holy” activities like observing the mitzvot.  There are also “holy” days which are special and allow us to connect more powerfully to God.  Then there are “holy” objects, items which are sacred and demand respect and reverence.

All valid interpretations of holiness.

Rabbi Moshe Feinstein, one of the leading rabbis of the 20th century, notes that the command to be holy is followed by some very simple and logical precepts like honoring one’s parents, not stealing, and dealing justly.  It would seem that more difficult and complicated religious observances lead to holiness and not these!  How do these mitzvot relate to being holy?

Rabbi Feinstein answers that we see that holiness can be achieved even when one engages in everyday, social affairs.  One is not only holy on Shabbat or holidays or when keeping kosher; one is holy when acting properly towards others and doing the right thing.  Holiness is an all-consuming state.  If we watch ourselves with regard to the small things, then we can be sure that we will carry this over to the big things as well.

Where is holiness?  Everywhere.

How can we be holy?  Live a purposeful Jewish life.  

That’s one way to start.

Love Israel more!

What are your first memories of Yom Ha’Zikaron and Yom Ha’Atzmaut?

As a child, I remember a yahrzeit candle lit in the dining room.  I knew it was not a holiday on which yizkor is recited nor was there a yahrzeit.  I remember being told that this was to remember Israel’s fallen heroes and to participate in Israel’s Memorial Day.  The next night, my parents would hang a giant Israeli flag in the den to mark Israel’s Independence Day.  (We were quite the patriotic family as my father also flew an American flag outside our front door for Memorial Day, July 4^th, and Labor Day.)  I did not go to a Religious Zionist day school, and we had no assembly, special songs, or Hallel.  My Yom Ha’Atzmaut celebration was that giant flag along with my mother making falafel for dinner. 

My strong childhood memories paved the way for these modern Israeli holidays to mean so much to me.  Yom Ha’Zikaron and Yom Ha’Atzmaut are sacred days.  When I watch as Israelis stop what they are doing as the siren sounds; or see the images of families remembering loved ones; or watch the videos (like this one) that tell the inspiring story of Israel, I am filled with awe, joy, reverence, and inspiration.  How fortunate we are to have the State of Israel!  We must commemorate, celebrate, and be grateful to God for this miracle!

There are all sorts of articles being written and messages sent out in honor of Israel’s 68^th birthday.  I am sure you have received plenty, and you can easily find them on the internet or Facebook.  It is heartening that so many people with so many different perspectives are celebrating Yom Ha’Atzmaut and recognizing all that Israel represents.

One thing I noticed in a number of messages and articles is that their authors temper the congratulatory spirit by addressing some of the problems Israel faces and acknowledging some of the voices critical of Israel.  We all know that the situation in Israel can be “complicated.”  It is a wonderful country, a beacon of freedom in a tyrannical region, a high tech juggernaut, and our homeland.  But…There is always a “but.” 

It is legitimate to raise the tough issues and engage in self-examination and self-criticism.  (If you read the Israeli press, you’ll know how good Israelis are at it!)  When we celebrate Israel, however, the focus should be on the positive.  For one day – or even just the birthday message, let’s focus on the greatness of Israel.  Tomorrow, we can get back to addressing any shortcomings.

In today’s world, there is concern about the Jewish community’s connection to Israel.  It is weakening – especially within the younger generation.  A frank conversation is needed as is more education.  But one way to instill pride and strengthen the positive feeling for Israel is love it even more.  Let’s identify all the great things Israel has accomplished, is accomplishing, and will accomplish.  Are there problems to address? Absolutely!  We can better address those with a foundation of a strong love for Israel. 

In the early twentieth century someone brought to Rabbi Avraham Yitzhak Kook, first Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi of pre-state Israel, the following dilemma.  He had given his son a good Jewish education.  He had always kept the commands at home.  Now, however, the son had drifted far from Judaism.  He no longer kept the commandments. He did not even identify as a Jew.  What should the father do?

“Did you love him when he was religious?” asked Rav Kook.  “Of course,” replied the father. 

“Well then,” Rav Kook replied, “Now love him even more.

Israel is only 68 years young.  How can we better connect ourselves and our children to the State of Israel?  How can we properly evaluate, praise, and even critically discuss the Jewish State?

On this Yom Ha’Atzmaut, let’s love Israel more.

Survivor Superheroes

 

“Can I get their autograph?”

This was the question some Ramaz 3^rd and 4^th graders were asking on Wednesday in advance of a very special program that brought them together with seniors from our community and Holocaust survivors from Brooklyn.  It was part of an annual program in which the KJ Senior Lunch & Learn Program, in conjunction with UJA-Federation, invites Holocaust survivors to come to KJ for a delicious lunch, a student musical performance, and some outstanding Jewish intellectual stimulation.  (Guess who spoke at yesterday’s program?)  This year’s attendees are participants in the programming of The Blue Card, an organization that assists Holocaust survivors.

The students, members of the Lower School Chorus, were told they would be singing in front of a very special audience and have an opportunity to meet with the seniors after they sang.  They were also encouraged to ask them questions about their lives after the performance.  I guess these instructions and the mention of a “special” audience got the kids thinking about asking for autographs.

It is a cute story, but it is absolutely right on the mark.  As my colleague, Andrew Leibowitz, noted while we watched the program, “We are in the presence of greatness.”

Yom HaShoah is a time to remember.  We recount the events, sing the songs, and watch the films that strengthen our commitment to remember and never forget.  This is part of what Emil Fackenheim called our “614^th Commandment” of not giving Hitler a posthumous victory.

It is also a time to stand in awe of the survivors.  Just imagining the horrors of the Shoah gives me the chills.  To read about, see, hear, meet, and interact with people who survived such a hellish experience is just incredible.  Not only did they survive, they have lived!  With the memories of their experiences, they persevered.  They had jobs, created families, and they wake up each day and continue to live on!

They are superheroes.

For me, recognizing this is at the core of Yom HaShoah. We need to seek out more survivor stories and opportunities to interact with these heroes.

Each year, Israel’s official Yom Hashoah commemoration involves the lighting of 6 torches by 6 survivors.  Please read their stories.  They gave me the chills – as should the stories of each and every survivor.

The other night, I was flipping through the TV channels and came across the documentary entitled “Treblinka’s Last Witness,” which tells the story of Samuel Willenberg.  It is sad, of course, but it is also the story of our people.  From Poland to Israel to Jewish revival.  Willenberg passed away just two and a half months ago on February 19.

Let’s not forget the world’s oldest man, Israeli Holocaust survivor Yisrael Kristal.  112 years old!  Talk about survival!

When I encounter the Holocaust, I am often filled with questions and some anger.  “How could this have happened?!?”  When I encounter survivors, I am filled with hope and confidence. 

92 year-old Hilda Weiss was one of the participants in the KJ program.  In heavily accented English, she shared her thoughts on her visit to KJ with KJ Executive Director Leonard Silverman:

Y’know what for me was the best thing today?  The Yiddisher Kindelach, they were better than the lunch!  Such beautiful Yiddisher Kindelach.  Such strong voices.  They tried to kill all of the Yiddisher Kindelach, but you see that they failed.  I lost so much, but we won, you see.  We won.  Of my whole family – we were from Hungary – I am the only one.  Everyone gone.  In Auschwitz.  Before my eyes.  When we got there, the nice girls from Poland who had been there for some time tried to warn us.  They said:  “You see that smoke and you smell that cooking smell?  It’s crazy to understand, but that’s your parents.  Accept it, and try to live in this hell.”  I didn’t want to believe, but then I saw with my own eyes . . . [faraway gaze] . . . and now I am here listening to sweetness from Yiddisher Kindelach who were not killed by that monster, Hitler.  Tanks a lot.  You did a good thing having everyone come today.

This morning in shul, I sat next to an elderly man who was there for the brit of his first great-grandchild.  He said, “Hitler tried to take everything from me, and here I am celebrating the 4^th generation.”  I can think of no better commemoration of Yom HaShoah than that.

The number of survivors is dwindling, and I shudder when I think that, at some point, students will not get the chance to sing for survivors and ask them questions. For now, let us soak up their stories, their presence and their example, and commit ourselves to living our lives as heroically as we can.

That will be more valuable than any autograph.