SHARDS- (HAVE STONES ON PULPIT)
A TALE OF THREE STONES
YOM KIPPUR MORNING
SEPT. 23, 2007

STONES PLAY AN IMPORTANT ROLE WITHIN JEWISH LIFE, EVEN THOUGH WE MAY RARELY, IF EVER, THINK OF THEM. IN FACT, THE ONLY TIME MOST OF US DO ANYTHING JEWISH WITH STONES IS TO PLACE ONE ON THE GRAVE OF LOVED ONES WHEN WE VISIT THEIR HOLY RESTING PLACE.

GROWING UP, I NEVER THOUGHT MUCH ABOUT THE CONNECTION BETWEEN STONES, ROCKS AND JEWS. THAT IS UNTIL I WENT TO ISRAEL FOR THE FIRST TIME AND SAW THAT, IN SPITE OF IT ONCE AGAIN BECOMING A LAND FLOWING WITH MILK AND HONEY-IT LOOKED LIKE IT WAS FLOWING WITH MORE STONES AND ROCKS THAN I COULD EVER IMAGE. BUT FROM THAT TIME, 38 YEARS AGO, I LEARNED THAT STONES DO TELL STORIES: REAL, POWERFUL AND IMPORTANT ONES. IN FACT, AFTER THE 6 DAY WAR, THERE WAS A SONG WRITTEN ABOUT THE KOTEL, THE WESTERN WALL THAT INCLUDED THE PHRASE: ‘YESH ANASHIM IM LEV SHEL EVEN, YESH AVANIM IM LEV ADAM’- THERE ARE MEN WITH HEARTS OF STONE; THERE ARE STONES WITH THE HEART OF MAN.’

MY WORDS TODAY ARE NOT ABOUT THE STONES IN THE KOTEL, BUT RATHER, OTHER STONES FROM 3 SEPARATE BUT INTERCONNECTED PLACES, AT LEAST IN THIS JEWISH HEART, WHICH BRING ME PEACE, AS THEY CENTER MY IDENTITY AND STRENGTHEN MY SOUL.

THE FIRST IS A BASALT GRINDING STONE FROM GEZER, AN EARLY BRONZE AGE SETTLEMENT, 4,000 YEARS OLD, OVERLOOKING THE PLAIN, LEADING TO THE COAST OF ISRAEL (AND YES, ON A CLEAR DAY ONE CAN SEE TEL AVIV). I DUG THIS STONE UP IN 1970 AND MY SUPERVISOR SAID THAT, SINCE IT WAS A VERY COMMON FIND, I COULD KEEP IT AS SOUVENIR. HE THEN SAID TO ME: “PERHAPS YOUR GREAT-GREAT-GREAT BUBBI USED IT IN GRINDING GRAIN DURING THE BRONZE AGE.”

LITTLE DID I KNOW THAT 37 YEARS LATER, AFTER UNDERTAKING A DNA TEST CONDUCTED BY THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE, THAT THE PATERNAL SIDE OF MY FAMILY, Y CHROMOSOME, HAPLOGROUP M35 TO BE EXACT, LIVED IN THE LAND OF ISRAEL DURING THE BRONZE AGE, 4,000 YEARS AGO! SO MY GREAT-GREAT-GREAT BUBBI DID USE THIS STONE! WHEN I LOOK AT IT, IT SPEAKS TO ME, REMINDING ME OF MY ROOTS, OF MY BEGINNINGS, OF WHO I AM AND THAT WESTON, FLORIDA, IS JUST THE MOST RECENT PART OF MY PEOPLE’S JOURNEY. IT LIES IN A VERY SPECIAL PLACE IN MY HEART AND ON MY DESK AT TEMPLE. THE ENTIRE TEMPLE FAMILY WILL HAVE AN OPPORTUNITY TO PARTICIPATE IN THE DNA PROJECT AS WELL.

THE SECOND STONE IS FROM THE FORTRESS OF MASSADA OVERLOOKING THE DEAD SEA. I DIDN’T TAKE THE STONE MYSELF; SOMEONE GAVE IT TO ME AS A GIFT. WHEN I THANKED HIM FOR IT, I TOLD HIM WHAT I WAS TOLD WHEN I WENT TO MASSADA FOR THE FIRST TIME: “DON’T TAKE ANY STONES FROM MASSADA, FOR IF EVERYONE DOES, MASSADA WILL FALL AGAIN.”

THE STONE REPRESENTS A STORY OF STRENGTH AND OF DASHED HOPES, DREAMS OF FREEDOM AND THE NIGHTMARE THAT FOLLOWED. THE STORY OF ELIEZER AND THE JEWS, WHO HELD OUT AGAINST THE ROMAN FORCES AT THIS DESERT FORTRESS FOLLOWING THE DESTRUCTION OF JERUSALEM IN THE YEAR 70, IS SYMBOLIC OF THE STRENGTH OF OUR PEOPLE, THE POWER OF OUR PEOPLE AND THE DETERMINATION OF OUR PEOPLE WHEN UNITED FOR A COMMON CAUSE.

I KEEP IT ON MY DESK TO REMIND ME THAT I AM STRONGER THAN I SOMETIMES BELIEVE I AM- AFTER ALL, MY ANCESTORS FACED THE LEGIONS OF ROME- WE ARE STILL HERE BUT THE ROMANS HAVE VANISHED. IT TOO OCCUPIES A SPECIAL PLACE IN MY HEART AND ON MY DESK.

THE THIRD SHARD IS THE NEWEST AND DEFINITELY THE MOST SOUL-WRENCHING. THERE IS NO QUESTION ABOUT ITS AGE, WHERE IT WAS FOUND OR ITS PURPOSE. IT DATES FROM 1945, THE PLACE FOUND? BIRKENAU- THE DEATH CAMP FOR AUSCHWITZ. IT IS THE ONLY SHARD IN MY COLLECTION THAT IS MAN-MADE. IT IS A SHARD OF BRICK TAKEN FROM THE RUINS OF THE CREMATORIA CHIMNEYS, BUILT BY THE NAZIS TO BURN THE REMAINS OF UNTOLD NUMBERS OF MY PEOPLE AND OF COUNTLESS OTHERS MURDERED BY THE NAZIS AND THEIR ALL TOO WILLING ACCOMPLICES.

I PICKED THIS SHARD UP FOLLOWING OUR TEMPLE’S MEMORIAL SERVICE AND RECITATION OF THE KADDISH AT BIRKENAU THIS SUMMER. IT TOO IS IN A VERY SPECIAL PLACE WITHIN MY HEART AS WELL AS ON MY DESK, FOR IT REMINDS ME OF THE DEGREE TO WHICH ANTI-SEMITISM CAN AND WILL GO. IT REMINDS ME THAT HYPOCRISY AND EXCUSES FOR SUCH BELIEFS LEAD TO HOLOCAUST. AND IT REMINDS ME THAT IF I PERSONALLY DON’T TRY AND DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT, THAT IT WILL CONTINUE TO GROW LIKE THE UNCONTROLLED CANCER THAT IT IS.

RABBI ED FEINSTEIN DESCRIBES ANTI-SEMITISM THIS WAY. HE WRITES: “YOU REMEMBER THE TWILIGHT ZONE PROGRAM, WHERE A GUY DISCOVERS THAT HE’S A CHARACTER IN SOMEONE ELSE’S NIGHTMARE. THAT’S WHAT ANTI-SEMITISM IS: WE’RE TRAPPED IN SOMEONE ELSE’S NGHTMARE.

THIS PAST SUMMER, OUR TEMPLE TRIP WAS TO CENTRAL AND EASTERN EUROPE: PRAGUE, WARSAW, KRAKOW AND BUDAPEST, ONE-TIME CENTERS OF JEWISH LIFE AND CULTURE. 18 OF US GATHERED TOGETHER AT TEMPLE SEVERAL TIMES FOR STUDY IN PREPARATION FOR THIS TRIP; FOR THIS WAS NOT A VACATION, NOR WAS IT AN EASY EXPERIENCE. WE STUDIED THE JEWISH HISTORY OF THE COMMUNITIES WE WERE TO VISIT. WE DISCUSSED AND LEARNED ABOUT HOW THE JEWS LIVED, HOW THEY WERE TOO OFTEN PERSECUTED, AS WELL AS HOW THEY WERE ABLE TO SURVIVE IN SPITE OF OVERWHELMING ODDS AGAINST THEM.

ON ONE HAND, WE WERE TYPICAL TOURISTS, SEEING THE SIGHTS, ENJOYING THE FOOD, LAUGHING, HAVING NEW EXPERIENCES, TRYING TO MAKE OURSELVES UNDERSTOOD WITH, FOR MOST OF US, NON-EXISTENT OR MINIMAL CZECH, POLISH, HUNGARIAN OR GERMAN. IT IS AMAZING WHAT PEOPLE CAN DO WHEN THEY WISH TO MAKE THEMSELVES UNDERSTOOD. I USED HEBREW, YIDDISH AND SOME SPANISH, MARION GOLEN USED GERMAN, JUDY ZIPPER, FRENCH, JOE ZIPPER AND MARTY HYMOWITZ, YIDDISH AND SHOSHI, AS ALWAYS, CAME THROUGH WITH HUNGARIAN AND PRETTY GOOD GERMAN. ALL THE PEOPLE WE MET EITHER STRUGGLED WITH ENGLISH, THOUGHT THEY SPOKE IT OR SPOKE IT BETTER THAN WE DID. LINGUISTICALLY IT WAS QUITE AN EXPERIENCE.

ON THE OTHER HAND, WE WERE NOT TYPICAL TOURISTS. TYPICAL TOURISTS DON’T WALK THROUGH THE CONCENTRATION CAMPS OF TEREZIENSTADT, AUSCHWITZ AND BIRKENAU AND ALMOST FEARFULLY, LOOK TO SEE IF FAMILY NAMES OR EVEN ACTUAL RELATIVES’ FACES MIGHT APPEAR AMONG THE ROWS OF PHOTOGRAPHS AND NAMES LISTED THERE. TYPICAL TOURISTS DON’T LOOK AT NON-JEWISH POLES, CZECHS OR HUNGARIANS WHO ARE IN THEIR 80’S AND 90’S, AS THEY WALK DOWN THE STREET, SIT IN A RESTAURANT OR MAKE A PURCHASE IN A STORE, AND WONDER WHAT THEY WERE DOING DURING THE WAR? TYPICAL TOURISTS DON’T, AS DID BOB ENNIS DID, HAVE DREAMS OF HOLOCAUST VICTIMS, IN STRIPED UNIFORMS, RIDING IN OUR TOUR BUS, AND WHEN BEING APPROACHED BY HIM, SAY: “WE WILL BE WITH YOU FOREVER.” OR HAVE NIGHTMARES, AS DID WENDY STERNLIEB, OF BEING IN A SMALL BOAT, SURROUNDED BY DROWNING CHILDREN, AND HAVING THEM SLIP OUT OF HER HANDS, BEING UNABLE TO SAVE EVEN ONE OF THEM. TYPICAL TOURISTS DON’T LOOK AT ANCIENT TOMBSTONES IN A JEWISH CEMETERY, SO OLD THAT THEIR WRITING HAS BEEN ERASED BY TIME AND THE ELEMENTS AND REALIZE THAT IT IS AS IF THE PERSON BURIED THERE NEVER EXISTED, LIKE THE ANCIENT JEWISH COMMUNITIES THEMSELVES, BARELY EXISTING IN MEMORY OR CONVERSATION.

I HAD RESISTED GOING TO POLAND FOR MANY YEARS. I NEVER WANTED TO, EVEN THOUGH HALF OF MY FAMILY CAME FROM THERE. TO ME, IT WAS DEAD AND THE THOUGHT OF ACTUALLY BEING THERE WAS IMPOSSIBLE TO BELIEVE IT WOULD EVER HAPPEN.

THE IMPOSSIBLE HAPPENED.

TO ME, WARSAW IS AS GREY, TIRED, AND UGLY AS YOU WOULD WISH IT TO BE. WHAT HAD BEEN THE GHETTO AREA; PREVIOUSLY HOME TO HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS OF JEWS, FENCED IN WITH BRICK, WATCHTOWERS, AND ARMED SOLDIERS, COMPLETELY LEVELLED BY GERMAN ARTILLERY FOLLOWING THE REVOLT IN 1943, IS NOW COVERED WITH APARTMENT BUILDINGS, OFFICES, PARKS AND NEW LIFE. HERE AND THERE A SIGN WILL APPEAR SAYING THAT THIS NEIGHBORHOOD OR THAT AREA WAS A PORTION OF THE GHETTO. A FRAGMENT OF THE ACTUAL WALL APPEARS IN ODD PLACES, AND PLAQUES ABOUND DESCRIBING WHAT HORRIFIC EVENTS OCCURRED THERE DURING THE WAR.

ACTUALLY BEING THERE MADE FOR TIME, EVENTS, FOODS AND CULTURES TO BECOME SCRAMBLED AS EGGS AND SOON NOTHING WAS MAKING SENSE ANYMORE.

AMONG THE PLATES AND PLATTERS ON THE BREAKFAST BUFFET TABLE AT OUR HOTEL IN WARSAW, I SEE BOWLS OF HERRING IN SOUR CREAM AND ONIONS, A CONTAINER OF SOUR CREAM WITH A SIGN IN ENGLISH AND POLISH IDENTIFYING WHAT IT IS: SMETANA/SOUR CREAM, THE SAME WORD IN YIDDISH! I SEE ANOTHER BOWL THAT HAS GRATED WHITE HORSERADISH IN IT AND THE SIGN SAYS: ‘CHRAIN’, AGAIN, THE SAME AS IN YIDDISH! I CAN’T BELIEVE WHAT I AM SEEING AND CALL JOE ZIPPER AND MARTY HYMOWITZ OVER TO HAVE THEM VERIFY WHAT I AM LOOKING AT. A WALK ANYWHERE IN KRAKOW BRINGS ONE TO LITTLE KIOSKS SELLING WONDERFULLY SWEET AND CRISP BAKED THINGS FOR 1 ZLOTY EACH: “BAGELS” THEY’RE CALLED. THE FOOD IS GOOD IN POLAND, BUT IT’S NOT SUPPOSED TO BE AND YET, AT THE SAME TIME, VERY FAMILIAR. KRAKOW IS BEAUTIFUL, IT SHOULDN’T BE, THE PEOPLE ARE NICE TO US- WHY ARE THEY?

NONE OF IT SEEMS REAL TO ANY OF US. HERE WE ARE, WALKING THE SAME STREETS OF THE SAME EUROPEAN CITIES THAT OUR FAMILIES WALKED ON THEIR WAY TO THE TRAINS TAKING THEM TO THEIR FINAL DESTINATIONS. WE ARE LOOKING AT MANY OF THE SAME BUILDINGS, TREES AND COUNTRYSIDE THAT THEY THEMSELVES SAW BETWEEN THE SLATS OF THE CATTLE CARS ONTO WHICH THEY WERE HERDED ON THEIR WAY TO THE CAMPS. AND HERE WE ARE, TAKING A TRAIN FROM WARSAW TO KRAKOW, SITTING IN PRIVATE CARS WITH AIRCONDITIONING, WITH THE IRONY OF ‘JEWS, ONCE AGAIN ON TRAINS IN POLAND’, OCCURING TO ALL OF US. HERE WE ARE, WITH OUR TOUR BUS ON THE SAME ROAD PARALLELING THE IDENTICAL RAILROAD TRACKS LEADING TO AUSCHWITZ THAT THE ALLIED FORCES WOULDN’T BOMB DURING THE WAR, THOUGH BEGGED TO DO SO BY JEWISH REFUGEE GROUPS. BECAUSE OF THEIR INACTION, ADDITIONAL TENS OF THOUSANDS OF MORE JEWS WERE TO BE BROUGHT TO THEIR DEATHS BY THE NAZIS. HERE WE ARE, STANDING WHERE MENGELE STOOD- A WAVE OF HIS HAND TO ONE SIDE BRINGING THIS ONE, A BRIEF PERIOD OF LIFE AS A SLAVE LABORER; A FLICK OF HIS HAND THE OTHER WAY AND THAT ONE IS BROUGHT DIRECTLY TO THE GAS CHAMBERS AND CREMATORIA. YESTERDAY AND TODAY MELD INTO A VERY EMOTIONAL NOW, AS WE WALK THROUGH THE GATES OF AUSCHWITZ, WITH ITS INFAMOUS INSCRIPTION: ‘ARBEIT MACHT FREI’- WORK MAKES FREE’, AND ARE AMAZED HOW NARROW THE ENTRANCE IS, HOW TERRIFYING THE SILENCE.

WE WALK THE LAST PART OF THE ROAD, FROM AUSCHWITZ TO BIRKENAU. YES, WALK, BECAUSE THAT IS HOW OUR FAMILIES ENTERED THOSE CAMPS AND WE INSIST TO OUR GUIDE THAT THAT WILL BE THE WAY WE WILL DO IT TOO.

SILENCE IS ONE OF THE 2 WORDS THAT COME TO MY MIND WHEN I THINK OF POLAND. THE SILENCE OF NON-JEWISH NEIGHBORS TOWARD OUR FAMILIES, WHEN THE NAZIS CAME, ALLOWING THEM TO BE TAKEN INTO THE KINGDOM OF NIGHT; SILENCE OF THE NATIONS OF THE WORLD, WHO,WHEN CONFRONTED WITH PROOF THAT THE HOLOCAUST WAS OCCURING, HID BEHIND DIPLOMATIC WORD GAMES, LEGALISTIC MUMBO-JUMBO AND BLATANT ANTI-SEMITISM.

EMPTINESS IS THE OTHER WORD. EASTERN AND CENTRAL EUROPE IS EMPTY OF JEWS. YES, THERE ARE TINY JEWISH COMMUNITIES STRUGGLING TO RETURN TO LIFE, BUT IT IS AN UPHILL BATTLE, WITH THE OUTCOME, FAR FROM CERTAIN.

POLAND IS EMPTY OF JEWS; EMPTY OF THE JEWISH FLAVOR THAT ONCE WAS: MUSIC, PHILOSPHY, CULTURE, VIBRANCY AND ENERGY. AND THEN THERE ARE THE NUMBERS: OF POLAND’S PRE-WAR JEWISH POPULATION OF 3 ½ MILLION JEWS, ALMOST 3 MILLION OF THEM WERE MURDERED IN THE HOLOCAUST AND IN POLISH POGROMS AFTER THE WAR WHEN JEWS TRIED TO RETURN TO THEIR HOMES. OF OUR 6 MILLION LOST- ALMOST ½ OF THEM WERE FROM POLAND. HOW DOES A COUNTRY DEAL WITH THAT? HOW CAN ANYONE?

I PICK UP THE BRICK SHARD FROM BIRKENAU AND VERY CAREFULLY PUT IT INTO MY POCKET TO RETURN HOME WITH ME. IN AND OF ITSELF, A PIECE OF BRICK IS NOTHING, BUT PLACED WITH THE OTHER 2 SHARDS, FROM GEZER AND FROM MASSADA, SEEMS TO CLOSE A CIRCLE, A LIFE-CYCLE FOR ME: BIRTH 4,000 YEARS AGO AT GEZER, DEATH AT BIRKENAU A GENERATION AGO, AND REBIRTH AGAIN WITH THE MODERN STATE OF ISRAEL IN 1948.

WITHOUT VISITING ISRAEL, WE CANNOT FULLY UNDERSTAND OUR OWN JEWISH EXPERIENCE AND SIMILARLY, WITHOUT WALKING THROUGH THE CAMPS OF THERESIENSTADT, AUSCHWITZ AND BIRKENAU, WE CANNOT UNDERSTAND OUR JEWISH EXPERIENCE EITHER. IF WE CAN’T, THEN WHAT SHOULD WE EXPECT FROM OUR CHRISTIAN NEIGHBORS?

SEVERAL YEARS AGO, A RABBI WAS TRYING, UNSUCCESSFULLY, TO EXPLAIN THE IMPORTANCE OF ISRAEL FOR JEWS, TO A CHRISTIAN MINISTER. FINALLY, WITH THE BRILLIANT INSIGHT THAT DESPERATION SOMETIMES BRINGS, THE RABBI SAID TO HIM: “FOR JEWS, THE HOLOCAUST IS OUR CRUCIFIXION AND ISRAEL, OUR RESURRECTION.” IT WAS ONLY THEN THAT THE MINISTER UNDERSTOOD.

WHAT LESSONS WERE LEARNED FROM OUR JOURNEY? I CAN ONLY SPEAK FOR MYSELF AND, IRONICALLY, IT IS A LESSON IN THE FORM OF BLACK HUMOR/HOLOCAUST JOKES TOLD BY THE 2 GREATEST OF EAST EUROPEAN JEWISH COMEDIANS: DZIGAN AND SHUMACHER. EMERGING FROM THE CONCENTRATION CAMPS OF POLAND, THESE 2 GENIUSES MADE ALIYAH TO ISRAEL IN 1950. THEIR SELL-OUT PREMIER PERFORMANCE IN TEL AVIV THAT YEAR DREW YIDDISH SPEAKERS FROM ACROSS ISRAEL, AS WELL AS MANY IN THE NEW ISRAEL GOV’T WHO HAD GROWN UP SPEAKING YIDDISH, LIKE GOLDA MEIR AND OTHERS. IN FACT, IT WAS SAID THAT THE THEATER WAS PACKED WITH PEOPLE WHO ‘SPOKE HEBREW BUT THOUGHT IN YIDDISH.”

SHUMACHER AND DZIGAN CAME OUT ON STAGE, BUT WEARING THE STRIPED CONCENTRATION CAMP UNIFORMS THAT WERE ALL TOO FAMILIAR TO MANY OF THOSE SITTING IN THE AUDIENCE. DEAD SILENCE. THIS WAS SUPPOSED TO BE A NIGHT OF YIDDISH COMEDY- WHAT WAS GOING ON? SHUMACHER ASKS DZIGAN: “WHO ARE YOU?” DZIGAN REPLIES: “THE JEWS OF POLAND.” DZIGAN ASKS SHUMACHER: “AND WHO ARE YOU?” “THE JEWS OF RUSSIA.” AND SO ON AND SO ON, LISTING ALL THE COUNTRIES WHOSE YIDDISH SPEAKING POPULATIONS WERE NO MORE. FINALLY, THEY FINISH AND SOMEONE FROM THE AUDIENCE YELLS OUT: “WHAT ABOUT ROMANIA?” DZIGAN RESPONDS: “WE’RE NOT TALKING ABOUT PROFESSIONS!”

THE AUDIENCE BURSTS INTO LAUGHTER AND THE EVENING OF HUMOR BEGINS: “BEFORE THE WAR BROKE OUT,” SHUMACHER SAYS, “JEWISH PESSIMISTS LEFT POLAND; THE OPTIMISTS WENT TO AUSCHWITZ.” DZIGAN RESPONDS: “THE JEWS IN THE GHETTO OF LODZ CELEBRATED LIFE LIKE IT WAS 3 DIFFERENT JEWISH HOLIDAYS: THEY LIVED IN HOMES LIKE IT WAS SUKKOS, (FLIMSY AND SHAKEY); THEY DRESSED LIKE IT WAS PURIM, (IN RAGS AND CLASHING COLORS AND PATTERNS), AND THEY ATE LIKE IT WAS YOM KIPPUR.”

AND SO IT WENT ON THROUGH THE NIGHT.

THE JEWISH ZEST FOR LIFE, THAT STRUGGLE FOR SURVIVAL, TAKING THE SHREDS OF WHAT WAS LEFT OF THEIR HUMAN DIGNITY AND SPIRIT AND BEING ABLE TO TURN TRAGEDY INTO THE REBUILDING OF THEIR JEWISH HEARTS AND SOULS, BROUGHT LAUGHTER TO THAT HALL IN TEL AVIV THEN AND BRINGS ME COMFORT AS WELL AS LAUGHTER, EVEN TODAY.

WILL EVERY JEW IN AMERICA RISK THE EMOTIONAL PAIN OF SEEING THE CAMPS FOR THEMSELVES? I DOUBT IT; IT TOOK ME ALMOST 40 YEARS OF TRAVELING TO DO IT MYSELF, NEVERTHELESS, SHOULD IT BE DONE? ABSOLUTELY YES! FOR OUR TEENS, IT MUST BE THE MARCH OF THE LIVING. 1 WEEK IN POLAND CULMINATING WITH ALMOST 10,000 TEENS FROM AROUND THE WORLD, MARCHING FROM AUSCHWITZ TO BIRKENAU ON YOM HASHOA, HOLOCAUST MEMORIAL DAY WITH THEIR NATIONAL AND JEWISH FLAGS AND THEN FLYING OVERNIGHT TO ISRAEL FOR 1 WEEK THAT INCLUDES CELEBRATING THE REBIRTH OF OUR PEOPLE IN OUR OWN LAND, ON ISRAEL INDEPENDENCE DAY, IS A MUST. FOR ADULTS, IN ADDITION TO THE COUNTLESS TRIPS AND TOURS OF EASTERN AND CENTRAL EUROPE THAT FOCUS ON WHAT THE PRE-WORLD WAR II JEWISH WORLD WAS, AS WELL AS WHAT IT IS TODAY, THERE IS ALSO AN ADULT MARCH OF THE LIVING PROGRAM, VERY SIMILAR TO THAT OF THE TEENS, THAT IS ATTENDED WITH THE SAME FERVOR AND EMOTION.

FOR THE MEMBERS OF THIS SUMMER’S TEMPLE TRIP TO EUROPE, IT WAS HARD, DIFFICULT AND EMOTIONALLY DRAINING. BUT IT WAS VITAL FOR ALL OF US WHO PARTICIPATED IN IT- FOR WE ARE FAR STRONGER JEWS BECAUSE OF WHAT WE HAVE SEEN AND DONE. AND WE WILL CARRY THOSE MEMORIES, STORIES, PHOTOS AND DREAMS WITH US FOREVER.

I SALUTE ALL OF YOU WHO MADE THE JOURNEY AND HAVE RETURNED TO TELL THE STORY.

THE FUTURE OF JEWISH LIFE IS NO LONGER IN EUROPE, FOR THAT HAS BEEN BURNED AWAY BY THE FIRES OF THE CREMATORIA. OUR FUTURE AS JEWS LIES ELSEWHERE. WE HAVE SEEN WHAT BEING POWERLESS CAN DO TO OUR PEOPLE AND WE HAVE RESOLVED TO NEVER ALLOW THAT TO HAPPEN AGAIN.

AS JEWS, WE WILL CONTINUE TO VISIT EUROPE AS TOURISTS. WE WILL SMILE FOR THE CAMERA, LAUGH AT EACH OTHER’S FAUX PAS’ IN CULTURE AND LANGUAGE AS WELL AS ENJOY THE SIGHTS, BUT WE WILL ALSO SEE THE DARKNESS, FEEL THE EMPTINESS, AND NOTICE THE SILENCE OF WHAT WAS AND IS NO MORE.

AND YET, I NEED LOOK NO FURTHER THAN THE THREE SHARDS ON MY DESK TO SEE THAT: “AM YISRAEL CHAI V’KAYAM- THE JEWISH PEOPLE LIVES AND ENDURES.” TOGETHER THOSE THREE SHARDS BRING ME PEACE, AS THEY CENTER MY IDENTITY AND STRENGTHEN MY SOUL.

A STUDY/DISCUSSION GROUP, ON “ISRAEL: THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE MESHUGGA”, WILL BE LED BY DR. ABBEY SHEPHERD-SMITH IN
A DISCUSSION SESSION ENTITLED: ‘WHERE WAS GOD IN THE HOLOCAUST?’ LED BY DR. ROBERT ENNIS, A PARTICIPANT IN THE TEMPLE CENTRAL/EASTERN EUROPEAN TRIP THIS SUMMER, WILL BE HELD IN OUR SERVICE IS ADJOURNED UNTIL 4 PM THIS AFTERNOON WITH THE HEALING, YIZKOR, AND NEILAH/HAVDALAH CONCLUDING SERVICES.
G’MAR CHATIMAH TOVAH- MAY WE ALL BE SEALED IN THE BOOK OF LIFE.