Yom HaShoah (Holocaust Remembrance Day) is a time of Remembrance and Reflection. There is at once so much to say, and nothing to say. And there are those who have a greater right to say it, and those who have much lesser right. As one who was not there, and whose parents were not there and whose grandparents were not there - but as one whose more unknown nameless relatives were there - I do not feel I have as much right as others to speak.
If I do have something to say, it is not so much because of my personal close connection to family and individuals I knew who were there, but rather because as a Jew , any Jew, the Shoah is part of my history, legacy and identity. I, too, like all living Jews, am one of those who 'remain' - one of those who somehow bear some great burden we cannot really fathom or bear.
As I understand it, and I know there are other understandings, the main legacy, the message (if there is such a thing) of the Shoah is that the Jewish people must strive to survive. Throughout history, our enemies have done all they could to destroy us , and in the Shoah, the most cruel and evil of them destroyed more than one-third of our people. Against this, we must, as the great Jewish philosopher Emil Fackenheim said, allow them 'no posthumous victories'. But it is not because of them, not because of our enemies, but rather because of our ancestors, and because of all those who lived and suffered as Jews. It is because of them, and because of the Divine imperative and covenant made with the Jewish people at Sinai, that we must strive to survive. This is the first imperative, and the first lesson and the first duty of every Jew: Help the Jewish people survive.
Fifty-nine years after the death camps closed down, the Jewish people have at least in one sense made a miraculous turnabout and revival. There is a Jewish state in which there are close to five million Jews, a thriving democracy with Jews from over one-hundred countries. This state is stronger militarily than any Jewish political entity in history, and is in many areas more vibrant than any other polity the Jewish people have known.
Yet, this state is the Jew of the world, most threatened by world terror and by the discrimination of the great share of the world's nations. This very strong nation is nonetheless threatened by enemies aiming to acquire weapons of mass destruction, who, God forbid, speak of destroying it and bringing another great disaster upon our people. This military and physical threat is coupled with a rise in anti-Semitism, an attempted delegitimization of Israel, which would, as it were, prepare the ground and 'legitimize' a disaster. Against this the people of Israel are striving, and must strive further now, with even greater initiative and strength.
The threat to Jewish survival after the Shoah takes one other major form. And here, the blame cannot be put upon others, but rather upon ourselves. For the imperative to Jewish collective survival given by the Shoah is thrust aside by tens, perhaps hundreds, of thousands of individual Jews who opt to assimilate. This assimilation in today's world less takes the form of conversion to another faith than it does of intermarriage and quiet decision not to create a next Jewish generation. The demographic reality the Jewish people are making for themselves in the Diaspora of an assimilating, aging population not reproducing its numbers is a violation of the fundamental imperative given by the Shoah - the imperative to survive as a people.
Perhaps, what we need is a kind of Jewish categorical imperative whereby each and every individual Jew should consider it their obligation not to undertake any action that would undermine the survival of the Jewish people. Or to put this in more positive form, each Jew should consider it their sacred duty to help build a Jewish family and contribute to the future of our people. Each Jew, understanding what our people have gone through in the past, must do all they can to help strengthen our people as a whole. And for many, this should mean deciding to make their home and greatest contribution in Israel, where the central struggle of the Jewish people is now taking place.
Each Jew living today is a survivor, with a special duty to both the Jewish past and the Jewish future.
On the day marking the Shoah, it is important not only to remember those who have suffered and are no longer with us, but to rededicate ourselves to the building of a better future for the Jewish people as a whole. It is perhaps not for us in our generation to expect to bring about a total redemption, but it is our sacred obligation to do what each of us individually can to help Israel and the Jewish people's future survival and well-being.
If I do have something to say, it is not so much because of my personal close connection to family and individuals I knew who were there, but rather because as a Jew , any Jew, the Shoah is part of my history, legacy and identity. I, too, like all living Jews, am one of those who 'remain' - one of those who somehow bear some great burden we cannot really fathom or bear.
As I understand it, and I know there are other understandings, the main legacy, the message (if there is such a thing) of the Shoah is that the Jewish people must strive to survive. Throughout history, our enemies have done all they could to destroy us , and in the Shoah, the most cruel and evil of them destroyed more than one-third of our people. Against this, we must, as the great Jewish philosopher Emil Fackenheim said, allow them 'no posthumous victories'. But it is not because of them, not because of our enemies, but rather because of our ancestors, and because of all those who lived and suffered as Jews. It is because of them, and because of the Divine imperative and covenant made with the Jewish people at Sinai, that we must strive to survive. This is the first imperative, and the first lesson and the first duty of every Jew: Help the Jewish people survive.
Fifty-nine years after the death camps closed down, the Jewish people have at least in one sense made a miraculous turnabout and revival. There is a Jewish state in which there are close to five million Jews, a thriving democracy with Jews from over one-hundred countries. This state is stronger militarily than any Jewish political entity in history, and is in many areas more vibrant than any other polity the Jewish people have known.
Yet, this state is the Jew of the world, most threatened by world terror and by the discrimination of the great share of the world's nations. This very strong nation is nonetheless threatened by enemies aiming to acquire weapons of mass destruction, who, God forbid, speak of destroying it and bringing another great disaster upon our people. This military and physical threat is coupled with a rise in anti-Semitism, an attempted delegitimization of Israel, which would, as it were, prepare the ground and 'legitimize' a disaster. Against this the people of Israel are striving, and must strive further now, with even greater initiative and strength.
The threat to Jewish survival after the Shoah takes one other major form. And here, the blame cannot be put upon others, but rather upon ourselves. For the imperative to Jewish collective survival given by the Shoah is thrust aside by tens, perhaps hundreds, of thousands of individual Jews who opt to assimilate. This assimilation in today's world less takes the form of conversion to another faith than it does of intermarriage and quiet decision not to create a next Jewish generation. The demographic reality the Jewish people are making for themselves in the Diaspora of an assimilating, aging population not reproducing its numbers is a violation of the fundamental imperative given by the Shoah - the imperative to survive as a people.
Perhaps, what we need is a kind of Jewish categorical imperative whereby each and every individual Jew should consider it their obligation not to undertake any action that would undermine the survival of the Jewish people. Or to put this in more positive form, each Jew should consider it their sacred duty to help build a Jewish family and contribute to the future of our people. Each Jew, understanding what our people have gone through in the past, must do all they can to help strengthen our people as a whole. And for many, this should mean deciding to make their home and greatest contribution in Israel, where the central struggle of the Jewish people is now taking place.
Each Jew living today is a survivor, with a special duty to both the Jewish past and the Jewish future.
On the day marking the Shoah, it is important not only to remember those who have suffered and are no longer with us, but to rededicate ourselves to the building of a better future for the Jewish people as a whole. It is perhaps not for us in our generation to expect to bring about a total redemption, but it is our sacred obligation to do what each of us individually can to help Israel and the Jewish people's future survival and well-being.