We have lived in numberless towns and villages; in too many of them we have endured cruel suffering. Some we have forgotten; others are sealed into our memory, a wound that does not heal. A hundred generations of victims and martyrs - and still their blood cries out from the earth. And so many, so many at Dachau, at Buchenwald, at Auschwitz, at Bergan Belsen, at Babi Yar, and…..
What can we say? What can we do? How bear the unbearable, or accept what life has brought to our people? All who are born must die, but how shall we compare the slow passage of our time with the callous slaughter of the innocent, cut off before their time?
They lived with faith. Not all, but many. And, surely, many died with faith: faith in God, in life, in the goodness that even flames cannot destroy. May we find a way to the strength of that faith, that trust, that sure sense that life and soul endure beyond this body’s death.
They have left their lives to us: let a million prayers rise whenever Jews worship; let a million candles glow against the darkness of these unfinished lives.
We remember our six million, who died when madness ruled, and evil darkened the earth. We remember those of whom we know, and those whose very names are lost.
We cherish the memory of those who died as martyrs, those who died resisting, and those who died in terror.
We mourn for all that died with them: their goodness and their wisdom, which could have done so much to ennoble and enrich humanity. We mourn for the genius, and the wit that died, the learning and the laughter that were lost.
They are like candles that shine from the darkness of those years, and in their light we know what goodness is.
We were joined in the charnel grounds by so many of our brothers and sisters whose race, lifestyle, thoughts or beliefs were deemed dangerous or decadent...the Gypsies, the Slavs, the Poles, the Asiatic, the political opposition, the intellectuals, the trade unionists, the priests and pastors, the teachers and professors, the homosexuals, the disabled, the authors and artists, the Jehovah’s Witnesses, the resisters, and all opposing the madness.
We salute those men and women who had the courage to stand outside the mob, to save us, and to suffer with us. They, too, are God’s witnesses, and a source of hope when we are tempted to despair.
May such times never come again, and may the suffering of our people...may the suffering of any and all people...not be in vain. In our daily fight against cruelty and prejudice, tyranny and persecution, their memory gives us strength...and to not let any people on earth go through the darkness alone..without at least our voice raised in defiance of the madness and horror afflicting them.
When evil repeated itself...again...and again...In Rwanda, in Cambodia, in Bosnia, in Armenia, in Darfur, in Russia, in China, in the Ukraine, in Bangladesh ..and ..and .... To the genocide of the Indigenous of Africa, the Americas, Australia, Asia, Tasmania, the Aleutians, West Papua, Myanmar, Tibet, East Timor.. and it goes on and on and on. So many… so many...
In silence we remember those who sanctified God’s name on earth.
Shalom aleichem...Peace be upon you..and yours.
Dvar Torah is a study community . No great level of scholarship is required, but respect, friendliness, and a willingness to learn from Judaic viewpoint are. Newcomers and guests can get their bearings from our host-group’s profile/ statement HERE and from recent & past posts (approx. date order). Click our follow/heart♥ in the tag-list down the left side of the diary, to receive our posts in your activity-stream.