In
September, Jews everywhere observe the “High Holy Days,” a ten-day period of
reflection with a standard mantra repeated often during our prayers. “On Rosh Hashanah it (our fate for the coming
year) is written, and on Yom Kippur it is sealed; pretty cut and dry and with
little variation through history.
In
the spring, however, during the Hebrew month of Iyyar, The State of Israel
observes another period of reflection, beginning with Yom HaShoah, Israel’s
Holocaust Remembrance Day, followed a week later by Yom HaZikaron, Israel’s
Memorial Day, followed immediately, at sundown, by Yom Ha’Atzmaut, Israel’s
Independence Day. For this period of
time, nothing is “cut and dry.” Emotions
are raw and ever changing for Israeli Jews when it comes to these three events.
These three commemorative days weave together and form the mythology of the
founding of the State of Israel.
The
rest of the world observes International Holocaust Remembrance Day on January
27. Not so Israel. January 27 marks the date of the Liberation
of the Auschwitz Death Camp. Israel’s
Holocaust Remembrance Day is, instead, observed on the date of the Warsaw
Ghetto Uprising! In creating it’s own mythology, Israel chose not to dwell on
those who “went like sheep to the slaughter” but instead, chose to focus on the
Warsaw Ghetto fighters and their acts of “heroic rebellion” in the face of
death and destruction. The New Nation of Israel would come not from the dust
and smoke of the crematoria, but instead from the spirited ghetto fighters, as
well as the resistance and partisans who dwelt in the forests, who put their
lives on the line to help save Jews and commit acts of sabotage!
One
week after Yom HaShoah, Israel is
plunged into the darkness of its Memorial Day.
Once a day to honor the heroic exploits of those cut down while creating
the State, or defending the State, this day has become, since the Yom Kippur
War and the First Lebanon War, a very quiet time of reflection, mourning and
sadness. Traffic stops for the wailing
sirens of remembrance, and motorists get out of their cars to stand at
attention. Only somber music is broadcast, stores are closed, and only four
television channels offer programming.
The programs are all interviews with families who have lost loved ones.
Their stories are not about “heroic actions,” but rather they are stories of
families in grief. The “new hero” in Israel is the family left behind. And, of
course, on Yom HaZikaron, there are cemetery visits to those who have served in
the military in Israel. The whole nation
grieves in a country where no family or town is left passed over by the Angel
of Death.
How
then can the State of Israel rally at sunset to begin its observance of Yom
Ha’Atzmaut, Independence Day? How does
one rise from such grief to dance in the streets? Each one of these days is a religious holiday
as well as a secular holiday in Israel, complete with Torah readings, psalms,
music and poetry. And so, in trying to
create ‘new ways for these new days,’ some synagogues have a Havdalah service
at the end of Yom HaZikaron. When they
walk in to the synagogue, it is still the somber day of sorrow and reflection. After the Havdalah service ends, they walk
out into the streets to find evening descended and the air filled with the
music, dancing and rejoicing of Independence Day. It is literally a ‘transformative
experience.’
On
our trip to Israel two years ago, Gary and I visited the Ghetto Fighter’s
Museum. As with most venues in Israel,
you expect “tourists,” especially during the summer months, and so, as we viewed
the artwork and memorabilia, maps and artifacts, we were surprised to stumble
upon a group of eighteen young men and women in uniform sitting around a large
table receiving a lecture on the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising. These were future police officers. As part of their training, they were learning
about the Holocaust and the ghetto fighters.
I thought it an unusual field trip.
It struck me as odd that you had to “teach” about the Holocaust in
Israel. For some reason I thought
knowledge of the Holocaust was passed down like a birthright from generation to
generation. Not so.
For
many young Israelis, the Holocaust is simply not part of their ‘mythology.’ After all, by 1977 the political elite of
Israel was no longer composed of Ashkenazic Jews, but Sephardic Jews! Many of
today’s young Israeli’s come from countries, families and traditions not
connected to the Holocaust. And this
creates a problem. Previous generations were aware of extreme anti-semitism,
and how it fed into the creation of the Jewish State.
Today,
when young Jews can simply pick up and move away from Israel there needs to be
a reason to stay! And, if they stay, they expose themselves to years of
military commitment as well as danger for themselves and their families. If they stay, they must be motivated by
higher ideals.
At
this year’s Yom HaShoah observance at Yad VaShem, Shimon Peres made the
following observation:
"A
clear line exists between the resistance in the ghettos, in the camps and in
the forests and the rebirth and bravery of the State of Israel. It is a line of
dignity, of renewed independence, of mutual responsibility, of exalting God's
name," he said, "as a ray of hope which was not extinguished even
during terrible anguish. The ghetto fighters sought life even when circumstance
screamed despair."
Those
are the words of the last generation’s collective memory. What then to do about
future generations? Towards remediating the problem of lack of connectedness,
25% of Israeli military officers visit Poland to learn about the past. Israeli high school students in record
numbers are now participating in The March of the Living, (long a ritual of
passage for American Jewish Teens), which is a trip to Poland that takes thousands
of teens annually to visit the concentration camp at Auschwitz and then flies
them to Israel just in time to for the drama of Israel Memorial Day and the
elation of Independence Day.
American
Memorial Day sends a signal that the beaches and pools open, there are great
sales in the stores, and you can safely wear white shoes without creating a
fashion faux pas. How many generations did it take for THAT to happen? As
Israeli Memorial Day approaches, let the message we pass on to future
generations be thus: “There but by the grace of Israel go I.”
Shabbat
Shalom,
Rabbi
Rose Lyn Jacob
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