(4/17/15),

This week is not an easy week for the Jewish people. Yom Hashoah uGvurah (Day of Holocaust Remembrance and Resistance) is a solemn occasion in which we recall the chaos of the murder of six million Jews at the hands of the Nazis. As I expressed during the Yom Hashoah commemoration at the JCC on Wednesday night, there is no good or easy way to explain or understand the chaos. All we can do is engage in rituals — candle lighting, readings, music, and storytelling — to help make some order out of the chaos, to help find the light amidst the darkness.

The juxtaposition of light and darkness was not only seen through the smiling faces of clergy at Wednesday’s ceremony of remembrance, but in the sun-dripped flag of Israel that Jonah and I raised together at yesterday’s ceremony in Perth Amboy. Israel breathed life into Jewish pride, joy, identity, and hope only three years after the Nazis tried to suffocate it. Our love for Israel is unconditional because in its existence is the fulfillment of the promise #NeverAgain. What scares us is when Israel’s continued existence comes into question, because in moments like these it can feel as if the promise of #NeverAgain may not be fulfilled; that the hashtag should read #NeverAgain? And yet, through it all Israel is here giving us hope that the future of the Jewish people will always be ensured. Israel is here to shine light through the darkness of chaos.

Shabbat Shalom,

Rabbi Ari Saks

Category : Rabbi Rabbi's Journal
Tag : #NeverAgain holocaust israel JCC of Middlesex light perth amboy rabbi rabbi's journal Yom Haatzmaut Yom Hashoah