We are in a season of holidays. After the eight days of Passover, we quickly transitioned this week to Yom haShoah, Holocaust Remembrance Day. Then next week beginning Tuesday night is Yom haZikaron, remembrance day for fallen Israeli soldiers and those taken by terrorist attacks. The following evening begins Yom haAtzmaut, in celebration of Israeli Independence Day.
While Passover is a major Jewish holiday, these other holidays are considered “minor” according to the rabbinic calendar, thus relegated to a similar status as Hanukkah and Purim. And though in North America (as opposed to in Israel), these more modern day holidays are not as widely observed as Passover or the High Holy Days, they are anything but minor in our hearts.
In fact, I dare say that—even if you do not observe them on their respective days—their stories live in us and impact us far more than any other holidays on our calendar.
There is nothing more blindingly part of modern Jewry than the experience of remembering—never forgetting—the Shoah’s terror. That despair is imprinted in our souls. While Pharaoh is long gone, there are those in our congregation who still vividly remember our own 20th century Pharaoh. And for the rest of us, the memories are imprinted in who we are. Less and less, survivors are with us, yet second, third, and now fourth generation of survivors are abound. Who has not been touched by the horror of the Holocaust?
So, too, the creation of the State of Israel. I may not have been born at the time of its creation, yet after the Shoah, no historical event has had a more significant impact on my Jewishness than the state’s inception. This is likely true for all of us.
In short, there is nothing minor about these days or about modern Jewish history.
Last night’s Yom haShoah commemoration was a moving example of how to remember those murdered under the hands of tyranny and apathy. We gathered as one community, JCOGS alongside the Vermont Holocaust Memorial and the Greater Stowe Interfaith Coalition, to pay our deepest respects to the lives lost and to the countless righteous people who stood up courageously for themselves and others.
And next Wednesday, April 14 at 5:30pm, we celebrate Israeli Independence Day with a dance party of some fantastic Israeli music, led by our own Stephanie Justine. Not to be missed.
As we lift up these holidays, we know these historical events to be embedded in our psyche, our souls, our bodies. There is nothing minor about that.
Tihiyu bri’im, stay safe, be well. Shabbat Shalom,
