Surviving the unspeakable: Ani m'amim... I believe

Yom HaShoah

The full name of the day commemorating the victims of the Holocaust is “Yom Hashoah Ve-Hagevurah”– literally the “Day of (Remembrance of) the Holocaust and the Heroism.” It is marked on the 27th day in the month of Nisan — a week after the seventh day of Passover, and a week before Yom Hazikaron (Memorial Day for Israel’s fallen soldiers).

Since the early 1960s, the sound of a siren on Yom Hashoah stops traffic and pedestrians throughout the State of Israel for two minutes of silence.



My own words are feeble when it comes to this day of remembrance, so I will let Anne Frank, a few other Holocaust survivors, and Rabbi Cantor Angela Bukdahl say and sing what I cannot...


Anne Frank's diary entry on 15 July 1944 states this:

"It's difficult in times like these: ideals, dreams and cherished hopes rise within us, only to be crushed by grim reality. It's a wonder I haven't abandoned all my ideals, they seem so absurd and impractical. Yet I cling to them because I still believe, in spite of everything, that people are truly good at heart. It's utterly impossible for me to build my life on a foundation of chaos, suffering and death. I see the world being slowly transformed into a wilderness, I hear the approaching thunder that, one day, will destroy us too, I feel the suffering of millions. And yet, when I look up at the sky, I somehow feel that everything will change for the better, that this cruelty too shall end, that peace and tranquility will return once more. In the meantime, I must hold on to my ideals. Perhaps the day will come when I'll be able to realize them!"


Given what Anne went through, these are amazing words.

Another anonymous Holocaust survivor was interviewed, and had this to say:

“You get nothing from being bitter. Living a good life is the best revenge.”

From "An Interview with June Hersh, Author of Still Here: Inspiration From Survivors & Liberators of the Holocaust," June has this to say of her interviewing experience: 

"Survivors stress love over hate, understanding over discourse, and the value of living a useful, productive life. They have an amazing outlook on life. They’ve replaced regret with optimism and choose to look at the bright moments in their lives instead of dwelling on the darkest ones. That doesn’t mean they’ve erased the horrors they lived through. Their experiences have shaped them into who they are, but they’ve used those experiences as guideposts for living a fulfilled life."


ending with a song from my favorite Rabbi Cantor, singing 3 years ago for Yom Hashoah:

Click here if the video does not show up in your email:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qwqKVK2p1SE

Song written by Abigail Pogrebin and David Strickland
Sung by Rabbi/Cantor Angela W. Buchdahl
on April 28, 2014

In the words of June Hersh, "Anti-Semitism will never go away. As long as there are Jewish people, there will be others who hate us. ...If the Holocaust has taught us anything, it is that we must defend our neighbors, embrace our differences, and find common ground."

 Prayer before prayer

I want to be willing to forgive

But I dare not ask for the will to forgive

In case you give it to me

And I am not yet ready

I am not yet ready for my heart to soften

I am not yet ready to be vulnerable again

Not yet ready to see that there is humanity in my tormentor’s eyes

Or that the one who hurt me may also have cried

I am not yet ready for the journey

I am not yet interested in the path

I am at the prayer before the prayer of forgiveness

Grant me the will to want to forgive

Grant it to me, not yet, but soon

From The Book of Forgiving: the Fourfold Path for Healing Ourselves and Our World

by Desmond Tutu and Mpho Tutu

May we know peace, shalom, throughout the world.
May our grandchildren not know the concept of hate.
Soon, and in our lifetimes, may it be!

Tzom Mo'il (May this remembrance teach us.)

Amein.