Do Members of My Faith Have Special Observances for International Holocaust Day

Do Members of My Faith Have Special Observances for International Holocaust Day

Do members of my faith have special observances for International Holocaust Day?

Of course, we do, this is part of our DNA, part of who we are.

Remembrance candles are lit, survivors are invited to speak, synagogues hold ceremonies.

However, for many of us, we don’t need a ritual or observance to recall.

What so clearly is ingrained in the souls of second, third and even fourth generation holocaust survivors.

We tread through the waters of trauma, with a different kind of observance.

Perhaps That Was a Constant Observance

Growing up in my household, the Holocaust did not need a special day to be remembered.

Objects that had belonged to family members who did not survive the horrors of the Holocaust were positioned in various places in my parents small Kibbutz home.

Wine glasses, a samovar, a round wooden glass table all had made it out of Nazi Germany, simultaneously their owners were sent to gas chambers.

Their names were memorized, their stories told over and over again, perhaps that was a constant observance.

An Entire Generation of Holocaust Survivors Surrounded Me Throughout My Childhood and Beyond.

An entire generation of Holocaust survivors surrounded me throughout my childhood and beyond.

In Israel, one could constantly hear the silent sounds of what was.

Their stories kept in the blowing of the winds, the ocean waves and in each raindrop that fell.

My generation was persistent to make room for tears, to not live in fear or the past, rather live in the now.

That too was a constant observance.

FOR THERE Is a LITTLE BIT of HOLOCAUST Day in Each of My Days

As a mother of three precious daughters and a grandmother of five simply enchanting grandchildren, I observe.

The bravery, courage faith and passion for life that their great-grandmother and grandmother, an Auschwitz survivor passed on to them.

The pride in their people, their desire for peace and their overflowing compassion for all of humanity.

These are the special observances that as a Jew, as well as a member of humanity I believe we must take on every day.

For there is a little bit of International Holocaust Day in each of my days.

MORNING INSPIRATION

I wrote this Morning Inspiration in honor of Chari Lax:

“She was a survivor, not a fan of tears. fears were a sign of weakness, showing the absence of courage and bravery.

For her, life was about survival,

Tears stood in the way of survival.

rut each new grandchild, I noticed she allowed a tear to be seen.

Their tender and innocent souls invited her tears to flow through slowly opening windows.

Windows that had been shut for years.

I recall one very quiet day, we sat by ourselves, she in her favorite recliner, I on her brown leather couch by her side.

I dared to ask the questions that were partly forbidden.

Why don’t you put nail polish on? It’s important!”

Words I had become accustomed to hearing.

She sat silently: perhaps she knew her answers would release the tears I saw desperately trying to escape

Finally understanding how looking “neat and pretty” was of such importance to her.

We sat holding hands, the somber quiet filling the room with so many words.

Her soft tears enable a unique intimacy.

Allowing a tear to roll down your face can be liberating, holding it back, you lose a possible moment of freedom.”

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