Blot Out or Remember....Happy Purim

Dear Friends,

I promised that I would write another blog about our recent George Mason University trip to Poland.  There will be more coming as I continue to sort out my thoughts and feelings.

We call this Shabbat, Shabbat Zachor, which means remember.  We remember Amalek who did nasty things to our ancestors in Biblical times.  In the midst of reading this brief Biblical portion from Deuteronomy 25:17-19.  we remember him and we are also taught to blot out his memory.

Tonight and tomorrow when we read the Megillah(Scroll) of Esther, we shake a noise maker, (grogger) whenever we mention the name of Haman who is the person who wants to put to death the Jewish people in order to blot out his name during the time of Queen Esther.  He does not succeed because we remember what he did and blot out his name.

I want to devote this blog to a couple of memories that I will always carry with me from the trip that are important for me to share.

I will remember the following artist, (please do some research about him).

Marian Kolodziej, former Auschwitz Concentration Camp prisoner number 432, was on one of the first transports to enter Auschwitz. After 50 years of silence, he begins to recount his horrific memories with graphic pen and ink drawings, a collection called "The Labyrinth."

You will note some pictures below...His memories are a haunting reminder that it is difficult to blot out the memory of horrible things as we remember them.

I wonder how many of us continue to hold on to memories that hamper our ability to forgive and move on.  I have quoted Rod Stewart's song, "Reason to Believe" before when I have highlighted the verse, "If I'd only let you change my mind, I'd find a way to leave the past behind."

Clearly Marion struggles with his memories of what he saw.  Our tour guide in Poland shared that he thought that Marion was suffering PTSD and that the pictures are a catharsis for him.  Can people really  leave the past behind and should we?

As I struggle with what I saw on the trip, I think about what we can do to help make sure "Never Again" is not just a slogan, but a moral imperative.  Honestly, I believe that one of the reasons I continue to take students to Poland, is my own struggle with the oppression that the Jewish people and others have faced.  Perhaps these thrips are my own way of coping with the PTSD of having taught about the Holocaust for much of my career. or my frustration that I have not done more to make a difference.

When we visited Schindler's Factory and saw the picture of one of the student's (on the trip) great aunt who was saved by  Oskar Schindler, we were all visibly moved.  Schindler made the decision to save over 1,000 Jewish people and we were all motivated to think about what we might have done in similar conditions.  Of course, no one knows for sure....  

As I wrestle with my own questions, I hope that through educating others, we will remember what can happen when we let evil go unchallenged.  Whether through supporting candidates who represent our points of view through registering to vote and then voting, or whether we donate to causes that help others, or whether we become involved in helping others in some meaningful way, all of us should not blot out hope that we can make a difference.

One last anecdote from the trip...Our tour guide met the grandson of the  Commandant of Auschwitz.  He was moved by the fact that the grandson disavowed connections with his grandfather and became a human rights activist.  I personally felt that perhaps there really is human potential to change. In remembering the horrors of what people can do, we can blot out hatred by the things WE CAN DO as mentioned above (and more, only limited by our creativity, energy, desire, and time).

Finally, when one of our students gave a presentation about the trip recently, he spoke of the quote I taught at the Yeshiva (place of study) in Lublin.  Rabbi Hillel taught, "If I am not for myself, who will be for me?  If I am only for myself, what am I?  If not now, when?

When is now and let's not blot out our potential to make change through remembering what happens if we don't get involved.  See the pictures below if you need a reminder.

Shabbat Shalom and Happy  Purim,

Rabbi Bruce Aft


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