Back in July, after Lenore and I were in Jerusalem, we traveled to Prague for a few days. I had never been before but I had learned a lot about the city. The popular medieval Jewish legend of the Golem created by Rabbi Judah Lowe to save the Jews from attack was based there. The “Old New Synagogue” where that rabbi prayed and was built in 1270 is still in use today and Lenore and I attended shabbat evening services there. And the Charles bridge built in the 1300s has a statue of Jesus on the cross with golden Hebrew letters around him spelling out, “holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts.” Jews have been in Prague and the Czech Republic for over 1,000 years and of course, like everywhere else in Europe, their freedom and safety were tenuous, until the Nazis nearly wiped them out.
The most impactful part of our stay in Prague which highlights that community’s devastation was our tour of Theresienstadt. Many of us may be familiar with that labor camp because it was the so-called model camp that the Nazis used to show the International Red Cross how well the Nazis were treating the Jews. Propaganda film still exists purportedly showing the well-dressed Jews and the educational, sporting and cultural events they were engaging in. Of course we know that this deception hid the harsh reality. “Of the approximately 140,000 Jews transferred to Theresienstadt [from November 1941 to May 1945], nearly 90,000 were deported to points further east and almost certain death. Roughly 33,000 died in Theresienstadt itself.”
As a Jew who cares deeply about Jewish history, I can’t help but be pained by the Jewish history of Europe. Wherever Lenore and I have traveled overseas, we have taken Jewish walking tours and always - without exception - the evidence of once prominent Jewish life and its destruction is in full view. People walk by memorials, or Jewish tombstones built into the walls of the old city of Barcelona, or in the case of Theresienstadt, people are actually living and doing business in the very buildings that housed Jews. It is confounding to me that life can go on as normal and that our Jewish history can be so blatantly ignored.
A very moving aspect of our tour of Theresienstadt was seeing a room - actually a prison cell - that was used as a synagogue. In a space that was maybe 15ft x 15ft, Jews gathered to pray. On the wall that faced toward Jerusalem was Hebrew script. Just like the words above my head on our eastern wall, these words were meant to inspire and comfort the worshippers. The verse here in our sanctuary relates to the light shining through the window above it - “May God’s light shine upon you and be gracious to you.” We can imagine then that the words in the prison cell-synagogue of Theresienstadt might reflect the despair and anguish of the Jews. A verse like מן המעמקים - “out of the depths I call to you” or אשא עיני - “I lift up my eyes upon the mountains, from where will my help come” would be appropriate. Those choices would make sense and it would provide support as a reminder that just as God heard our people’s cries over the ages so too will God hear our cries now.
But instead, the Jews of Theresienstadt chose a line that we pray three times a day. ותחזינה עינינו בשובך לציון ברחמים - “may our eyes see Your merciful return to Jerusalem”. Rather than a cry for help, the Jews chose an age-old prayer. Just as we continue to pray for the rebuilding of the Temple in Jerusalem, just as that verse and others remind us of the historically devastating event of the Temple’s destruction, so too the Jews of Theresienstadt found that line comforting. They were another generation, of countless generations of Jews, in distress. And yet, they recognized that other generations survived and so too they hoped they would survive as well.
More than seeing their place in history, and expressing that age-old hope, I think what is more powerful is the sense of conviction the Jews had. That prayer, “may our eyes see” can also be translated as an affirmation - “our eyes will see”. That affirmation reflects a deeper and more powerful sense of faith. It reflects the idea that despite the horrific conditions of life and the near factual reality that they wouldn’t survive, that nonetheless they were sure they would see a better day. Many Jews in the gas chambers of Nazi Europe and Jews burnt at the stake in Spain during the Inquisition and Jews tortured to death by the Romans 1,900 years ago recited the Shema before they took their last breath. It is still traditional for all Jews before we die and while still conscious to recite the Shema. We affirm that despite experiencing the end of our lives that we still believe in God and that we will see a better day in the life hereafter.
In order to fully understand the tremendous faith of the Jewish prisoners of Theresienstadt, we have to examine our understanding of our belief system. There are essentially 3 levels to our religious outlook on life. The first is the choice we make to believe that God exists. That choice reflects a desire to be guided by eternal moral and ethical principles that will positively enhance our life. A belief in God, as opposed to only trusting in a human system governing society, provides a deeper layer of trust and meaning. My belief in God allows me to learn, to understand and to live by a foundation of religious principles. These principles ground me and remind me what is important in life. They help me make decisions and choices. And they give my life meaning.
Believing in God also brings people together in community. A Jewish belief is a community one. We are not meant to live our lives in a vacuum or in a monastery isolated and removed from others. Jewish belief in God leads us to practice and express that belief in a community of like minded people.
This belief in God - that is recognizing that God exists and living in community in a way that expresses that belief - then leads to the next level of faith, the ability to hope. When we have a commitment to values, when we celebrate our belief with family and community, then we can allow ourselves to hope. We can hope for a better future. We can hope that our convictions can move us to act. We can hope that our faith can move us to “tikun olam” - to make the world a better place. Israel’s national anthem is called התקווה - the hope - because of this religious conviction expressed through the ages that we would someday return to our land, to live freely as Jews.
Belief and hope go hand in hand. Hope provides comfort and provides motivation to be a force for good; to be a positive example to our family, friends and community. To live a life of meaning. But the more challenging step, which is the third level of faith, is to affirm that no matter what, even in the most dire of circumstances; that we still believe and hope. The Jewish prisoners of Theresienstadt expressed that affirmation by placing that verse about Zion on the wall. They had belief and they had hope. But even more so they had the ability to affirm their eternal devotion to God.
Our challenge today, post Oct 7, is to reach that third level of faith. Can we affirm our belief? We have felt abandoned by our non-Jewish friends, we have felt unheard. We have been led to believe that our narrative is false and even more, that our narrative has inflicted pain and suffering on others. Life as a Jew this past year has been challenging if not impossible. Israel experienced the unthinkable - the ease with which hordes of terrorists were able to cross the border and kill 1200 innocent civilians, take more than 250 people hostage, and to kill those hostages without Israel being able to do anything about it. The idea that the State of Israel could be overrun by terrorist monsters is unthinkable. And then as Israel has fought back, Israel and Jews around the world have been accused of committing genocide. Public schools in our own county have been defaced with antisemitic graffiti. Antisemitic incidents in America have risen dramatically since Oct 7. So how can we possibly affirm that life will be good let alone even allow ourselves the luxury to hope that anything will change?
At the end of August, Hersh Goldberg-Polin and 5 other hostages were murdered by Hamas terrorists as Israeli forces were closing in to save them. Israeli soldiers found their bodies and were able to return them to their families for burial in Israel. At Hersh’s funeral his mother Rachel said the following: “Now I no longer have to worry about you. I know you are no longer in danger. You are with beautiful Aner [his best friend]; he will show you around. You will hopefully meet my grandparents, who will adore you, and start to play chess with Papa Stan. But now my worry shifts to us: Dada, Leebie, Orly and me. How do we do the rest of this life without you?”...
“I … pray that your death will be a turning point in this horrible situation in which we are all entangled. I take such comfort knowing you were with Carmel, Ori, Eden, Almog and Alex. From what I have been told, they each were delightful in different ways, and I think that is how the 6 of you managed to stay alive in unimaginable circumstances for so very long. You each did every single thing right to survive 329 days in what I can only call Hell.
“Now, my Hersh I ask for your help. As we transform our hope into grief and this new unknown brand of pain, I beg of you, please do what you can to have your light shine down on me, Dada, Leebie and Orly. Help shower us with healing and resilience. Help us to rise again. I know it will take a long time, but please may God bless us that one day, one fine day, Dada, Leebie, Orly and I will hear laughter, and we will turn around and see… that it’s us. And that we are ok. You will always be with us as a force of love and vitality, you will become our superpower.
“Ok, sweet boy, go now on your journey, I hope it’s as good as the trips you dreamed about, because finally, my sweet sweet boy, finally, finally, finally, finally you are FREE! I will love you and I will miss you every single day for the rest of my life. But you are right here. I know you are right here, I just have to teach myself to feel you in a new way.
“And Hersh, I need you to do one last thing for us…. Now I need YOU to help us to stay strong. And I need YOU to help us to survive.”
Rachel’s incredible strength has been on display ever since she was interviewed by David Muir of ABC news a few days after October 7. She and her husband have met with Israeli leaders, have traveled to the UN and to the White House and even to the Vatican to speak about Hersh and all the hostages and to advocate for their release. Even after Hersh’s murder, they still are actively involved in gaining the release of the rest of the hostages.
Somehow she has managed to maintain her dignity and to speak eloquently about Hersh and the hostages. It is no wonder then that she was able to also speak so powerfully and movingly at her son’s funeral. We are in awe of her strength and are moved to tears by her eloquence.
But how can we believe, hope and affirm? What if we don’t have Rachel Polin’s strength? What if we are too easily overcome by crisis? What if we feel so overburdened by the weight of all the grief and chaos surrounding us? How do we affirm our faith, how do we see hope in the future, how can we move on in the midst of unspeakable horror and crisis? How can we affirm that despite everything we have experienced this year that next year will be better?
We have no choice today but to turn to our families and recognize that we are not alone in our suffering. We turn to our tradition and find solace in our firm belief that the souls of our loved ones live on in us. We turn to God and beg God to allow us to see blessing and good around us. We as a community know that our values are true. That our values are right. That our values are meaningful. We must believe that eventually the tide will turn and Good will triumph over Evil and peace and justice will prevail.
Even though the Jewish prisoners of Theresienstadt never saw Israel reborn they still had hope. Even though Rachel Polin had to bury her beloved son, she still affirmed belief in God. Jews, in the lowest levels of despair and anguish still were able to affirm their faith. We may not have their strength, we may not have their fortitude, but like Rachel said, we know that their stories live right here [tap my chest]. The stories of our ancestors are embedded in our souls and their lives have served as the foundation for our lives today.
May their memories always be a source of blessing and inspiration. May their lives strengthen our faith, may their lives give us hope, and may their lives help us affirm that we will see a better future. May the year 5785 be one of peace, security and love for all humanity. Amen.
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