Yesterday morning during services we commemorated the 75th anniversary of Kristalnacht. Our featured guest was the German Ambassador to the United States. I must admit that when the diplomat got up to speak my heart skipped a beat. This man, who represents a country soaked in the blood of our people was addressing us in Shul. What could he say that would mitigate the suffering that the German people caused our nation? As he was speaking my mind wondered to my grandparents to their siblings, to my uncles and aunts and the little innocent children who did not get a chance at life due to the horror of the Nazi beasts.Here I was participating as part of a memorial service with a man representing the country that denied them the gift of life. To be fair the Ambassador gave a sensitive presentation and focused on this being a New Germany. In my mind however, I was fixated on the gas chambers of Dachau where so many of my family were killed. As I got up to lead the Musaph service and I reached its high point the Shema in Kedusha, I prayed that Hashem allowed my relatives in heaven a glimpse of the scene in my synagogue. I hope that perhaps a little smile would come to their lips. Gazing down with the sweet revenge that only years and history can provide. 75 years later we are alive! We are strong! Our people have overcome and we are once again united in the same prayer that so many victims of the Holocaust uttered as the final payer moments before death.Only this time we say it in joy and happiness as our hearts are filled with gratitude for the resilience of our people and the gift of the return to our homeland the State of Isreal. Am Yisrael Chai!
Posted on: Sun, 10 Nov 2013 15:59:05 +0000