Memory is essential

 Dear Friends,

Although our thoughts and prayers are always with those we have lost, during the Holocaust Remembrance Day we especially turn towards the millions who lost their lives so

	It was truly an honor to share an evening with Rena Finder last year, the youngest survivor of Schindler's List. Rena has left a deep impression on all of us.

senselessly.  In troubled times we face extra challenges to fight hatred and oppression and to bring the light,  love,  and learning among us. The word “zachor” (remember), appears no less than 169 times in the Hebrew Bible! In the Torah we are instructed to remember. 

While we cannot bring the dead back to life, we can keep their memory - their lessons and their legacies  very much alive. “Memory” is an essential tenet of our tradition. We are enjoined to remember our joys and our sorrows, victories and defeats, peaks and valleys. For through memory, we identify with what happened, so that it becomes part of us, and guides us on how to chart our course forward. We remember our past to build for our future.

The purpose of this is not to bring the pain of remembrance but rather to guide us not to give way to repeat the evil of wrongdoing. Only through the light and love do we see the face of G-d, even in a stranger.  Let us always come together with this in mind. 

Shabbat Shalom

 Rabbi Fishel & Ettie Zaklos