Yom HaShoah

No wedding dress pictures on this day of remembrance, which corresponds this year to the 13th day of the counting of the Omer, Yesod of Gevurah in a kabbalistic world view.
A day that stops traffic in Israel. A day we are drawn to places that help us remember and might bring us to tears. We question G-d and humans. We question ourselves and wonder what we would have done. Would I have had the courage to run or hide or join the resistance? Would I have had the smarts to survive and save others? If the tables were reversed would I risk my life for others?

Yesod of Gevurah asks us to examine the way that we create discipline and structure in our lives in ways that strengthen our bonds with others. We are asked to re-frame disciplines of practice and structural forms are something so we create then together as friends or partners or communities. These need to be ways to draw people in, to build connection, and to commit to what we value.

So I wonder...can I commit to standing up against genocide? Can I stand up for and be a voice for the ones who have been silenced? Can I live a life that makes a mark in place of all of those who never had a chance? Can my remembrance, my Jewish discipline create pathways of connection that move us beyond remembrance?

Can I be one of the good souls that Anne Frank wanted to believe in...is that something I can commit to? 

Can I live a life as if I was a was one of the Lamed-Vav Tzadikim, the 36 righteous souls whose acts and deeds and presence justify the purpose of humankind in the eyes of G-d. Perhaps this is what I owe those who do not have the chance to live a good life; a pledge to live as if I am a  lamed-vavnik, even if I am sure that I am not. 

Or perhaps it is choosing to live a Jewish life, perhaps that is what I owe those who have gone. To live a life that they were murdered for, even if they did not practice or believe. Perhaps it is to defend religious practices that might seen out of sync, but help people find meaning and purpose and live a good life. 

Perhaps that is what all of us owe: living a life that matters so that we honor all who have come before us and parted the sea, battled for freedom, planted the fields, and given us a chance to live as we choose.