220127
27th
January, 2022
Shabbat
Shalom to one and all.
I have
been going over and over in my mind as to what I should write to you today, 27th
January, 2022, International Holocaust Remembrance Day. Never Again is so
banal, in fact it really means nothing since it is happening again, over and
over again louts around the world see fit to beat up Jews, or should I say
"Obvious Jews". What an odious expression that allows complacent Jews
to join in the derision toward fellow Jews who dress differently. The Jews who
are at the forefront and it has nothing to do with their mode of dress or their
beards and earlocks or payis or payot….It's irrelevant what you call their
hats, skullcaps or long coats, they are you and me. It has once again become
socially acceptable to deride and harm Jews, so what does never again mean?
"We
are strong because now we have Israel" Meaningless words if you know
nothing about this amazing country, a country that is now the target of those
who choose to turn a blind eye to the real perpetrators of oppression and
hatred. I could go on and on but you will stop reading because it hurts too
much. Please, unless you teach your children about the Holocaust they will never
understand about Israel or, indeed about being Jews. We are not the only
persecuted people but Jews have been consistently persecuted since the time of
Abraham!
When
was the last time you stood up and said enough?
Rather
than write on and on about the meaning of the Holocaust, since I believe that
those of you who read my missives do not need reminding, you are educated and
caring, but ….
Israeli
Minister of Foreign Affairs Yair Lapid spoke at the site of the Mathausen
Concentration Camp with these words
Speaking in a ceremony at the Mauthausen
concentration camp in Austria on International Holocaust Remembrance Day,
Foreign Minister Yair Lapid tells the story of his paternal grandfather Bela
Lampel, who was murdered at the camp in April 1945. Bela was taken from his
home by an SS soldier in March, 1944, in front of his wife, and Lapid’s father
Tommy, then 12 years old. “Grandpa Bela, a quiet man whose family nickname was
Bela the Wise, sent me here today to say on his behalf that the Jews have not
surrendered,” says Lapid. “They’ve established a strong, free, and proud Jewish
state, and they sent his grandson to represent them here today. The Nazis
thought they were the future, and that Jews would be something you only find in
a museum. Instead, the Jewish state is the future, and Mauthausen is a museum.”
“Rest in peace, grandfather, you won.”
I
wanted to write about the Wannsee Conference https://www.yadvashem.org/docs/wannsee-conference-protocol.html
when the fate of Europe's Jews was
decided in the diabolical Final Solution, a gradual loss of rights that culminated
in ghettos and camps; about Winston Churchill who led Britain and her
Commonwealth into a punishing war because it was the right thing to do, despite
major arguments with the then US President FDR, and three long years before
they were joined by the United States Forces; the long list of what I wanted
you to hear culminated in the most grueling report on the Shoah that I have
ever heard, from Richard Dimbelby, on the liberation of Bergen-Belsen. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VP9BLKZENbc
Today
stories will be told – albeit in countries that accept Israel as the Jewish
home – but what about tomorrow. Please I beg of you to tell your children and
grandchildren the stories, not to scare them but to inform them of our past and
how we rose like a phoenix out of the ashes and as Yair Lapid stood proudly at
the site of his grandfather's demise and announced – Bela the Wise, you won.
I came here today to remind
the world that Bela Lampel was not a number.
He was my grandfather. He loved his beautiful wife. He went to football
matches with his child. He loved to have an omelet at the coffee shop next
to his home. He never wronged anyone. He wasn’t an important man.
He didn’t hate anyone. He was simply… Jewish.
So they took him in the middle of the night, and sent him from camp to camp
until he arrived here. When he arrived here, the Nazis already knew that they
had lost the war. The mighty machine that was the German Army had
collapsed. They needed every soldier, every slice of bread, every rifle -
and yet, they continued to kill Jews up until the very last moment. https://www.gov.il/en/Departments/news/fm-lapid-s-speech-at-international-holocaust-remembrance-day-ceremony-at-mauthausen-concentration-camp-27-jan-2022
Today, all
over the world, survivors have built families who carry their stories forward
so that they will not be forgotten. There are some who have built families of 100's
descendants and unlike their own parents and grandparents they can laugh and
play with them. The ultimate vengeance is to survive and thrive. Israel was not
brought about by the Shoah but it is the living proof that just as the Jewish
Partisans of the Ghettos we know how to stand proud, to turn the arrows of our
enemies and turn them back on themselves – this wondrous country has proven
that we cannot be held down.
I know
you are not used to me being angry or sad but the very idea that we, our
generation, has done a pretty lousy job at ensuring that our children
understand their past to be able to defend themselves from what appears to be
around the corner makes me furious.
Koolulam
gathered a group of survivors and their families to sing "Chai Chai
Chai" Live Live Live which they all did against all odds.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vuh1-jDi7Qw&t=1s
Children
in London were to hold a ceremony commemorating the 75th anniversary
of the Shoah but Covid prevented it. Unperturbed they children recorded at
home. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vKuz9RfLcgM
Hatikva
– The Hope, is Israel's National Anthem. Hope, that belief that the future will
always be better; Hope, Tikva, which helped those who survived the horrors of
the Shoah to lead wonderful lives here in the land of hope. The young men and
women of the IDF are the future of Israel and of the Jewish people as they go
forward into the world with a confidence that past generations never attained. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GQCu9kl68Tg
I wish
you a Shabbat Shalom and when we say "Never Again" remember that we
have to mean it, we've had 77 years to learn how.
With
love from Jerusalem, the city that is the answer to our prayers for the last
3,000 years.
Sheila
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