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Jewish World Review Sept. 6, 2002 / 29 Elul, 5762
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http://www.jewishworldreview.com |
Thousands of Americans were killed this past year
by Islamic fundamentalists; perhaps the best
known was Daniel Pearl. The Wall Street Journal
reporter was not a victim of the Sept. 11 attacks on
the World Trade Center and Pentagon, which
claimed almost 3,000 lives. He was murdered
overseas, in isolation, and largely, it seems,
because he was not only an American journalist but
a Jew, as he asserted in his chilling last words - by
choice or coercion we will never know, and it
matters not.
The notion that an American Jew would be kidnapped, tortured and
executed because of his nationality and religion in the 21st century
speaks volumes about the level of hatred and depths of depravity of
our enemies and the dramatic downward spiral of world affairs in the
Jewish calendar year just ending.
5762 was one of the worst years for the Jewish people since the
Holocaust era. Anti-Semitism emerged from the shadows with a more
frightening ferocity, particularly in Europe, than at any time in recent
memory, and Israel not only suffered the deaths of hundreds of men,
women and children as the war with the Palestinians escalated, but
found itself fighting for its right to exist more than five decades after
statehood. And in the wake of the Sept. 11 attacks, supporters of
democracy, where Jews have thrived, faced an ongoing war of
terrorism from Arab extremists committed to destroying Western
culture and values.
As we approach the High Holy Days, a period set aside for intense
reflection and spiritual striving - compounded by the first anniversary
of the undeclared war on America and the continuing aggression
against Israel, the Jewish people and Jewish history - how are we to
shake ourselves from our depression? In what light do we now view
the Jewish state, heralded in the official prayer for its welfare as the
beginning of the messianic redemption, when its very survival is at
stake? And how do we overcome the belief that while the world
continues to progress technologically, it has failed to learn the tragic
political, military and moral lessons of the Holocaust?
Almost six decades after the fall of Hitler and the Nazis, most nations
refuse to recognize that evil must be defeated before it destroys you,
whether it is represented by the suicide bomber seeking heavenly
reward for murdering Jewish children, or Saddam Hussein openly
advocating his intention to develop and use nuclear weapons of mass
destruction.
How, then, are we to pray for peace on Rosh HaShanah and Yom
Kippur when our friends and brethren in Israel and here in New York
are still grieving for murdered loved ones and Palestinian children are
still being taught to hate and kill the Jews? Is peace nothing but a
naïve fantasy?
Yet we are instructed to consider the High Holy Days, for all their
solemnity, a time of celebration as well as judgment. The Talmud
instructs us to wear white clothing, to rejoice in the opportunity for our
sins to be cleansed away, and to re-commit ourselves to performing
acts of human kindness. Indeed, in the dramatic conclusion to the
Unesaneh Tokef service, questioning who will live and who will die in
the coming year, we proclaim: "Repentance, prayer and tzedakah will
avert the severe decree."
That ancient advice remains forever relevant, urging us to respond on
three levels - personal, spiritual and communal - in attending to our
needs and responsibilities. Our job is not to question whether the
prayers we recite are heard on high but to make certain they are
uttered with a full and sincere heart. It is not for us to understand how
families can go on believing in the wake of murderous attacks on
young mothers and children, but to help the surviving members
financially, emotionally and in any other way possible.
We memorialize those Americans killed Sept. 11 by doubling our efforts
to defeat the terrorists, and we give meaning to the lives of those
Israelis slaughtered at the hands of Palestinian militants by
reconfirming our support for a secure Jewish state (as we did in great
numbers in Washington in April and in countless ways, large and small,
throughout the year).
Even as we mourn the tragic events of the past year, we must look to
5763 with renewed faith, as Jews have done for centuries.
We can take inspiration from the Holocaust survivors in our midst who
suffered unspeakable pain and tragedy yet prayed for peace during
the High Holy Days they spent in hell. Many of them asserted their
belief in the future, not so much in words but by beginning new lives
after the Holocaust, marrying and starting families, ensuring the
continuation of the Jewish people, defeating Hitler's dream by affirming
life. In that sense, we pay tribute to those who perished this year by
celebrating their lives and what they stood for, pledged to freedom
and committed to hatikvah, the hope, which never dies.
May the new year be a sweeter one for us all.
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By Gary Rosenblatt
JWR contributor Gary Rosenblatt is Editor and Publisher of the New York Jewish Week. Comment by clicking here.
