I Remember: A Poem for Yom HaShoah
I remember the absence of sound,
deeper than silence
and more lonely,
like the moment just
before Creation,
all stretched and
attenuated, waiting,
except there was no time
to measure
eternity,
so waiting was
Now.
O the Chimney: On Forgiving Modern-Day Germany for the Shoah
Cafe Spindel is a quaint café in the center of Bad Segeberg, Germany that used to house a wool-processing factory. Because it was an unseasonably warm and sunny late summer day when I visited, our host, Pastor Martin Pommerening, suggested we sit outside.
Mourning Yom HaShoah with Jews Across the World
On Holocaust Martyrs' and Heroes' Remembrance Day 2015 (Yom HaShoah), the entire Jewish community mourns the tragic loss of life, the genocide that occurred during World War II, which resulted in the death of an estimated six million Jews.
A Reflection on Yom HaShoah: What My Mother Taught Me About Spiritual Resistance
Holocaust Remembrance and Heroism Day (Yom HaShoah v’tag’vurah, commonly called Yom HaShoah) not only memorializes the six million Jews murdered but honors those Jews who took up arms against the Nazis.
More Than Words on a Page: Social Justice in our Prayer Books
When I left for college my freshman year, I was nervous about exploring a new Jewish community. However, I immediately felt at home as I walked into my university’s Hillel’s Conservative Friday night services and saw the Siddur Sim Shalom, the prayer book I had grown up with.
On Yom HaShoah, Reaching Out to “the Other”
On Yom HaShoah, the anniversary of the Warsaw ghetto uprising, we remember the Jews killed in the Holocaust. On April 16, I will remember the six million.
Why Avinu Malkeinu is So Important After the Year We've Had
Every summer, I go through the same routine.
Tipping the Scales: Returning to Germany for the Days of Awe
One of my most precious possessions is a copy of the Talmudic tractate Kiddushin printed in Munich in 1946 on presses once used for Nazi propaganda.
How the Yom Kippur After Hurricane Katrina Changed Me Forever
“On Rosh HaShanah, the year’s decree is written, and on Yom Kippur it is sealed, who will live and who will die…”