Shabbat Message - April 9, 2021
This message has 814 words and will take a little more than 4 minutes to read.
Yesterday, we marked one of the most important dates in our calendar: Yom HaShoah, Holocaust Remembrance Day. While remembering and teaching the lessons of the Holocaust and honouring survivors are duties each of us owes past and future generations every day, it is important to dedicate a day each year to mark the horrors of the shoah in an official way.
Premier John Horgan, in partnership with our advocacy agent, the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs, hosted a live, virtual Yom HaShoah commemoration that over 400 people joined. Immediately prior to that, Premier Horgan hosted a private meeting with survivors from Vancouver and Victoria.
MLA Nicholas Simons played a moving piece of Kol Nidre on the cello, followed by words from Premier Horgan and MLA Michael Lee. Holocaust survivor Dr. Robert Krell lit the six candles in honour of the six million Jews murdered by the Nazis, with Premier Horgan lighting the seventh candle in memory of the others who were killed by the Nazis, including Gypsies, Romas, LGBTQ, and people with disabilities. This was followed by an incredibly powerful speech in which Dr. Krell requested of the BC Provincial government to adopt the IHRA definition of antisemitism. Rabbi Dan Moskovitz recited the Kaddish and Kel Malai Rachamim prayers. Click here to watch the event starting at the three-minute mark.
When it comes to capturing the history of our local community, our partner the Jewish Museum and Archives of BC doesn’t just look back, they look ahead. They want to remind us all that we are living in historic times now, and to ask for your help in capturing the community’s experience of living through the pandemic. Here’s a message from archivist, Alysa Routtenberg:
Any community’s history is made up of bits and pieces, half told stories, and loose ends. At the Jewish Museum and Archives of BC (JMABC) part of what we do is collect these pieces, so that they can be stitched together to become what future generations will view as “History”.
Our online exhibits and books are full of personal stories, letters from young lovers across the country, travel photos, hand-made bar and bat mitzvah cards, and other personal items. There is no one decade of archival material that is the subject of most research–one person’s idea of ancient history is another’s fond childhood memory. What these items all have in common is that they came from someone. Probably someone just like you.
Over the past year, the pandemic has changed our lives and our community life. But eventually it will be over, or at least under better control. When it is, we’ll find a new normal, and we may be tempted to push the experience from our memories—but that would do our community and those who come after us a disservice.
Recording life as it happens makes it much more accurate and useful; it helps us process change, and it saves us from reliving memories painfully. We’re living through a situation that (hopefully) will be a once in a generation experience. Now is our chance write this story while it’s happening.
Nothing about this past year has been normal. Let’s bring that to life for people decades from now! It can be as simple as sending us some screenshots of your seder, sharing a journal entry with us, or charting how your organization has pivoted to virtual programming. Did you write an email to someone after a really great virtual lecture? Do you have photos from a masked family picnic last summer? These are the bits and pieces that make up a history.
The JMABC has material from as far back as 1858 and as recently as 2021. The recent material is no less valuable or important than that which is much older. Part of our role is to record the highs and lows daily life, because if we don’t do it now how can we expect the generations that come after us to understand our community’s history?
As the JMABC celebrates our 50th anniversary this year, we are reminded of the foresight our founders had: start saving now, so we can reflect one day soon. But we need your help to do this successfully. Click here to add your story to the Jewish Community Archives today.
There is another action you can take to help our community today: complete the BC COVID-19 SPEAK Round 2 Survey. It asks this question: "Before the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, how important were the following activities to maintaining you and your family member's overall wellbeing?" It lists 11 activities and we want to draw your attention to the last two: Attending a place of worship, and Participating in overnight children's camps. Both are of the utmost importance to our community and we hope you will take a moment to let the province know how much they mean to you.
Shabbat shalom.
Ezra S. Shanken
Chief Executive Officer