Journey

Yesterday I tried to write an entry, but was unsuccessful. Trying to write now. Yesterday we went to a memorial for Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev, whose bodies were returned to Israel in exchange for a Hezbollah prisoner. We went a memorial service at the Judische Gemeinde. First a woman spoke in German and then there was a prayer by a rabbi. I felt like I was a part of it when I heard Hebrew. I got chills when the rabbi started to recite Yahrzeit. Everyone chimed in and it was powerful that despite whatever language we spoke, Hebrew is the common space. It was also the site of a concrete Holocaust Memorial wall. It listed several camps and there was a flame that must have already been lit. The symbolism between that wall behind and the fact that they were commemorating - memorializing - two Israeli soldiers is striking. In my mind, Israel came after Germany it is hard to rationalize German Jews grieving over the death of Israeli soldiers. Before this trip I never really put much thought to the current Jewish community in Germany. And the strange contradiction of Jews in Germany memorializing Israeli soldiers really made me think. I have been taught certain things, but never really reinforced to the fact that Jews stayed in Europe following the Holocaust. These are small communities and largely ignored by the mass of the Jewish community. There are a lot of similarities between the Jewish community I know and the one today in Germany. It has changed through the decades since the end of the war, but honestly, it still goes along with the same notion that they want Jewish survival and human survival. I suppose the basics have not really changed.

The Jewish community has to move on and embrace life wherever it may be. They did not abandon Germany; however, the promise for Zion was still with them wherever we are. Am Yisrael Chai and we are one, regardless of place.