Death Thou Shalt Die

Sermon by Rabbi Arnold Saltzman

‘Death Be Not Proud’ by the poet and minister, Jonne Donne is a non accepting triumphant take on the death of death. What a subject.

During Passover we begin a journey towards Sinai and receiving the Torah, yet it begins with the last plague on the Egyptian households – the slaying of the first born, a punishment for Pharaoh and his ruthless beating and destroying of the slaves, and the killing of infants without mercy.

Four Days after Passover ends, we begin the official Holocaust Remembrance Day known as Yom Shoah V’Hagevurah. What is the Hagevurah part of the name? We know about the destruction, yet the rest of the name is about bravery, resistance, rescue, escape, fighting back, perhaps cheating death, or fighting the final solution which fooled people into thinking that there were just being detained for while.

In these days of spring, we remember those people lost in the holocaust who watered the earth with their blood, in beautiful forests and fields, while they were swept away by hatred and madness.

Recently I read an obituary of a man who as a boy worked on transatlantic trip which was attacked by Nazi ships which killed over one hundred, including men, women and children – lost at sea while their families screamed in anguish. This young man, decided to become a pilot and fight the German ‘Death Machine’. He was one of the Ace Pilots of WWII with 15 planes shot down and another 16 strafed on the ground. He was captured.
In what was the oddity of those wars, German pilots were brought to meet the pilots who were shot down, so they could see their enemy. Before he was about to be executed, a Nazi officer with a pistol ready to fire asked the pilot if there was anything he would like. He looked around and saw a box of cigars and asked for one. He proceeded to blow circles in the air with the smoke fascinating the officer, who asked him to teach him how to do that. The officer saved his life and sent him to a POW camp instead.

Sholom was asked during a death march to dig his own grave before his execution. He asked the Nazi officer if he could chant the prayer for the dead, for himself. The officer was so moved by the beauty of his voice that he helped him to avoid being shot, saying that a voice like yours must be heard by the world. That is the story of Cantor Sholom Katz who was from Bessarabia, but I am never sure exactly where that is.

Mina and Nelee were sent away by their parents on a dangerous journey to be hidden in Southern France, pretending they were Christians, they were sheltered, cared for, yet filled with anxiety that they would never see their family again. They were protected by Christians, and we know of their story as Mina Parsont is an articulate spokesperson for survivors and rescuers.

Sunday, May 4th, at B’nai Israel there was community-wide commemoration of Holocaust Remembrance. I saw Mina there when the survivors stood up, and I stood together with her, not to take away from her, but because I was saying ‘we stand together’, you are not alone. There were not that many survivors at the service although there were about 800 people in attendance. Then children of survivors stood, and then grandchildren. They took a pledge never to forget – Zachor, for in forgetting and not remembering we give a kind of victory to the hatred of the past. In remembering we hold accountable those responsible, even if it is in the words written and spoken about these terrible events.

I have read that 50,000 people participated in rescuing Jews – where was everyone else? We know that Denmark did this as a nation. Where were the other nations?

Nesse Godin, who I knew for many years, as her children and grandchildren attended services every week at Adas Israel, was the guest speaker. She was not emotional yet she was very powerful in remembering. A day came when the Ghetto they were forced to live in descended into chaos. She was told to go to school that day, and when she returned the world had changed: 1000 children of all ages had been rounded up to be shipped to extermination camps. Babies, young children, teenagers, and the entire ghetto was filled with the screams of parents who had their children torn from them. Her father had been killed just because he looked strong. The Nazis killed him and others who looked like they could resist.

When we know these events and hear personal testimonies, is it any wonder that we rejoice in modern Israel, or wish for strong United States? Elie Wiesel warned us long ago that the Jews of Russia were in danger, being a Holocaust survivor he recognized the signs were there and that Russian Jews were suffering persecution. One million Russian Jews were able to emigrate as a result of the work of many. Now, there are signs that Jews may be in danger in Ukraine and Russia as pawns in a dangerous stealth war and political game, designed to cover up the failure of the Russian dream. Russia has a declining population and no one is moving there voluntarily.
In Israel the sirens sound for two minutes, everyone stops, freezes to remember.

This is followed by Yom Hazikaron – the remembrance of the fallen who defended Israel in its wars, and followed again by Yom HaAtzmaut – Israeli Independence Day.

Israel is modern miracle which has given shelter and a future to the Jews from around the globe with the hope that they can do what is necessary to protect and defend while moving towards prosperity and inventiveness which characterizes the modern state of Israel.

That we are here is the victory over Nazism. Just being here is our cigar smoking circles in the air, our song of life, and our prayer of gratitude that we have been guarded.

“Death Be Not Proud”
By John Donne, 16-17th Century
Death, be not proud, though some have called thee
Mighty and dreadful, for thou art not so;

One short sleep past, we wake eternally
And death shall be no more; Death, thou shalt die.

V’Hakodosh, Boruch Hu, Shochat L’Malach Hamavet – and the Holy One, blessed be he slew the Angel of Death – concludes the Had Gadya. The Holocaust was not the final word, it ended, and we are here. Israel is reborn. The Jewish people lives.