Remembering the Holocaust

A few weeks ago, Christa and I rented An American Tail, which is an amazing movie - go see it if you haven't! The story of Feivel Mouskowitz trying to survive in New World after getting separated from his family is endearing and echoes Jewish immigration after the war. "There are no cats in America" is the idyllic hope of the mice, (and an excellent song) just as Jews hoped for accepting peoples, not anti-Semites, in America. Many of the scenes show Feivel dealing with being alone and trying to hide from the cats. This movie stayed with me as I drifted off to sleep that night.

I dreamed that I was at temple, walking to the pulpit. All of a sudden, everyone clamored to leave the synagogue. I felt confusion and then sensed something in the opposite direction. Across from the doors swinging with bolting bodies were men in trenchcoats, looming and leering even from my distance. I felt confusion, then panic, then unexplained fear. Suddenly I knew why everyone was leaving, but I was too late. I ducked down. A movie-style cut occurred (this happens a lot in my dreams) and I found myself in a pool. (Ok, a little random, but bear with me, this is MY dream so MY logic is imposed.) I am trying to hide from the people I saw earlier and talking to others about how to get food...

That's basically all I remember. What resonated with me was the intensity of emotions I felt during my dream. They were sharp and real. I'd forgotten about the dream until this evening, when I went to Yom Hashoah (Holocaust Remembrance Day) services with Marielle. The service was really moving, especially the guest speaker. The man who liberated prisoners from the concentration camp Dachau shared his harrowing account of accidentally stumbling upon the camp after finding bodies in boxcars and following the train tracks. He described the images he was met with there (collections of wedding bands, hair, gold teeth all meticulously sorted; the gas chamber; the jolting appearance of the prisoners) and I thought of my dream. That was nothing, of course; I couldn't even begin to fathom what went on at those death factories. I also recalled a quote that I'd committed to memory from the Holocaust Museum in Israel: "Remember the past, live the present, trust the future." So much optimism and hope.

The service reminded me of how important it is to remember the Holocaust so that it cannot happen again, and also to teach tolerance. A quote in the service discussed not thinking of the death toll in terms of 6 million but in terms of one, plus one, plus one...individual lives left unfinished. I also think in terms of the power of one person. It wasn't just Hitler who committed this crime; it was a neighbor, their friend, a relative (and one, plus one, plus one, Nazis were formed). Such as in the movie Schindler's List, the power of just one person to make a difference (minus one!) is demonstrated.