"Memory Must Be Creative"
D'var
Torah: B'ha-alotcha
June 12, 2009
The radio was already on, set at NPR 90.9, when I started the car. It was a sweet familiar voice that I heard. Elie Wiesel was being interviewed. We just recently saw Elie Wiesel with President Obama when the President visited Buchenwald, the concentration camp from which a teenage Elie was liberated in 1945.
The reason for this somewhat rare interview of Elie Wiesel was the horrific shooting and killing at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in our nation’s capital. On a much smaller scale, this terrorist act conveyed the same story as 9/11. In this case, there is one man filled with incalculable hatred and another man Stephen Johns, who, in an instant becomes a hero in giving his life in the discharge of his duties. He knew he was responsible for many precious lives and thanks to him not one was harmed. His
co-workers described him as a man who was built like an NFL linebacker but exuded great kindness.
Part of the radio discussion was how the coverage now should focus on the victim and not dwell on the perpetrator and his hatred. Of course it is this eighty eight year old mad man who stirs the interest of the public. It is important that we know more about how a man could be filled with so much malice. Thankfully, we don’t come across madmen every day. The cable news showed the vitriolic writings of this white supremacist on the screen while the anchor read the words. Again and again, the viewer heard the most vicious accusations against Jews and to a lesser extent against Blacks. How much free publicity does this murderer deserve?
The words of Elie Wiesel are just the opposite. His words contain tones of justice and the call to never permit the horror of the Holocaust to happen again to any people. The interviewer said something about the importance of remembering. In response Elie Wiesel said, “Memory must be creative.” What a gem of a thought. Memory must serve a purpose. “Memory must be creative.” To remember only to recite yesterday’s facts is a meaningless exercise. We make memory sacred when we create something of value out of that memory.
Elie Wiesel offered these words regarding the Holocaust. I don’t know that I could find any four words to better explain my own understanding and approach to Judaism. Any religion and Judaism in particular involves memory of the greatest events of the past. When I heard Elie Wiesel utter these words I immediately thought about the Shabbat Kiddush we recite at the Shabbat table each week. While we hold the Kiddush cup in hand, we call the Sabbath a memory of G-d’s work of creation and a memory of our Exodus from Egypt. If all we do is remember however, we make an idol of the past. When we create something just and compassionate out of memory, when we repair our broken world out of memory, we make that memory sacred. When we are careful to preserve the planet G-d has gifted to us, when we are committed to the freedom of others, these memories during Kiddush are sacred.
Some people say on important topics of the day “we can’t do that today because we have never done that before. That’s not how we have done this for the past ten years, hundred or thousand years or since the dawn of civilization. If what has been done since the dawn of civilization is right, there’s no need to fix what isn’t broken but at the dawn of civilization, we weren't that civilized. As but one example, since the dawn of civilization, there has always been slavery. For President Lincoln it was the memory of this unjust past that led him to create a more just society for the future. “Memory must be creative.”
In a four word sentence, Elie Wiesel includes memory and creativity. Since the founding of Ohev Shalom, in conveying what is special about our synagogue, I would often say that we combine a love of tradition with an openness to creativity and innovation. One might ask why would you want to ever innovate and create anew when you have tradition. These four words provide the answer. “Memory must be creative.” Out of tradition must come something new when a need to repair the world, improve the world, enlighten the world is needed.
Our Parsha opens with the words “When you establish the lights of the Menorah, you will light seven lights.” Light is at the heart of Judaism. The prophet Isaiah called on us to be a light unto the nations. Judaism’s purposes is to bring light where there is darkness. Memory is the Menorah. Out of memory we must create light.
One could not have predicted before its construction that the Holocaust Museum would be one of the most visited sights in Washington DC. People are drawn to this sacred space of memory. When one leaves the museum, the purpose is not to be able to recite facts but to feel moved to create a better world out of memory. While telling the story of the darkest period of human history, the Holocaust museum is a Menorah that shines a great light on our country. With his hatred, the mad man set out to extinguish that light. In extinguishing one of the lights of this Menorah, Stephen Johns, the museum was darkened for two days. The museum has now reopened and the light it casts can again shine brightly.
“Memory must be creative.” That is the purpose of the Holocaust Museum. That is the essence of Judaism. That is our charge as Jews. Remember the past in order to create a better future.
Shabbat Shalom,
