Last night I had the opportunity (along with 500+ others) to hear the personal account of Mrs. Eva Schloss, the step-sister and childhood friend of Anne Frank. She told of her experience as a young refugee in Amsterdam and her family’s eventual betrayal to the Germans. She recounted her horrific experience in Auschwitz and how she survived and eventually settled in England. You can learn more about Eva and her story here.
One part of her story struck me: As she recounted the time in Amsterdam after the German occupation she listed the slow, step by step isolation of the Jewish community there. She described how they were first restricted from using public benches and transportation, which in her words, “wasn’t so bad because we had bicycles." The Jewish children were not allowed to go to regular schools, “which was fine, really, we didn’t mind." Then she described the restrictions on movement: they weren’t allowed out in the morning or at night, only in the middle of the day for a few hours. On this, too, she commented “this wasn’t so bad.” Even when she described the decree to wear a yellow patch, she commented, “We didn’t really mind this either."
As I was hearing this, I realized how important it is to be aware of small changes. Had the Germans tried to impose everything in one sweeping decree it would have been met with stronger resistance, but as each change was implemented it paved the way for the next and the next. Eventually leading to rounding up Jewish people and stuffing them in cattle cars…
Many people will draw modern political parallels to this story but I want to bring your attention to a much more important and frightening parallel… that is quite possibly happening in your own home!
I ask people all the time, how important is it to raise a Jewish family? The response more often than not is that it is a high priority. The problem is that in order for this to happen, we need to invest in it and put effort in creating a Jewish environment in the home and outside the home. We easily allow ourselves to be lax in many areas and before too long we realize that we are raising an American family that happens to be Jewish, rather than a Jewish family. It happens gradually, over time, and many times it’s not noticed until it’s too late…
The good news is that just as gradual changes can have long term negative effect, so too we can easily implement gradual positive changes that will have long term positive effects. So before you delete this email, choose one mitzvah that you can add to your family’s regular routine. Perhaps if you don’t yet, it’s a good time to begin to light Shabbat candles at the correct time? Begin tonight at 4:52pm, blessings and instructions can be found here. Click here for other mitzvah ideas.
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One Jewish leader who really focused on reversing the trend among modern Jewry is the Lubavitcher Rebbe. The Rebbe made it his priority that Jews around the world have the opportunity to learn about their heritage and sent emissaries (like us here in Folsom) to every place in the world that Jews live. This Monday is the anniversary of the date that the previous Lubavitcher Rebbe passed away in 1950 and the date that the present Rebbe, in 1951, began his leadership of the movement. Click here to learn more about the Rebbe. Please join us for Shabbat tefillah tomorrow morning which will be followed by a special farbrengen in honor of this occasion.