Their Voices Cry out from the Graves
The last stop on our heritage journey to Poland two summers ago was to a small field an hour outside of Krakow with the unmarked graves of 800 children murdered by the Nazis for being Jewish. We visited many sites of atrocities during our trip, most notably the concentration camp Plaszow on the night of Tisha B'av, infamously featured in Schindler’s List and Tisha B’Av day at Auschwitz. Yet, the unmarked graves of 800 children were chosen as our last memory for an important reason that applies to each and every one of us.
Rabbi Shimon Schwab explained that at the very beginning of humanity when Cain murders Abel, God tells Cain - the bloods of your brother cries out from the ground. The word should have been blood in the singular but God says bloods in the plural. Rabbi Schwab explains that God reminds Cain of the eternal reverberations of murdering his brother. Not only is the blood of Hevel crying out but the unborn children who could have been brought to the world.
The last image before leaving Poland was unmarked graves of children to remind us that each one had a name. Each possessed so many dreams and hopes never to be realized. We mourn today and always not only for the tragic and horrific loss of life over thousands of years but also for those yet unborn and the dashed dreams.
Just in the past few months, we have witnessed lives lost, in an instant a building collapses in Surfside, people are trampled to death in Meron. Young couples about to start a family, entire families, young children, all ages, gone.
Yet, it is precisely the confrontation with the immensity of the losses, crying today for the children buried in the field, alone, that must awaken us to not only remember that they each possessed a name but to our sacred responsibility to live on bearing their memories. Their deaths and loss of potential life created an overwhelming vacuum and darkness. If we are alive today to mourn on Tisha B’Av, we are tasked with infusing the world with the added light in their memories. Our mourning today for a building destroyed thousands of years ago means we believe that their deaths were not in vain and we carry on to do whatever we can to create a world worthy of a new Temple and the coming of the Messiah. This is a world in which every human being is recognized for being created in the image of God.
As we visited the graves, we were asked to write a letter to our children and grandchildren. The text we wrote is below. It is not only enough to remember the past but never forget our obligation to sustain the future of the Jewish people and a world filled with the knowledge and presence of fhr Divine. God willing that day will come very very soon.
Dear Sara Malka, Avi, Michal, Adina, Elisheva, Tamar, Shalhevet Bracha and Aharon Yitzchak,
This letter may seem to be out of nowhere but as you can imagine the past week was deeply meaningful. Today, at the mass grave of 800 children outside Tarnow who were murdered by the Nazis, we were asked to write a letter to our children and grandchildren. It comes from the heart and pray it always lives in yours.
לֹא עָלֶיךָ הַמְּלָאכָה לִגְמֹר, וְלֹא אַתָּה בֶן חוֹרִין לִבָּטֵל מִמֶּנָּה. Avos:2:16
This idea from Pirkei Avot has taken on new meaning during our journey in Poland. This trip has been filled with many tears and understanding the reality in a much more profound and real way the tragedy of millions of our family, the Jewish people, who died simply for being Jewish. The pain of separating parents and children, siblings, husbands and wives, entire families wiped out is unfathomable. Although we may not be official survivors as we did not have direct relatives ion the Shoah, we are all part of Klal Yisrael.
When we sang Esa Ainai in the crematoria, recited Kaddish and Kel Maleh, I felt both a deep sense of loss but also hope. They did not finish the task, nor will we but we are here to continue our holy mission as a people. I was reminded by Alan a few days ago that you Aharon, our Aharon Yitzchak, the son of Avraham, the son of Menachem, who would not be here if not for the kindness of a stranger, Chiune Suguhara, who sheltered Jews, notably your great grandfather, in Shanghai during the war. Your life symbolizes a victory, hope and a link to the eternity of the Jewish people.
I felt on this trip a renewed sense of responsibility to carry on the names of those who died for the sake of God and our responsibility to live for the sake of God. For this reason, Mommy and I have invested so much not only in your education but in your sense of Arevut to the Jewish people, eternal experiences, and a deep sense of mission Letaken Olam.
In so many ways, we have seen this week, the impact of how one courageous act of kindness can save the world. We derive nachas from your commitment to Olam Chesed Yibaneh and hope you intensify this ideal.
We love you all very much. We hope and pray that each of you will feel renewed purpose every day to harness your Kochot, potential, to be Mekabel the Shlichut that our ancestors have invested in us and that the souls in the Shoah have not fully realized. With God’s help, you will embrace with passion and purpose your roles as both shelichim lekabalah and shelichim Leholacha to invest in your personal growth, and God wiling, children and grandchildren.
May your Divine spark be transformed into a burning flame. The redemption of the world is depending on you.
Love you always, Abba and Mommy