Each of Us Has a Name: #YomHaShoah Reflection 5773

Each year, the synagogues of the Upper West Side, organized by the JCC of Manhattan, gather to read the names of those murdered by the Nazis. The reading begins at 10PM, and goes all the way through until 6PM the next day.

 Each year, the rabbis of Upper West Side synagogues and organizations begin the reading. This year, we read names from the Jewish community of Lithuania.

Each year, I am struck by the familiarity of the names. And this year, I was struck by the number of spaces in which there was only a last name, a void, someone forever missing from a family--but not from our memory.

(Image from 5772)

Each of Us Has A Name

Each of us has a name
given by God
and given by our parents

Each of us has a name
given by our stature and our smile
and given by what we wear

Each of us has a name
given by the mountains
and given by our walls

Each of us has a name
given by the stars
and given by our neighbors

Each of us has a name
given by our sins
and given by our longing

Each of us has a name
given by our enemies
and given by our love

Each of us has a name
given by our celebrations
and given by our work

Each of us has a name
given by the seasons
and given by our blindness

Each of us has a name
given by the sea
and given by
our death.

~ Zelda ~

(Trans. by Marcia Lee Falk in
Beloved on the Earth, ed. by
J. Perman, D. Cooper, M. Hart, and P. Mittlefehldt)

Each year, we read about 14, 000 names. We're going to be reading for a long time to come. 

Never forget.