True Exile

A friend of mine, also a child of survivors, recently mused, “The Holocaust is the biggest event in my life that I wasn’t part of.” Probably many of us children and grandchildren can relate to that statement, however strange it may seem on the face of it.

But in fact, experiencing something that never happened to you as if it did is what we are called upon to do at Passover. The Haggadah tells us clearly: in every generation you should regard yourself as though you had come out of Egypt. And the evil son, who asks what any of this has to do with him, is reminded that had he been there with that attitude, he would not have been saved.

Remembrance leads to redemption, while forgetfulness leads to exile, the Baal Shem Tov is purported to have said.

Asking at any time, “What does this have to do with me?” is problematic, at the very least.

Yet this seems to be the question that some are asking, as images of Ukrainian civilians running from their homes or trapped in their destroyed towns flood our television and computer screens.

It is hard not to think that for an array of reasons, including the fleeting nature of tweets and posts and yesterday’s events receding into the past – not to mention the numbing effect of seeing horrible images over and over - the world is in a form of exile from itself.

Some of us may not be remembering, or not remembering as if it is all happening to us personally. So, it may worth emulating the other son, the wise son - whose mind and heart are open to learning and absorbing with compassion all that he sees.