Rabbi Diana's Weekly Message

Please join me in welcoming Renee Brachfeld and Rabbi Mark Novak tomorrow evening at 7:00 pm for Shabbat services on Zoom. You must register first to receive a link at:

https://www.kehilathanahar.org/event/honey-from-the-rock-stories--songs-from-the-jewish-tradition-.html

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I want to thank those in our community who volunteered and worked at polls and election sites. I appreciate how many in our community are committed to democracy and fair and free elections, voting rights and ballot access.

I’m especially aware of our freedoms and our feelings of fragility as last evening and today commemorate, Kristallnacht, the Night of Broken Glass, which took place in Europe 84 years ago on November 9-10, 1938. 

Joanne Fink wrote this poem in honor and memory of her cousin who died of Covid in May of 2020. This relative celebrated her birthday every year on November 11th. It wasn't until after she died, and her family found her birth certificate that they discovered she had been born November 10th. She changed her birthday because Kristallnacht was not a day she could possibly celebrate.

Kristallnacht - Joanne Fink 2022

Shattered glass.
Shattered lives.
Shattered hopes.

A cataclysmic shift
that set the world adrift.

Eerie echoes of the past
the sounds of breaking glass
do not suppress the storm
of rising antisemitism.

Six million extinguished souls
whose stories remain unwritten
and whose truths remain untold.

Kristallnacht... your shards,
embedded in our history
reflect a reality
that s h a t t e r s
our complacency
and the illusion
of security.

Never again,
please God,
NEVER AGAIN.

As we are a nation and world struggling with increasing Jew-hatred, we are troubled. Antisemitic incidents reached an all-time high in the United States in 2021, with a total of 2,717 incidents of assault, harassment and vandalism reported to ADL (the Anti-Defamation League). This represents the highest number of incidents on record since ADL began tracking antisemitic incidents in 1979 – an average of more than seven incidents per day and a 34 percent increase year over year.[ https://www.adl.org/news/press-releases/adl-audit-finds-antisemitic-incidents-in-united-states-reached-all-time-high-in]

As we are well aware, just last week New Jersey synagogues were threatened. The person who made the threats has been arrested. 

Thankfully, there are millions of people who stand in solidarity with Jewish communities and people as well. We are not alone in the wilderness; we are surrounded by community. Several Bucks County organizations like POWER Bucks, Rise Up Doylestown and The Peace Center, to name just a few, are strongly committed to combating antisemitism. Local clergy of all faiths support us as we support them. 

Both in the United States and in Israel, there are many whose actions undermine democracy. Let us continue to take actions small and large, individually and in community, which bolster our democracies which in turn creates a healthier and safer atmosphere for religious and other minorities to flourish.

Shabbat shalom,

Rabbi Diana