My Turn

This week, two voices from Ukraine have been calling out to me — Chaim Nachman Bialik and Rabbi Yisrael Baal Shem Tov.

Jewish writing is not only a formulation of Jewish law. It should be understood as an intergenerational conversation about values, ethics and a philosophy of life.

Buczacz – which was once the home to an illustrious Jewish community until they were massacred by the Nazis in 1943 – is the birthplace of three towering Jewish personalities from the 20th century.

Memorials are meant to be, like the name Yad Vashem signifies, everlasting. How are we to forge paths of reconciliation, understanding and lasting peace upon the ashes of memorials themselves?

We Jews feel a strong connection to the latest news from the front lines, not only because many of our families hail from this region of the world or because President Zelensky is a Jew, but because the politics of war and siege greatly interest a people who have so desperately clung to their fragile power.

Today, as Europe stands at the brink of war, the lesson of “do not kindle a fire” is particularly relevant.

So enough with the doom-and-gloom predictions for 2022. It’s not that the future is bright, exactly. But the future is changeable.

“Arendt” was a name I heard quite often growing up, but one I didn’t think much of.